• Pl. 1 Plan of Excavated
  Plate 1
  
  Plan of Excavated Areas Bethel 1934
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  Areas Bethel 1934 from Kelso et al. (1968)
• Pl. 120 Plan of Excavated
  Plate 120
  
  Plan of Excavated Areas 1934 through 1960
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  Areas 1934 through 1960 from Kelso et al. (1968)

• Pl. 1 Plan of Excavated
  Plate 1
  
  Plan of Excavated Areas Bethel 1934
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  Areas Bethel 1934 from Kelso et al. (1968)
• Pl. 120 Plan of Excavated
  Plate 120
  
  Plan of Excavated Areas 1934 through 1960
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  Areas 1934 through 1960 from Kelso et al. (1968)

• Pl. 10 Area I Section
  Plate 10
  
  Area I Section
  
  click on image to open in a new tab
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  from Kelso et al. (1968)

• Pl. 10 Area I Section
  Plate 10
  
  Area I Section
  
  click on image to open in a new tab
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  from Kelso et al. (1968)

• Pl. 10 Area II Section
  Plate 10
  
  Area II Section
  
  click on image to open in a new tab
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  from Kelso et al. (1968)

• Pl. 10 Area II Section
  Plate 10
  
  Area II Section
  
  click on image to open in a new tab
  
  Kelso et al. (1968)
  from Kelso et al. (1968)

• from Kelso et al. (1968:20-21)

82. In 1934 we dug to bedrock in about one- quarter of the area excavated¹. Two baskets of Late Chalcolithic sherds were recovered from pockets of the virgin red earth². These sherds were identified as Early Bronze in the preliminary report (BASOR). But later study proved them to be Late Chalcolithic similar to the sherds found at Tulul Abu el-‘Alayiq near Old Testament Jericho, the next city SE of Bethel (AASOR, Vols. XXXII–XXXIII, Pls. 21–37). Although no building remains were found, these sherds came from nearly every locus, thus dating the site's earliest extended occupation to Late Chalcolithic c. 3200 B.C.

83. During the 1960 campaign when we dug through the floor of the town's NW gate, we learned that the walls of that gateway complex had been erected directly on those of a temple, and that this building, in turn, was built immediately upon a Canaanite mountain-top high place. This high place was found when we excavated to bedrock directly inside the threshold of the town's gate. When this bedrock was being washed in preparation for photography, we saw that some of it was normal white limestone, some of it was stained red, and part of the rock surface was powdered as if it had been subjected to a very hot fire.

84. Bedrock was very irregular at this point, and the stains were concentrated on the higher ridges or ran down over the faces of the crevices in the rock. When the rock was wetted and then permitted to dry, the stains showed as light pink splotches. This led Taylor, who was in charge of the work at this point, to believe these dark spots splattered about over the cleared area were blood. Majid Bayyuk, a medical student from the American University of Beirut, who was on our staff, secured the chemicals to run the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) test for blood. Acetic acid in benzidine activated by the addition of hydrogen peroxide to intensify color, and applied to the stains turned them blue or green and proved they were old blood. All the stained areas gave this reaction, but none was obtained from test areas of the white limestone. We next sank a test pit at the extreme W end of the gate corridor and another outside the NW corner of the gateway building in the large huwar courtyard. Stains on the bedrock in both pits were tested and proved to be blood. The widest E–W bedrock area tested was c. 13 m.

85. Much of the bedrock was milk-white and powdery. Pieces broken from it felt much like soapstone. A number of spherical-shaped stones (10–20 cm.) found nearby had a similar texture. This suggested to us that a sacrificial fire had been built on part of the area. We felt sure we had found the old bare mountain top that the Canaanites had used as an open air sacrificial shrine to their god El. To increase the area of the high place open for study, we next cleared everything below the floor level of the entire E half of the N corridor of the gateway complex to bedrock.

86. The irregular surface of the mountain top rises quickly perpendicularly to a ledge whose nearly level surface slopes only gently to the SE. A test pit sunk at the W end of the corridor showed the ledge to be of approximately the same level there. We found some ashes above it and toward the W end of the cleared section, but otherwise the ledge gave no evidence of burning. Dark stained areas concentrated toward the center and W portion of the ledge gave positive blood reaction to the F.B.I. test while the smaller normal white areas of the rock gave negative reactions. The F.B.I. test identifies a stain as blood but does not differentiate between animal and human blood. We could not run the complicated test used to differentiate them. We therefore submitted bone fragments found in the debris above the rock's surface to the surgeons at the Lutheran Hospital on the Mount of Olives. They reported that none of the bones were human. Although Jordan had had a tragic three years' drought prior to 1960, the clay below the huwar floor was very moist. This wet clay doubtless has been a factor in the preservation of the blood stains through the centuries.

87. Under the deep foundations of the floor of the gate corridor, in some areas 85 cm. thick, flints and sherds were found everywhere in great quantity. A variety of forms of flints were found, some of them of types used in butchering or scraping of skins. About 60% of the Chalcolithic sherds found in the extreme E end of the fill near the burned surface of the rock were from cooking pots. There were some EB sherds, but more were MB I representing a wider variety of forms. There were no MB II sherds. In a hollow immediately above bedrock and directly below the center of the E doorway of the MB I temple was a jar identified by Père de Vaux as Chalcolithic. Broken by pressure from the fill above, it contained two small animal bones, one the eye ridges of a skull, the other probably a femur fragment. Although the jar's position might lead to the speculation that it was a foundation sacrifice for the temple built above the high place, the jar is approximately 1500 years earlier than the temple and comes from the time of the original mountain-top shrine. Because the jar is dated at least as early as 3500 B.C., it establishes the earliest firmly dated human use of the Bethel high place as 3500 B.C. although the site was doubtless used much earlier.

88. The only actual installation in connection with this earliest place of sacrifice was a shallow elliptical pit or bin, 55 cm. long and 15 cm. deep. It was on a thin layer of debris just above bedrock and c. 50 cm. E of the ledge. It was made by standing thin slabs of limestone on edge in the ground. They averaged c. 1 cm. thick and 15 cm. in height. The thickest was 2 cm. and the highest 20 cm. There were a few stone slabs on the bottom of the bin, the longest being 22 cm. There were also some pieces of charcoal, the largest 2–5 cm. Some yellow ochre was nearby. The N wall of the temple was built directly over the N half of this bin.

89. This bare mountain-top was the ancient high place where the Canaanites worshipped El, the chief god of the old Canaanite pantheon; and the city became one of his major shrines as witnessed by its name, Beth-el. The antiquity of the site and worship is shown by the continuing use of the name El whereas most Palestinian shrines preferred to honor the new god Baal. Although we did not discover Jeroboam's temple, we did find its ancestral high place. The area excavated at Bethel is too small for exact comparisons with the Jebusite high place at Jerusalem above which Solomon erected his temple, but the ledge at Bethel reminds one of that “rock” in Jerusalem. Although Jeroboam did not build a temple directly on the original Bethel site, the MB I population did, laying their pavement on the ledge itself and aligning their door directly to the E. Furthermore there was what we believe to be a large huwar paved haram area just N of the gateway complex of the MB IIB city. In the debris of various shaped rocks in a field NW of our work was a large stone that may have served as a massebah or sacred pillar.

