Ashdod Yam is located on the southern coastal strip of the modern city of Ashdod, about 5 km northwest of Tel Ashdod. During the Iron Age, Ashdod Yam became a central port city serving the city of Ashdod, after the destruction of the ancient port at nearby Tel Mor. The site is historically identified in Assyrian documents as one of three cities: Ashdod, Ashdod Yam (“Ashdodimo”) and Gath – which were conquered by the Assyrian king Sargon II. The city appears on a map of Madaba from the 6th century CE and in Greek, the name of the place is Ozotos Paralios (“Ashdod on the sea”). South of the site there is an Islamic and Crusader citadel, the remains of which still stand today. The site contains finds from the Late Bronze, Iron, Persian, Classical and Islamic, and Crusader periods.
History of the excavation
The site was excavated intermittently between the years 1965-1968 by a delegation led by Dr. Yaakov Kaplan on behalf of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Museum of Antiquities and focused on the fortification system. Since 2013, a site has been excavated by a delegation led by Prof. Alex Fantalkin on behalf of the Tel Aviv University Institute in collaboration with Angelica Berlijung from the Institute of Old Testament of the University of Leipzig in Germany.
The remains of the fortified port city of Ashdod-Yam
Kaplan’s excavations at the site revealed a fortification system consisting of a mud wall about 3.5 m thick, surrounding a large area of about 67 dunams. The fortifications have been dated to the 8-7th c, BCE, around the time of the Assyrian conquest of the land. In Kaplan’s opinion, the fortifications were built as part of the rebellion against the Assyrians. The Tel Aviv University excavations focused on both the fortifications and the upper city of the hill and yielded finds from the Iron Age II which confirm Kaplan’s dating estimates. In addition, Fantalkin claims that the construction method of the wall is local (although it may be under Assyrian influence) and that the purpose of the wall is to protect the port.
Conquest of Ashdod-Yam by Sargon II
At the end of the 8th c. BCE, a man named “Yamani” ruled Ashdod-Yam (who according to Kaplan was of Greek-Cypriot origin and did not belong to the royal line in Ashdod). The rebel Yamani, according to Kaplan, is the one who built the fortifications in Ashdod-Yam. As a response to the rebellion, Ashdod Yam was conquered during the war campaign of the Assyrian king Sargon II (713-712 BCE). After its conquest, Sargon brought new settlers to the city, a fact that Kaplan believes is consistent with a certain change in the nature of the findings at the site.
Contrary to Kaplan’s opinion, Prof. Israel Finkelstein and Dr. Lily Zinger-Avitz claimed that the fortifications in Ashdod-Yam are the result of population transfer by Sargon II after the occupation of Ashdod (a fact supported by, in their opinion, the lack of finds at Tel Ashdod in the period after the occupation). According to them, the wall was built after the arrival of the new settlers and refugees from Ashdod. It is further claimed that all the historical references to Ashdod in the 7-6th c. BCE refer to Ashdod-Yam, which took Ashdod’s place as a central city. Prof. Nadav Na’aman agrees with the assessment that Ashdod was left desolate after the revolt and that Sargon built and fortified Ashdod-Yam. The appearance of Ashdod-Yam on the Madaba map from the 6th c. CE strengthens the claim of being an important city.
Fantalkin, the current director, adds that the port in Ashdod-Yam served the Assyrian government for inspection and customs purposes in urban trade along the Mediterranean coast and Egypt, similar to other coastal points in the region (such as Tel Qudadi).
Ashdod-Yam after the biblical period
From the Hellenistic period, the remains of a monumental building were found which was destroyed, according to the coins and pottery, at the end of the 2nd c. BCE. Prof. Fantalkin suggests that, based on the metal finds from the Hellenistic period, the building may have belonged to a mercenary unit of the Seleucid army and was destroyed during the Hasmonean occupation.
During the Byzantine period, Ashdod-Yam (or in its Greek name Ozotos Paralios) was a prosperous port city. After the Islamic conquest of the land in the 7th c. CE, a citadel known as Kalat al-Mina (“The Port Citadel”) was built south of Ashdod-Yam. The same citadel was fortified again in the 10th c. during the Fatimid Dynasty, and again by the Crusaders. The citadel, along with Ashdod-Yam, was destroyed and abandoned after the conquest of the Crusader Kingdom by the Mamluk Sultan Baybars in 1270 CE.
3D
Bibliography
Ashkenazi, D & Fantalkin, A. 2017. Archaeometallurgical and archaeological investigation of Hellenistic metal objects from Ashdod-Yam (Israel). Archaeological and anthropological sciences, 2019, Vol.11 (3):913-935.
Fantalkin, A. 2014. Ashdod-Yam on the Israeli Mediterranean Coast: A First Season of Excavations. Skyllis: Zeitschrift für Unterwasserarchäologie 14/1:45–57.
Finkelstein,I. and Singer-Avitz, L. 2001.Ashdod Revisited. Tel Aviv 28:231-259.
Kaplan, J. 1969. The Stronghold of Yamani at Ashdod-Yam. Israel Exploration Journal 19: 137–149.