In July–August 2013, a trial excavation was conducted at Migdal Ha-‘Emeq (Permit No. A-6872; map ref. 223005–85/731845–940), prior to construction. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, was directed by Y. Gur (photography), with the assistance of W. Atrash (scientific guidance), Y. Lavan (administration), M. Kunin and A. Hajian (surveying and drawing) and H. Tahan-Rosen (pottery drawing).
The five stepped quarries (Fig. 2; Table 1) were discovered among the limestone outcrops. Two of the quarries consisted of two parts (L101, L102; L105, L106), one is a medium-sized quarry (L108), and the other two are small quarries (L103, L104); four of them had more than one quarrying step. Evidence that stones and severance channels were cut in the quarries was apparent, allowing us to reconstruct the dimensions of the hewn stones. The quarries were apparently used by the inhabitants of the ancient settlements at Migdal Ha-‘Emeq.
Table 1. Building-Stone Quarries
Locus
|
Dimensions (m)
|
No. of Steps
|
Average Height of Step (m)
|
Width of Severance Channel (cm)
|
Stone Dimensions (m)
|
Figures
|
Comments
|
101
102
|
1.5 × 7.5
|
2
|
0.3
|
10
|
0.4 × 0.7
|
3–5, 6
|
A channel (L107) apparently used to drain water from Quarry 101 extends between the two parts of the quarry. A stone mason’s mark was discovered engraved in the bedrock (Fig. 6).
|
9 × 10
|
3
|
0.3
|
10
|
0.4 × 0.7
|
103
|
2 × 2
|
3
|
0.35
|
10
|
0.4 × 0.7
|
7, 8
|
A large stone (0.5 × 1.0 m) was hewn in the upper step.
|
104
|
4.0 × 4.5
|
1
|
0.25
|
5
|
0.4 × 0.7
|
9, 10
|
|
105
106
|
3.0 × 4.6
|
3
|
0.3
|
10
|
0.4 × 0.7
|
11–13
|
|
3.0 × 5.5
|
3
|
0.25–0.30
|
9
|
0.4 × 0.7
|
108
|
4.5 × 7.5
|
3
|
0.25–0.30
|
10
|
0.4 × 0.7
|
14, 15
|
|
Only scant ceramic finds were recovered from the excavation, most of them abraded and non-diagnostic. Among the diagnostic pottery sherds is an Iron Age cooking pot (Fig. 16:1), a Persian-period mortarium (Fig. 16:2), Roman-period bowls and a krater (Fig. 16:3, 4), a Byzantine-period bowl (Fig. 16:5) and a fragment of a Mamluk-period bowl (Fig. 16:6). Most of the pottery assemblage dates to the Roman and Byzantine periods. There is no certainty that these findings date the quarries; nevertheless, the quarries are presumably from the Roman period.
Covello-Paran K. 1997. Migdal Ha-‘Emeq.
ESI 19:19*–20*.
Getzov N., Avshalom-Gorni D. and Muqari A. 1998. Installations and Tombs near el-Mujeidil (Migdal Ha‘Emeq). ‘Atiqot 34:195–207 (Hebrew; English summary, p.12*).
Tatcher A. and Gal Z. 2009. The Ancient Cemetery at Migdal Ha-‘Emeq (el-Mujeidil). ‘Atiqot 61:1*–48* (Hebrew; English summary, pp. 131–132).