90. About all that can be said at present of the history of Bethel in the Chalcolithic period is that the NW corner of the site was occupied by a large, well-used open-air sanctuary which can be dated at least as early as 3500 B.C. To the S of that high place and extending along what later became the W wall of the town, there was a settled occupation c. 3200 B.C. The village showed no signs of fortification nor could house walls be traced. This masonry was doubtless all used later in constructing the W wall of the MB II town. All the sherds found belonged to the category of “kitchen ware” and one can conjecture that the new settlers were poor.

91. The ridge E of Bethel was sacred soil, for in 1934 a massebah stood in a roughly squared socket at the nearest point on the ridgeline from the town. Unfortunately the farmers cleared the land of rocks for cultivation before the installation could be studied. On the same ridge S of the Deir Diwan road and near the W edge of the ridge, was an excellent table-shaped stone altar with cup marks. The rock was 2.5 m. long and 1 m. wide at one end and 2 m. at the other. The surface was semi-flat. One cup mark was very shallow, the other deeper. Many flints were strewn about at its base. Some were microlithic. L. Vestri reports another altar on this ridge. Abraham's altar was somewhere on this long N–S ridge, which has a clear view of the Mt. of Olives. A few sherds belonging to the transition from EB to MB I were found at Burj Beitin, the Byzantine identification of Abraham's altar.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:22)

92. During the 1954 campaign no EB floors or walls were discovered, but sherds of late EB, similar to the TBM "J" level, were found in the lowest debris at the old camp site in 305, 308, and 310. Similar sherds were found in test pits in the mosque area close to the springs. Some similar sherds had been washed down from the tell above, and their edges had been abraded in the process. The only new information added by the 1957 campaign was based on the finding of sherds still earlier than those found in 1954. One Neolithic sherd and four Khirbet Kerak sherds (EB III A) were found in the glacis of the W wall of the city. Sherds similar to those of the 1954 campaign were found in the glacis of the N wall as well as the W wall. During the 1960 campaign late EB sherds were also found in the fill of the MB I temple, and in the lowest debris in the NW corner of the town. No building remains were uncovered in any campaign.

The EB age at Bethel (c. 2400 B.C. to c. 2200 B.C.) may be summarized as follows. After the Chalcolithic period the site was abandoned. We could find no clue for the town's disappearance. Four Khirbet Kerak sherds were the only signs of life here until the very close of early EB. The town suddenly came to life showing occupation around the great spring in the mosque area and also in the NW section of Beitin adjacent to the old high place. No building remains were found. Stones from these walls were doubtless used to construct the massive MB II fortifications in the same general area.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:22-23)

93. The EB occupation had ended c. 2200 B.C. and the site was unoccupied until about the nineteenth century, when the first major urban installations still intact were found (Pl. 2). This marks the MB I town. Pottery found in the 1934 campaign was no longer in the red earth but in the black occupation soil. This MB I pottery was succinctly described in the preliminary report³ as follows: "This ware is nearly all thin and free from grits, red-baked or creamy grey in color, with a creamy grey slip. It is decorated with vestigial folded ledge-handles and with elaborate bands of incised design, including horizontal bands, wavy bands, and rows of dots or dashes. This class of ware is identical with that from TBM level H, the Copper Age at Tell el-Ajjol, the extensive parallel remains from Tell ed-Duweir, and Watzinger's Spätkanaanitisch at Jericho. It may be observed that the closest relations of our Bethel ware seem to be with Jericho and Tell el-Ajjol, while the TBM pottery is more or less identical with that at Tell ed-Duweir. There can no longer be any question that this category of pottery continued in use over two centuries, roughly from the 21st to the end of the 19th century."

94. In the southern part of Area I of the 1934 campaign, sections of two parallel walls were found (see hatched lines on plan, Pl. 2a). Their fragmentary nature makes it uncertain whether they outlined a long chamber or were parts of different buildings. Their width (c. 80 cm.) shows substantial wall building. Furthermore, parts of these walls were incorporated into later constructions. In Area II no walls could be attributed to this phase, nor were any walls found in the 1954 or 1957 campaigns.

95. In the 1954 campaign only a few characteristic MB I sherds were found at the old camp site and in the test trenches of the mosque area. They were more numerous in the 1957 campaign, especially in the revetments. For a detailed study of this pottery see §§215 ff., and for other artifacts of MB I see Chapter XVI.

96. In 1960 we had better success with the MB I level. Immediately above the bedrock high place was an MB I building which we are identifying as a temple (Pls. 105c; 106; 108). Apparently the building was identical in size (11.35 × 3.5 m) with the north corridor of the town's northwest gateway, for the lowest walls of the eastern half of the gateway, the only part excavated to bedrock, are laid directly upon the stubs of the temple wall (Pl. 108). A test pit sunk at the western end of the corridor showed the same fill with flints and MB I sherds as at the eastern end.

97. Both the north and south walls of the new structure (Pl. 108) were battered as can be seen on Pl. 101a, although the east wall with its door facing almost due east was perpendicular (Pls. 105c; 106a). The latter wall had a foundation course similar to the south wall. The striking difference between the east wall and the adjacent north and south walls makes us wonder if it is not the result of a repair of the east wall. The blocked doorway in the east wall was about 1 m wide and was well centered — 1.1 m to the north and 1.15 m to the south (Pls. 105c; 106a). The course below the blocking formed the doorsill and established the floor level.

The north wall was still standing 2.25 m above bedrock at the east end but only about 1.5 m above the ledge of bedrock farther west. The lowest course in the south wall was roughly squared stones rising to about 30–45 cm above the ledge and forming a foundation course, wide to the west but narrow to the east. Isolated flagstones (28, 24, etc.) doubtless belonged to this paved floor. Since the building is directly above the blood-stained and calcined high place, and since the flagstones at the western end of the excavation were virtually on bedrock, it seems natural to identify this building as a temple, especially in light of the many cooking pot sherds and butchering flints found in the fill of this building. (The same kinds of flints and sherds were found both above and below the temple floor.) The far end of the room, where the altar and cult objects should be found, has not yet been excavated.

98. We found no exact clue to the date of the erection of the temple except that the town began at the very end of EB and reached quick prosperity in MB I — a prosperity leading us to believe the likely date for the temple's erection is early in MB I. The chief evidence for the date of its abandonment was the flints and sherds which were mostly MB I. No MB II sherds were found in the fill. Since the walls of the town's northwest gate complex were laid directly on the temple walls except at the outer edge of the north jamb, where they were laid on debris, there must not have been a great lapse of time between the abandonment of the temple and the building of the gateway (§§52 ff.). The temple may have been destroyed by fire since a scattering of ashes was found at two points. Perhaps an earthquake toppled it and the new builders used the stubs of the walls as foundations for the new northwest gate.

The temple may have had a longer life than the town proper, for the temple seems to have remained in use longer than the adjacent house walls of the northern area of the town. If so, the temple may have lived through the initial phase of MB II A, which is not true for the northern area of Beitin.

99. The MB I town is dated to about the nineteenth century B.C. The temple described above certainly gives evidence of the town's importance. The few house walls that have been preserved belonged to substantial buildings, and the change of soil from red earth to black shows that there was a much heavier population. The site was doubtless fortified although no defenses have yet been discovered in situ. This is not unexpected, for the MB II builders would likely have used the stone of any former wall and the line of the town's two walls was probably somewhat similar at the northern end of the site. The section of an MB II B building near the town wall was laid in the debris of MB I rocks similar to those used in the MB II B city wall.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:23)

100. The northern section of Bethel where we have been excavating houses has only a small amount of pottery corresponding to MB II A. No building installations were found unless, as suggested above, the temple continued in use during the first part of MB II A. Test pits sunk in the southern, or built-up, area of the town might present a different story. MB II A sherds were being found in larger numbers at the base of the southern wall of the MB II B town, and we seemed to be reaching an MB II A level at the time we had to close the 1960 campaign and before we could excavate below that wall.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:23-27)

101. In MB II B Bethel, c. 1700–1650 B.C., reached the status of a full-grown town. In contrast to the structures of preceding periods, MB II B Bethel had stronger, better buildings and excellent defenses (§§42 ff.). The 1934 campaign provided clues to the town's importance in MB II B. Later excavations proved that the walls of the MB II B town were so strong they remained her major defense through most of the rest of Bethel's history.

