Ancient Acre or Akko, is identified with the site of Tel al-Fukhar (also known as “Napoleon’s Hill”), located about 1.5 km east of the Old City of Acre. The mound’s height is 15-35 meters above sea level, and its size is approximately 200 dunams. To its south flows the Na’aman stream, which was used in ancient periods as an anchorage for ships. This area used to be a central junction in the Levant, connecting two main routes: the coastal route leading from the Levantine coast to Egypt, and the eastern-western route leading from the coast to Syria. This location was beneficial for trade, which promoted industrial and cultural development and the establishment of regional dominance. And indeed, right from its very early periods of settlement, Tel Acre became a dominant regional center, and during the Classical periods it became an important imperial center. The area’s long sequence of settlement, from the 4th millennium BCE to this day, enables deep insight into economic, cultural, political, and other historical changes through nearly 6,000 years.
The History of the City
The name “Acre (Akko)” has been preserved ever since its first appearance, as a name of a Canaanite city, in the Egyptian “Execration Texts” from the 16th-20th centuries BCE. During the Late Bronze Age (16th-13th centuries BCE) the city was often mentioned as a significant Canaanite city in Egyptian sources (king’s lists of conquered cities, the El-Amarna letters, and the Karnak temple relief), as well as in Mesopotamian and Levantine sources. In Neo-Assyrian texts from the 8th-7th centuries BCE Acre is mentioned as an important but rebellious Phoenician city that had to be conquered twice – by Sennacherib in the early 7th century BCE, and by Ashurbanipal in the mid-7th century BCE. Sources from the Classical period indicate that Acre served as an important imperial center during the Persian period (6th-4th centuries BCE) as well as through the Hellenistic period, even though during its wars and rebellions, the city was passed between rules. Acre is mentioned in the Bible in the book of Judges (1:31), as a city conquered by the sons of Asher, who lived there together with “Canaanites”.
History of Archaeological Research
Archaeological excavations at the tel were directed by Moshe Dotan, Avner Raban, and Michal Artzy between 1973-1989, on behalf of the University of Haifa, the Department of Antiquities and Museums, the Society for the Exploration of the Land of Israel and its Antiquities, and in collaboration with European and American universities.
The Early Archaeology of the Site
The Early Bronze Age (33th-30rd centuries BCE) is the earliest period identified at the site, during which there existed a small agricultural settlement on the mound, that was eventually abandoned. The site was reoccupied during the Middle Bronze Age (20th-16th centuries BCE) with a heavily fortified settlement, of which there were many burials discovered, some unique. This settlement was demolished at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, and on the ruins a wide, planned, and prosperous city was built. In it there were found public buildings, and evidence of industries, including the prestigious purple pigment production, and of Mediterranean trade.
The City of the Iron Age
This settlement continued into the Iron Age (12th-6th centuries BCE), with the addition of the appearance of a large quantity of Mycenaean ceramics, known from other sites around the Mediterranean Basin. The excavators of the site suggested, considering an Egyptian textual source called “The Onomasticon of Amenope,” and the biblical mention of Acre, that during that time an immigrating group connected with the “Sea People,” called “Sherden,” settled in the city, but there is much controversy about the topic among scholars. In the later Iron Age there appear artifacts implying Phoenician connections, and in the 9th century BCE Acre bloomed with new buildings, luxurious artifacts, Phoenician inscriptions, Aramaic ostraca, and evidence of industries and Mediterranean trade. Destruction layers, associated with the 7th century Neo-Assyrian campaigns, were found at the site, but the settlement there was renewed shortly after in the Babylonian period, of which little was found.
The City in the Persian and Hellenistic Periods
During the Persian period Acre prospered again. A planned city was developed on the mound, but its centers were shifted west, out of the tel and towards the coast. The material culture found indicates that the Phoenician cultural hold in the city began to be influenced by Greece. This was intensified during the Hellenistic period, as the city continued to shift westward to the Old City’s location, and the mound was eventually deserted around the 2nd century BCE.
The end of the Settlement
From the Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and Islamic periods there were few finds discovered, indicating use of the mound. But unfortunately, the upper layers were looted over the years, and severely damaged by agricultural activity during the 20th century.
Sources:
Dotan, M., & Goldman, Z. (1992). Acre. In E. Stern (Ed.), The new encyclopedia of archaeological excavations in the land of Israel. Society for the Exploration of the Land of Israel and its Antiquities, Ministry of Defense – Publications, Carta Jerusalem.
Goldman, Z. (1992). Tel Acre. In E. Stern (Ed.), The new encyclopedia of archaeological excavations in the land of Israel. Society for the Exploration of the Land of Israel and its Antiquities, Ministry of Defense – Publications, Carta Jerusalem.
Dotan, M. (1985). Ten seasons of excavations at ancient Acre. Qadmoniot: A Journal for the Antiquities of Eretz-Israel and Bible Lands, 18(69-70), 2-14. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23676388
Biblical Hiking map