102. More masonry and pottery were found in the MB II level uncovered in 1934 than in its MB I predecessor (Pl. 2). Two phases of MB II were demonstrated by pottery differences, but no such distinction could be seen in the building remains in Area I. The earlier ceramic phase corresponded to the E level at TBM and is characterized by pottery covered with a highly burnished slip. The later phase must be placed somewhat later than TBM D on typological grounds. Its closest analogy is the latest MB occupation at Jericho, which may be dated about 1550 B.C.

103. The houses excavated tell the following story. At the extreme southern edge of Area I the wall south of sub 56⁴ belonged to MB II. This was shown not only by the large stones, which were quite different from the thin flat ones used in the LB constructions above it (Pls. 15a; 16a), but also by the greater width of the MB wall (1.25 m). This contrast was especially clear where the narrower LB construction reused an MB wall.⁵ The LB wall between 56 and 58 began at the south by reusing an MB II wall, whose big stones had been bonded into the south MB II wall, but the LB wall quickly changed to typically small flat stones of the first phase. In the south wall of 56 the same was true, but it was difficult to show it on the plans. The south wall of 56 became less and less MB as it ran west, and more and more Iron I in construction, until the MB II wall disappeared completely just east of the LB partition wall separating 56 and 56W. Farther west the wall was entirely rebuilt in Iron I and ran over an LB pavement. In sub 58S there was an MB II pavement with a raised ledge or border of stones on the north. This pavement fitted tightly against the edge of the MB wall. North of sub 63 we found a wall of heavy construction, 1 m wide with a jagged stump of wall projecting from it at right angles at the northeast, where it was broken away by the later north–south LB I wall. The short wall separating sub 51 and sub 52 was also MB II, and reused in LB. All house walls found in 1934 that were 1 m or more in thickness were either MB II or continuations of MB II, whereas the 70–80 cm walls related to them were LB. The 1957 campaign, however, showed thinner MB walls in a poorer area. In sub 63 there was an MB II fireplace and floor level with MB II sherds below and MB plus LB sherds above. The rise of terrain here was so considerable that there must have been either steps or a ramp in it, but we found no clear trace of either in the excavated area.

104. In Area II all MB walls found were attributed to phase 2. The north and east walls of 161 and the west wall of 170 were reused in LB. The doorway between 173 and sub 170 had an MB and two LB phases.⁶ Some LB pavement in 163 was laid above the north wall of MB 175 and 176. The new wall, number 173 in Pl. 17b, served as a socle with a flat surface on which a mud-brick wall had been erected. For cross-sections of Areas I & II, see Pl. 10.

105. In the 1954 campaign (Pl. 85a), MB II was again represented by a stone socle (Pl. 88c) typical of those built to carry a brick wall (307–308).⁷ The width of most of the wall was 107 cm, but in places it varied from 103 to 109 cm. This roughly approximated the width of the solid stone walls found in the MB phase of the 1934 campaign. A trench had been dug for the socle, and after the large stones had been laid in place, small stones were wedged in at the edges of the trench. Brick from the wall was in the debris above and beside the foundation. The use of brick in large buildings in the mountainous interior of Palestine was characteristic of the Hyksos period, and the pottery checked with that dating. It was predominantly MB II C rather than MB II B. There was a heavy burning above this socle, telling the story of the destruction of this building and marking the end of MB II. The only MB II floor levels are in 303 and 304; the former room had a hawar floor and the latter a stone pavement. MB II sherds were found at these points, and in 305, 306, 309, and 310. The best MB pottery was found in 310. In 307 and 308 there was evidence of a fierce burning containing bricks and the remains of a collapsed roof under this 107 cm wall. In the debris there was a broken toggle pin as well as MB II B sherds. Similar sherds were found between this level and bedrock. 106. Although there were some indications in the 1934 campaign that the latest MB town had been destroyed by fire, they were not impressive enough to justify a definite conclusion. In the 1954 campaign we did not find enough floor levels to settle this question. The 107 cm wall was, however, destroyed by a fierce fire. There was a section of stone pavement still intact in 305 that probably dates from MB II B, since it was about 50 cm below the other building remains of MB II. A few EB sherds (hand-molded and combed) were found here and below it but no typical MB I sherds were discovered.

107. The best MB II installations were found during the 1957 campaign, and they enabled us to work out the history of this phase of the town's occupation better than in the earlier campaigns (Pl. 91a, b; bench mark is 10.00 m). MB II B pottery similar to the E ware at TBM was found with the first phase of construction (Pl. 91a). These MB II house walls were built on or near bedrock and were contemporary with the erection of the town's north wall. (The surface of the bedrock was irregular.) There was an isolated wall in 406 at the east edge of the excavation, but the other walls were bonded together and formed one large house. One wall of 410 abutted on the town wall. It was six courses high and 70 cm wide while two other walls nearby were 50 cm (Pl. 97a). There was a stone pavement laid on a djawar bed in 410. This first major phase of construction was completely destroyed by fire at the 7.9 m level. There had been an earlier partial burning in MB II B at 7.5 m.

108. The succeeding phase of construction (Pls. 91b, 98b) was MB II C. The pottery associated with it corresponded to D ware at TBM. It was built on a new plan, and the only earlier MB wall carried through into this phase was the isolated one at the extreme east edge of the excavations, which was used only in the first phase of MB II C. The new construction was excellent MB masonry. To be appreciated this masonry must be seen in photographs rather than in the plans, which are often complicated by LB repairs (Pl. 100a).

There were two phases in MB II C, separated by a very thick layer of ashes which at one place was 30–40 cm deep. Only minor changes were introduced into the construction of the second phase. The dominant feature of both phases was a patrician house built around a courtyard (403–406) about 8.6 × 4.25 m in extent. There were two grain pits in the courtyard at pavement level, and a third grain pit in the pavement of 408, which was only about 16 cm higher. The courtyard (403–406) had been repaved. The remnants of a very solid pavement on its south side are 45 cm higher than the earlier and thinner pavement along the north wall. There were two pavements in 408. The one on the plans is about 40 cm above the lower one which apparently belongs to the earlier courtyard pavement. This lower pavement continues under the south wall of LB 408. The pavement in 411 goes with the earlier courtyard.

109. The north wall of the courtyard was 1.4 m wide and the south wall was approximately the same. In phase 2 the north wall was modified so that it was only about half as thick. Against it on the south side two piers stood on the projecting ledge left by the wider earlier wall. We do not know their use. Only the west section of the south wall of the courtyard was preserved. It ended in an excellent door jamb on the east but the other jamb was missing. Opposite, in the next phase, was an isolated pier. The west wall of the court was approximately 75 cm wide with a doorway at each end (Pl. 100a). In the lower left corner of Pl. 98b, this wall is shown in the process of being excavated. Six courses were preserved, with one of the original doorsills which was a single stone. The central section of the upper two courses had been replaced by a very inferior LB repair. The west walls of 407 and 411 were also of excellent masonry and of about the thickness of the wall just mentioned. No walls separated 410 and 411 in the first phase. In the second, a wall between the rooms was extended north to abut on the town wall. This wall, including repairs, was preserved for about ten courses. Because of the cost of removing and replacing the heavy boundary walls along the north street of Beitin, we excavated only this small area along the inner face of the town wall. Room 409 was not dug below the LB level.

110. The east wall of the courtyard marked the eastern boundary of the excavations. Grain pit No. 1 was built directly against it; it was bell-shaped with a maximum width of 1.5 m and a height of 2 m. It was well preserved and contained charred material. The last of these successive MB houses was also burned, unlike the corresponding levels excavated in 1934 and 1954.

111. In the 1960 campaign, just north of the U-shaped gateway and abutting on it, we found the east and south walls of a large MB II B structure which we are tentatively calling a haram area, something like the Dome of the Rock esplanade at Jerusalem (Pls. 101; 107a; 120, upper left corner). Its east wall (3.5 m long) was on the same alignment as that of the northwest town gate. The wall was irregular in thickness but was approximately 1.25 m wide. The doorway (later filled in) was 1 m wide on the outside but wider inside. The south jamb was nine⁸ courses high. Just west of the door was some stone paving although most of the floor in the area was djawar. We believe there is a blocked doorway at the north edge of the excavation. We were unable to locate the corresponding west wall of this large area although we went some distance beyond the west wall of the adjacent gate complex. At that point we found a second thin djawar pavement 25 cm above the former. We found no cross walls. The whole area was a single unit. We did not locate the north wall, although we dug a narrow test trench (Pl. 120, upper left-hand corner) about 6 m north from the northwest corner of the gateway complex so the area covered by this building was at least 28 × 5 m. We conjecture sections of fallen betwar found upon the floor are accounted for by collapse of the roof of a colonnade built against the north wall of the gateway complex. The large size of this area suggests that it may have been an open courtyard used for worship after the abandonment of the temple which lies underneath the gateway just to the south. A test area still farther to the northwest yielded what may have been a massebah or stone pillar located in a great mass of discarded rocks of all sizes. This courtyard was dated by its MB II B and C sherds to the same period as the adjacent northwest gate, and the courtyard floor was on the same level as the bottom of the lowest step that leads up to the gate.

112. The lower section of the blocked doorway in the east wall of this courtyard area was a normal blocking but the upper section was a Byzantine grave 2.1 m long (Pl. 101b)⁹. Three well-dressed rectangular stones formed each side of the grave, which was oriented east and west. It was covered by five thin irregular slabs with small stones which filled the cracks.

The contents were unusual. Dr. T. Canaan identified one skeleton as that of a man about 40 years of age, taller than usual for that time and well built. The teeth were in excellent condition. The bones gave no clue to the reason of death. There was also the lower half of the skeleton of a man about 21 years old, and what was apparently his lower jaw, plus another lower jaw of a still younger person. In digging this grave through the talus slope of the rock fill over the city gate, the Byzantine diggers had been troubled by rock slides and the grave was at the bottom of a wide funnel-shaped hole. The funnel-shaped area, however, was not refilled with the rocks removed from it but with earth which contained MB II sherds which sifted into the grave through the cracks between the irregular stone coverings. There was a sort of rock pavement a little above the grave, apparently to discourage hyenas and jackals. The doorway leading east out of this large betwar courtyard went into another djawar-paved area but the wall of this new room was thin — only a single stone wide. This room could not be traced more than three stones when it disappeared under a paved street of modern Beitin.

113. When we first began looking for the west wall near the northwest gate, three test pits were sunk. One pit came down directly over the corner of one of the finest masonry structures yet excavated from early Palestine (see NE room in Pl. 103b). It was made of fine semi-dressed limestone and the section uncovered looks much like the corner of an expensive city church today (Pl. 109a). It had very heavy foundations and a drain at floor level.¹⁰ The south wall still stands 3.7 m high, without counting the three foundation courses (1.12 m) which were laid in debris containing MB I sherds and a few from the end of EB. The debris was chiefly massive stones, perhaps from the town's earliest wall. They prevented us reaching bedrock in this pit. The building was probably a palace or temple. The latter identification is based on the pottery found outside the building: a pottery cult stand (patterned after an Egyptian column), a pottery bull's leg, and fragments of two jars with serpent motifs. There were two baskets of animal bones with a heavy proportion of beef bones. Inside the building was a jar handle with a serpent motif. The structure was in use from MB II B through much of Iron II. The north wall was later than the original building but went with the three floors found in the room. The first, a stone pavement later patched with djawar, was 2.8 m below the surface of the ground. LB sherds including bil-bils, milk bowls, and painted ware were found on the floor. Iron II and Iron I sherds had been found earlier but recent farmers had destroyed the floor levels.

114. At 3.2 m sections of a second stone and djawar floor (8–10 cm) and ashes were found. At 3.45 m there was a thinner djawar floor and below it painted pottery in ashes. At 3.62 m the top of the outer face of a wall appeared at the east edge of the pit. It passed under the north wall. Its foundation was at 4.77 m, which is just below the west and south walls proper but above the foundations of the west and south walls. The east wall passed under the north wall. MB pottery was found below the last painted pottery mentioned. (Some MB had appeared with LB a little earlier, especially store-jars.) A large MB II bowl and serpent handles were found at approximately 3.9 m, i.e. the bottom of the west and the south walls proper. This is apparently the floor level of the temple as shown by the drain hole and the beginning of the foundation courses. We did not excavate the northwest room except to discover that its south wall (#9 and #10) was not earlier than Iron II and may be even later. The wall separating the southwest and southeast room was Iron II, as sherds of that period were found in the wall when it was removed. It went down only to 1.86 m. In the north end of the southwest room a djawar floor was found at 2.23 m under the surface, and associated with it at 2.1 m was a very shallow wall (one or two courses only) in the south end of the room. (This wall is not on the plan.) At 2.78 m a djawar floor appeared in both the southwest and southeast rooms. Apparently at that time the area was a single room. This level was approximately the same as the stone pavement in the northeast room. Beneath this floor in the southwest and southeast rooms were at least 15 cm of ashes. No more floor levels appeared in the area but considerable ashes appeared in the debris from 3.10 to 3.75 m. At approximately the top of the foundation courses of the MB II building we found ashes mixed with animal bones, especially beef, a trumpet-foot bowl, a V-shaped drinking cup and cult stand, a pottery bull's leg, and MB II sherds. Inside the building, i.e. the northeast room, at the same level, were the serpent handle and the trumpet-foot bowl. Three other MB II houses were found and they abutted on the town's west wall (§§61, 64, 66).

115. The collective evidence of the four campaigns shows that Bethel was occupied at least in part during MB II A and the whole site was continuously inhabited throughout MB II B and C. The town continued to increase in importance until its fall at the very end of MB II C. The town's defenses which were erected at the beginning of MB II B were so effective that they served Bethel through most of her long history. The best buildings found were the temple just described and the patrician house of the 1957 campaign. The section of the town excavated along the north wall showed traces of enormous fires within MB II B as well as one at its close. In MB II C the same area produced an excellent patrician house. About halfway through the period it was destroyed by a great conflagration but was quickly rebuilt with little change of plan, suggesting that there was no change of population. This building was again destroyed by fire at the close of MB II C, but no similar destruction was found in any of the other areas we excavated. MB II Bethel was a well-to-do community center for local peasants and also a good trading center for semi-nomads, since it was located at a major crossing of north–south and east–west roads. Although MB did produce some excellent masonry the peak of the town's material culture was to come in LB. MB II pottery is treated in Chapter XI and other artifacts in Chapter XVI.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:20-21)

82. In 1934 we dug to bedrock in about one- quarter of the area excavated¹. Two baskets of Late Chalcolithic sherds were recovered from pockets of the virgin red earth². These sherds were identified as Early Bronze in the preliminary report (BASOR). But later study proved them to be Late Chalcolithic similar to the sherds found at Tulul Abu el-‘Alayiq near Old Testament Jericho, the next city SE of Bethel (AASOR, Vols. XXXII–XXXIII, Pls. 21–37). Although no building remains were found, these sherds came from nearly every locus, thus dating the site's earliest extended occupation to Late Chalcolithic c. 3200 B.C.

83. During the 1960 campaign when we dug through the floor of the town's NW gate, we learned that the walls of that gateway complex had been erected directly on those of a temple, and that this building, in turn, was built immediately upon a Canaanite mountain-top high place. This high place was found when we excavated to bedrock directly inside the threshold of the town's gate. When this bedrock was being washed in preparation for photography, we saw that some of it was normal white limestone, some of it was stained red, and part of the rock surface was powdered as if it had been subjected to a very hot fire.

84. Bedrock was very irregular at this point, and the stains were concentrated on the higher ridges or ran down over the faces of the crevices in the rock. When the rock was wetted and then permitted to dry, the stains showed as light pink splotches. This led Taylor, who was in charge of the work at this point, to believe these dark spots splattered about over the cleared area were blood. Majid Bayyuk, a medical student from the American University of Beirut, who was on our staff, secured the chemicals to run the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) test for blood. Acetic acid in benzidine activated by the addition of hydrogen peroxide to intensify color, and applied to the stains turned them blue or green and proved they were old blood. All the stained areas gave this reaction, but none was obtained from test areas of the white limestone. We next sank a test pit at the extreme W end of the gate corridor and another outside the NW corner of the gateway building in the large huwar courtyard. Stains on the bedrock in both pits were tested and proved to be blood. The widest E–W bedrock area tested was c. 13 m.

85. Much of the bedrock was milk-white and powdery. Pieces broken from it felt much like soapstone. A number of spherical-shaped stones (10–20 cm.) found nearby had a similar texture. This suggested to us that a sacrificial fire had been built on part of the area. We felt sure we had found the old bare mountain top that the Canaanites had used as an open air sacrificial shrine to their god El. To increase the area of the high place open for study, we next cleared everything below the floor level of the entire E half of the N corridor of the gateway complex to bedrock.

86. The irregular surface of the mountain top rises quickly perpendicularly to a ledge whose nearly level surface slopes only gently to the SE. A test pit sunk at the W end of the corridor showed the ledge to be of approximately the same level there. We found some ashes above it and toward the W end of the cleared section, but otherwise the ledge gave no evidence of burning. Dark stained areas concentrated toward the center and W portion of the ledge gave positive blood reaction to the F.B.I. test while the smaller normal white areas of the rock gave negative reactions. The F.B.I. test identifies a stain as blood but does not differentiate between animal and human blood. We could not run the complicated test used to differentiate them. We therefore submitted bone fragments found in the debris above the rock's surface to the surgeons at the Lutheran Hospital on the Mount of Olives. They reported that none of the bones were human. Although Jordan had had a tragic three years' drought prior to 1960, the clay below the huwar floor was very moist. This wet clay doubtless has been a factor in the preservation of the blood stains through the centuries.

87. Under the deep foundations of the floor of the gate corridor, in some areas 85 cm. thick, flints and sherds were found everywhere in great quantity. A variety of forms of flints were found, some of them of types used in butchering or scraping of skins. About 60% of the Chalcolithic sherds found in the extreme E end of the fill near the burned surface of the rock were from cooking pots. There were some EB sherds, but more were MB I representing a wider variety of forms. There were no MB II sherds. In a hollow immediately above bedrock and directly below the center of the E doorway of the MB I temple was a jar identified by Père de Vaux as Chalcolithic. Broken by pressure from the fill above, it contained two small animal bones, one the eye ridges of a skull, the other probably a femur fragment. Although the jar's position might lead to the speculation that it was a foundation sacrifice for the temple built above the high place, the jar is approximately 1500 years earlier than the temple and comes from the time of the original mountain-top shrine. Because the jar is dated at least as early as 3500 B.C., it establishes the earliest firmly dated human use of the Bethel high place as 3500 B.C. although the site was doubtless used much earlier.

88. The only actual installation in connection with this earliest place of sacrifice was a shallow elliptical pit or bin, 55 cm. long and 15 cm. deep. It was on a thin layer of debris just above bedrock and c. 50 cm. E of the ledge. It was made by standing thin slabs of limestone on edge in the ground. They averaged c. 1 cm. thick and 15 cm. in height. The thickest was 2 cm. and the highest 20 cm. There were a few stone slabs on the bottom of the bin, the longest being 22 cm. There were also some pieces of charcoal, the largest 2–5 cm. Some yellow ochre was nearby. The N wall of the temple was built directly over the N half of this bin.

89. This bare mountain-top was the ancient high place where the Canaanites worshipped El, the chief god of the old Canaanite pantheon; and the city became one of his major shrines as witnessed by its name, Beth-el. The antiquity of the site and worship is shown by the continuing use of the name El whereas most Palestinian shrines preferred to honor the new god Baal. Although we did not discover Jeroboam's temple, we did find its ancestral high place. The area excavated at Bethel is too small for exact comparisons with the Jebusite high place at Jerusalem above which Solomon erected his temple, but the ledge at Bethel reminds one of that “rock” in Jerusalem. Although Jeroboam did not build a temple directly on the original Bethel site, the MB I population did, laying their pavement on the ledge itself and aligning their door directly to the E. Furthermore there was what we believe to be a large huwar paved haram area just N of the gateway complex of the MB IIB city. In the debris of various shaped rocks in a field NW of our work was a large stone that may have served as a massebah or sacred pillar.

90. About all that can be said at present of the history of Bethel in the Chalcolithic period is that the NW corner of the site was occupied by a large, well-used open-air sanctuary which can be dated at least as early as 3500 B.C. To the S of that high place and extending along what later became the W wall of the town, there was a settled occupation c. 3200 B.C. The village showed no signs of fortification nor could house walls be traced. This masonry was doubtless all used later in constructing the W wall of the MB II town. All the sherds found belonged to the category of “kitchen ware” and one can conjecture that the new settlers were poor.

91. The ridge E of Bethel was sacred soil, for in 1934 a massebah stood in a roughly squared socket at the nearest point on the ridgeline from the town. Unfortunately the farmers cleared the land of rocks for cultivation before the installation could be studied. On the same ridge S of the Deir Diwan road and near the W edge of the ridge, was an excellent table-shaped stone altar with cup marks. The rock was 2.5 m. long and 1 m. wide at one end and 2 m. at the other. The surface was semi-flat. One cup mark was very shallow, the other deeper. Many flints were strewn about at its base. Some were microlithic. L. Vestri reports another altar on this ridge. Abraham's altar was somewhere on this long N–S ridge, which has a clear view of the Mt. of Olives. A few sherds belonging to the transition from EB to MB I were found at Burj Beitin, the Byzantine identification of Abraham's altar.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:22)

92. During the 1954 campaign no EB floors or walls were discovered, but sherds of late EB, similar to the TBM "J" level, were found in the lowest debris at the old camp site in 305, 308, and 310. Similar sherds were found in test pits in the mosque area close to the springs. Some similar sherds had been washed down from the tell above, and their edges had been abraded in the process. The only new information added by the 1957 campaign was based on the finding of sherds still earlier than those found in 1954. One Neolithic sherd and four Khirbet Kerak sherds (EB III A) were found in the glacis of the W wall of the city. Sherds similar to those of the 1954 campaign were found in the glacis of the N wall as well as the W wall. During the 1960 campaign late EB sherds were also found in the fill of the MB I temple, and in the lowest debris in the NW corner of the town. No building remains were uncovered in any campaign.

The EB age at Bethel (c. 2400 B.C. to c. 2200 B.C.) may be summarized as follows. After the Chalcolithic period the site was abandoned. We could find no clue for the town's disappearance. Four Khirbet Kerak sherds were the only signs of life here until the very close of early EB. The town suddenly came to life showing occupation around the great spring in the mosque area and also in the NW section of Beitin adjacent to the old high place. No building remains were found. Stones from these walls were doubtless used to construct the massive MB II fortifications in the same general area.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:22-23)

93. The EB occupation had ended c. 2200 B.C. and the site was unoccupied until about the nineteenth century, when the first major urban installations still intact were found (Pl. 2). This marks the MB I town. Pottery found in the 1934 campaign was no longer in the red earth but in the black occupation soil. This MB I pottery was succinctly described in the preliminary report³ as follows: "This ware is nearly all thin and free from grits, red-baked or creamy grey in color, with a creamy grey slip. It is decorated with vestigial folded ledge-handles and with elaborate bands of incised design, including horizontal bands, wavy bands, and rows of dots or dashes. This class of ware is identical with that from TBM level H, the Copper Age at Tell el-Ajjol, the extensive parallel remains from Tell ed-Duweir, and Watzinger's Spätkanaanitisch at Jericho. It may be observed that the closest relations of our Bethel ware seem to be with Jericho and Tell el-Ajjol, while the TBM pottery is more or less identical with that at Tell ed-Duweir. There can no longer be any question that this category of pottery continued in use over two centuries, roughly from the 21st to the end of the 19th century."

94. In the southern part of Area I of the 1934 campaign, sections of two parallel walls were found (see hatched lines on plan, Pl. 2a). Their fragmentary nature makes it uncertain whether they outlined a long chamber or were parts of different buildings. Their width (c. 80 cm.) shows substantial wall building. Furthermore, parts of these walls were incorporated into later constructions. In Area II no walls could be attributed to this phase, nor were any walls found in the 1954 or 1957 campaigns.

95. In the 1954 campaign only a few characteristic MB I sherds were found at the old camp site and in the test trenches of the mosque area. They were more numerous in the 1957 campaign, especially in the revetments. For a detailed study of this pottery see §§215 ff., and for other artifacts of MB I see Chapter XVI.

96. In 1960 we had better success with the MB I level. Immediately above the bedrock high place was an MB I building which we are identifying as a temple (Pls. 105c; 106; 108). Apparently the building was identical in size (11.35 × 3.5 m) with the north corridor of the town's northwest gateway, for the lowest walls of the eastern half of the gateway, the only part excavated to bedrock, are laid directly upon the stubs of the temple wall (Pl. 108). A test pit sunk at the western end of the corridor showed the same fill with flints and MB I sherds as at the eastern end.

97. Both the north and south walls of the new structure (Pl. 108) were battered as can be seen on Pl. 101a, although the east wall with its door facing almost due east was perpendicular (Pls. 105c; 106a). The latter wall had a foundation course similar to the south wall. The striking difference between the east wall and the adjacent north and south walls makes us wonder if it is not the result of a repair of the east wall. The blocked doorway in the east wall was about 1 m wide and was well centered — 1.1 m to the north and 1.15 m to the south (Pls. 105c; 106a). The course below the blocking formed the doorsill and established the floor level.

The north wall was still standing 2.25 m above bedrock at the east end but only about 1.5 m above the ledge of bedrock farther west. The lowest course in the south wall was roughly squared stones rising to about 30–45 cm above the ledge and forming a foundation course, wide to the west but narrow to the east. Isolated flagstones (28, 24, etc.) doubtless belonged to this paved floor. Since the building is directly above the blood-stained and calcined high place, and since the flagstones at the western end of the excavation were virtually on bedrock, it seems natural to identify this building as a temple, especially in light of the many cooking pot sherds and butchering flints found in the fill of this building. (The same kinds of flints and sherds were found both above and below the temple floor.) The far end of the room, where the altar and cult objects should be found, has not yet been excavated.

98. We found no exact clue to the date of the erection of the temple except that the town began at the very end of EB and reached quick prosperity in MB I — a prosperity leading us to believe the likely date for the temple's erection is early in MB I. The chief evidence for the date of its abandonment was the flints and sherds which were mostly MB I. No MB II sherds were found in the fill. Since the walls of the town's northwest gate complex were laid directly on the temple walls except at the outer edge of the north jamb, where they were laid on debris, there must not have been a great lapse of time between the abandonment of the temple and the building of the gateway (§§52 ff.). The temple may have been destroyed by fire since a scattering of ashes was found at two points. Perhaps an earthquake toppled it and the new builders used the stubs of the walls as foundations for the new northwest gate.

The temple may have had a longer life than the town proper, for the temple seems to have remained in use longer than the adjacent house walls of the northern area of the town. If so, the temple may have lived through the initial phase of MB II A, which is not true for the northern area of Beitin.

99. The MB I town is dated to about the nineteenth century B.C. The temple described above certainly gives evidence of the town's importance. The few house walls that have been preserved belonged to substantial buildings, and the change of soil from red earth to black shows that there was a much heavier population. The site was doubtless fortified although no defenses have yet been discovered in situ. This is not unexpected, for the MB II builders would likely have used the stone of any former wall and the line of the town's two walls was probably somewhat similar at the northern end of the site. The section of an MB II B building near the town wall was laid in the debris of MB I rocks similar to those used in the MB II B city wall.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:23)

100. The northern section of Bethel where we have been excavating houses has only a small amount of pottery corresponding to MB II A. No building installations were found unless, as suggested above, the temple continued in use during the first part of MB II A. Test pits sunk in the southern, or built-up, area of the town might present a different story. MB II A sherds were being found in larger numbers at the base of the southern wall of the MB II B town, and we seemed to be reaching an MB II A level at the time we had to close the 1960 campaign and before we could excavate below that wall.

• from Kelso et al. (1968:23-27)

101. In MB II B Bethel, c. 1700–1650 B.C., reached the status of a full-grown town. In contrast to the structures of preceding periods, MB II B Bethel had stronger, better buildings and excellent defenses (§§42 ff.). The 1934 campaign provided clues to the town's importance in MB II B. Later excavations proved that the walls of the MB II B town were so strong they remained her major defense through most of the rest of Bethel's history.

102. More masonry and pottery were found in the MB II level uncovered in 1934 than in its MB I predecessor (Pl. 2). Two phases of MB II were demonstrated by pottery differences, but no such distinction could be seen in the building remains in Area I. The earlier ceramic phase corresponded to the E level at TBM and is characterized by pottery covered with a highly burnished slip. The later phase must be placed somewhat later than TBM D on typological grounds. Its closest analogy is the latest MB occupation at Jericho, which may be dated about 1550 B.C.

103. The houses excavated tell the following story. At the extreme southern edge of Area I the wall south of sub 56⁴ belonged to MB II. This was shown not only by the large stones, which were quite different from the thin flat ones used in the LB constructions above it (Pls. 15a; 16a), but also by the greater width of the MB wall (1.25 m). This contrast was especially clear where the narrower LB construction reused an MB wall.⁵ The LB wall between 56 and 58 began at the south by reusing an MB II wall, whose big stones had been bonded into the south MB II wall, but the LB wall quickly changed to typically small flat stones of the first phase. In the south wall of 56 the same was true, but it was difficult to show it on the plans. The south wall of 56 became less and less MB as it ran west, and more and more Iron I in construction, until the MB II wall disappeared completely just east of the LB partition wall separating 56 and 56W. Farther west the wall was entirely rebuilt in Iron I and ran over an LB pavement. In sub 58S there was an MB II pavement with a raised ledge or border of stones on the north. This pavement fitted tightly against the edge of the MB wall. North of sub 63 we found a wall of heavy construction, 1 m wide with a jagged stump of wall projecting from it at right angles at the northeast, where it was broken away by the later north–south LB I wall. The short wall separating sub 51 and sub 52 was also MB II, and reused in LB. All house walls found in 1934 that were 1 m or more in thickness were either MB II or continuations of MB II, whereas the 70–80 cm walls related to them were LB. The 1957 campaign, however, showed thinner MB walls in a poorer area. In sub 63 there was an MB II fireplace and floor level with MB II sherds below and MB plus LB sherds above. The rise of terrain here was so considerable that there must have been either steps or a ramp in it, but we found no clear trace of either in the excavated area.

104. In Area II all MB walls found were attributed to phase 2. The north and east walls of 161 and the west wall of 170 were reused in LB. The doorway between 173 and sub 170 had an MB and two LB phases.⁶ Some LB pavement in 163 was laid above the north wall of MB 175 and 176. The new wall, number 173 in Pl. 17b, served as a socle with a flat surface on which a mud-brick wall had been erected. For cross-sections of Areas I & II, see Pl. 10.

105. In the 1954 campaign (Pl. 85a), MB II was again represented by a stone socle (Pl. 88c) typical of those built to carry a brick wall (307–308).⁷ The width of most of the wall was 107 cm, but in places it varied from 103 to 109 cm. This roughly approximated the width of the solid stone walls found in the MB phase of the 1934 campaign. A trench had been dug for the socle, and after the large stones had been laid in place, small stones were wedged in at the edges of the trench. Brick from the wall was in the debris above and beside the foundation. The use of brick in large buildings in the mountainous interior of Palestine was characteristic of the Hyksos period, and the pottery checked with that dating. It was predominantly MB II C rather than MB II B. There was a heavy burning above this socle, telling the story of the destruction of this building and marking the end of MB II. The only MB II floor levels are in 303 and 304; the former room had a hawar floor and the latter a stone pavement. MB II sherds were found at these points, and in 305, 306, 309, and 310. The best MB pottery was found in 310. In 307 and 308 there was evidence of a fierce burning containing bricks and the remains of a collapsed roof under this 107 cm wall. In the debris there was a broken toggle pin as well as MB II B sherds. Similar sherds were found between this level and bedrock. 106. Although there were some indications in the 1934 campaign that the latest MB town had been destroyed by fire, they were not impressive enough to justify a definite conclusion. In the 1954 campaign we did not find enough floor levels to settle this question. The 107 cm wall was, however, destroyed by a fierce fire. There was a section of stone pavement still intact in 305 that probably dates from MB II B, since it was about 50 cm below the other building remains of MB II. A few EB sherds (hand-molded and combed) were found here and below it but no typical MB I sherds were discovered.

107. The best MB II installations were found during the 1957 campaign, and they enabled us to work out the history of this phase of the town's occupation better than in the earlier campaigns (Pl. 91a, b; bench mark is 10.00 m). MB II B pottery similar to the E ware at TBM was found with the first phase of construction (Pl. 91a). These MB II house walls were built on or near bedrock and were contemporary with the erection of the town's north wall. (The surface of the bedrock was irregular.) There was an isolated wall in 406 at the east edge of the excavation, but the other walls were bonded together and formed one large house. One wall of 410 abutted on the town wall. It was six courses high and 70 cm wide while two other walls nearby were 50 cm (Pl. 97a). There was a stone pavement laid on a djawar bed in 410. This first major phase of construction was completely destroyed by fire at the 7.9 m level. There had been an earlier partial burning in MB II B at 7.5 m.

108. The succeeding phase of construction (Pls. 91b, 98b) was MB II C. The pottery associated with it corresponded to D ware at TBM. It was built on a new plan, and the only earlier MB wall carried through into this phase was the isolated one at the extreme east edge of the excavations, which was used only in the first phase of MB II C. The new construction was excellent MB masonry. To be appreciated this masonry must be seen in photographs rather than in the plans, which are often complicated by LB repairs (Pl. 100a).

There were two phases in MB II C, separated by a very thick layer of ashes which at one place was 30–40 cm deep. Only minor changes were introduced into the construction of the second phase. The dominant feature of both phases was a patrician house built around a courtyard (403–406) about 8.6 × 4.25 m in extent. There were two grain pits in the courtyard at pavement level, and a third grain pit in the pavement of 408, which was only about 16 cm higher. The courtyard (403–406) had been repaved. The remnants of a very solid pavement on its south side are 45 cm higher than the earlier and thinner pavement along the north wall. There were two pavements in 408. The one on the plans is about 40 cm above the lower one which apparently belongs to the earlier courtyard pavement. This lower pavement continues under the south wall of LB 408. The pavement in 411 goes with the earlier courtyard.

109. The north wall of the courtyard was 1.4 m wide and the south wall was approximately the same. In phase 2 the north wall was modified so that it was only about half as thick. Against it on the south side two piers stood on the projecting ledge left by the wider earlier wall. We do not know their use. Only the west section of the south wall of the courtyard was preserved. It ended in an excellent door jamb on the east but the other jamb was missing. Opposite, in the next phase, was an isolated pier. The west wall of the court was approximately 75 cm wide with a doorway at each end (Pl. 100a). In the lower left corner of Pl. 98b, this wall is shown in the process of being excavated. Six courses were preserved, with one of the original doorsills which was a single stone. The central section of the upper two courses had been replaced by a very inferior LB repair. The west walls of 407 and 411 were also of excellent masonry and of about the thickness of the wall just mentioned. No walls separated 410 and 411 in the first phase. In the second, a wall between the rooms was extended north to abut on the town wall. This wall, including repairs, was preserved for about ten courses. Because of the cost of removing and replacing the heavy boundary walls along the north street of Beitin, we excavated only this small area along the inner face of the town wall. Room 409 was not dug below the LB level.

110. The east wall of the courtyard marked the eastern boundary of the excavations. Grain pit No. 1 was built directly against it; it was bell-shaped with a maximum width of 1.5 m and a height of 2 m. It was well preserved and contained charred material. The last of these successive MB houses was also burned, unlike the corresponding levels excavated in 1934 and 1954.

111. In the 1960 campaign, just north of the U-shaped gateway and abutting on it, we found the east and south walls of a large MB II B structure which we are tentatively calling a haram area, something like the Dome of the Rock esplanade at Jerusalem (Pls. 101; 107a; 120, upper left corner). Its east wall (3.5 m long) was on the same alignment as that of the northwest town gate. The wall was irregular in thickness but was approximately 1.25 m wide. The doorway (later filled in) was 1 m wide on the outside but wider inside. The south jamb was nine⁸ courses high. Just west of the door was some stone paving although most of the floor in the area was djawar. We believe there is a blocked doorway at the north edge of the excavation. We were unable to locate the corresponding west wall of this large area although we went some distance beyond the west wall of the adjacent gate complex. At that point we found a second thin djawar pavement 25 cm above the former. We found no cross walls. The whole area was a single unit. We did not locate the north wall, although we dug a narrow test trench (Pl. 120, upper left-hand corner) about 6 m north from the northwest corner of the gateway complex so the area covered by this building was at least 28 × 5 m. We conjecture sections of fallen betwar found upon the floor are accounted for by collapse of the roof of a colonnade built against the north wall of the gateway complex. The large size of this area suggests that it may have been an open courtyard used for worship after the abandonment of the temple which lies underneath the gateway just to the south. A test area still farther to the northwest yielded what may have been a massebah or stone pillar located in a great mass of discarded rocks of all sizes. This courtyard was dated by its MB II B and C sherds to the same period as the adjacent northwest gate, and the courtyard floor was on the same level as the bottom of the lowest step that leads up to the gate.

112. The lower section of the blocked doorway in the east wall of this courtyard area was a normal blocking but the upper section was a Byzantine grave 2.1 m long (Pl. 101b)⁹. Three well-dressed rectangular stones formed each side of the grave, which was oriented east and west. It was covered by five thin irregular slabs with small stones which filled the cracks.

The contents were unusual. Dr. T. Canaan identified one skeleton as that of a man about 40 years of age, taller than usual for that time and well built. The teeth were in excellent condition. The bones gave no clue to the reason of death. There was also the lower half of the skeleton of a man about 21 years old, and what was apparently his lower jaw, plus another lower jaw of a still younger person. In digging this grave through the talus slope of the rock fill over the city gate, the Byzantine diggers had been troubled by rock slides and the grave was at the bottom of a wide funnel-shaped hole. The funnel-shaped area, however, was not refilled with the rocks removed from it but with earth which contained MB II sherds which sifted into the grave through the cracks between the irregular stone coverings. There was a sort of rock pavement a little above the grave, apparently to discourage hyenas and jackals. The doorway leading east out of this large betwar courtyard went into another djawar-paved area but the wall of this new room was thin — only a single stone wide. This room could not be traced more than three stones when it disappeared under a paved street of modern Beitin.

113. When we first began looking for the west wall near the northwest gate, three test pits were sunk. One pit came down directly over the corner of one of the finest masonry structures yet excavated from early Palestine (see NE room in Pl. 103b). It was made of fine semi-dressed limestone and the section uncovered looks much like the corner of an expensive city church today (Pl. 109a). It had very heavy foundations and a drain at floor level.¹⁰ The south wall still stands 3.7 m high, without counting the three foundation courses (1.12 m) which were laid in debris containing MB I sherds and a few from the end of EB. The debris was chiefly massive stones, perhaps from the town's earliest wall. They prevented us reaching bedrock in this pit. The building was probably a palace or temple. The latter identification is based on the pottery found outside the building: a pottery cult stand (patterned after an Egyptian column), a pottery bull's leg, and fragments of two jars with serpent motifs. There were two baskets of animal bones with a heavy proportion of beef bones. Inside the building was a jar handle with a serpent motif. The structure was in use from MB II B through much of Iron II. The north wall was later than the original building but went with the three floors found in the room. The first, a stone pavement later patched with djawar, was 2.8 m below the surface of the ground. LB sherds including bil-bils, milk bowls, and painted ware were found on the floor. Iron II and Iron I sherds had been found earlier but recent farmers had destroyed the floor levels.

114. At 3.2 m sections of a second stone and djawar floor (8–10 cm) and ashes were found. At 3.45 m there was a thinner djawar floor and below it painted pottery in ashes. At 3.62 m the top of the outer face of a wall appeared at the east edge of the pit. It passed under the north wall. Its foundation was at 4.77 m, which is just below the west and south walls proper but above the foundations of the west and south walls. The east wall passed under the north wall. MB pottery was found below the last painted pottery mentioned. (Some MB had appeared with LB a little earlier, especially store-jars.) A large MB II bowl and serpent handles were found at approximately 3.9 m, i.e. the bottom of the west and the south walls proper. This is apparently the floor level of the temple as shown by the drain hole and the beginning of the foundation courses. We did not excavate the northwest room except to discover that its south wall (#9 and #10) was not earlier than Iron II and may be even later. The wall separating the southwest and southeast room was Iron II, as sherds of that period were found in the wall when it was removed. It went down only to 1.86 m. In the north end of the southwest room a djawar floor was found at 2.23 m under the surface, and associated with it at 2.1 m was a very shallow wall (one or two courses only) in the south end of the room. (This wall is not on the plan.) At 2.78 m a djawar floor appeared in both the southwest and southeast rooms. Apparently at that time the area was a single room. This level was approximately the same as the stone pavement in the northeast room. Beneath this floor in the southwest and southeast rooms were at least 15 cm of ashes. No more floor levels appeared in the area but considerable ashes appeared in the debris from 3.10 to 3.75 m. At approximately the top of the foundation courses of the MB II building we found ashes mixed with animal bones, especially beef, a trumpet-foot bowl, a V-shaped drinking cup and cult stand, a pottery bull's leg, and MB II sherds. Inside the building, i.e. the northeast room, at the same level, were the serpent handle and the trumpet-foot bowl. Three other MB II houses were found and they abutted on the town's west wall (§§61, 64, 66).

115. The collective evidence of the four campaigns shows that Bethel was occupied at least in part during MB II A and the whole site was continuously inhabited throughout MB II B and C. The town continued to increase in importance until its fall at the very end of MB II C. The town's defenses which were erected at the beginning of MB II B were so effective that they served Bethel through most of her long history. The best buildings found were the temple just described and the patrician house of the 1957 campaign. The section of the town excavated along the north wall showed traces of enormous fires within MB II B as well as one at its close. In MB II C the same area produced an excellent patrician house. About halfway through the period it was destroyed by a great conflagration but was quickly rebuilt with little change of plan, suggesting that there was no change of population. This building was again destroyed by fire at the close of MB II C, but no similar destruction was found in any of the other areas we excavated. MB II Bethel was a well-to-do community center for local peasants and also a good trading center for semi-nomads, since it was located at a major crossing of north–south and east–west roads. Although MB did produce some excellent masonry the peak of the town's material culture was to come in LB. MB II pottery is treated in Chapter XI and other artifacts in Chapter XVI.

Albright, W. F. & Kelso, J. L. (1968) *The Excavation of Bethel (1934–1960)*, AASOR 39 - can be borrowed with a free account from archive.org

Albright, W. F. & Kelso, J. L. (1968) *The Excavation of Bethel (1934–1960)*, AASOR 39 (Google Books record)

Albright, W. F. (1934) “The Kyle Memorial Excavation at Bethel,” BASOR 56 (1934): 1–15

Kelso, J. L. (1961) “The Fourth Campaign at Bethel,” BASOR 164 (1961): 5–19

Kelso, J. L. (1956) “Excavations at Bethel,” *Biblical Archaeologist* 19 (1956): 36–43

Dever, W. G. (1971) “Archaeological Methods and Results: A Review of Two Recent Publications,” *Orientalia* n.s. 40 (1971): 459–471

Blizzard, R. B., Jr. (1973) *A Reexamination of the Identification of Bethel and Ai* (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Texas)