Dor 5

D O R

A southern Phoenician town in the Levant. 5

Archaeology:

Archaeological evidence, above all excavations at Tel Dor suggest extending the Phoenician cultural territory to the south, considering the coastal district north of the Yarkon River as the southern part of Phoenicia.

The detailed analysis of the ceramic assemblages at Dor from Iron Age I layers, carried out by Ayelet Gilboa, demonstrate the strong cultural affinities of the region with northern Phoenica, and dissociate it from the southern regions of Palestine. The data unearthed at Ackzib, Acco, Khurvat Rosh Zayit, Tell Keisan, Tell Abu Hawam, Shiqmona, Atlit, Dor, Tel Michal and Jaffa, dating from the Early Iron Age and into the Hellenic Period, plead for designating this region “Southern Phoenicia”.

E.Stern. Excavations at Dor, Final Report IA-B, Jerusalem 1995. Large scale excavations, started in 1980 under the direction of E.Stern, have reached Late Bronze II strata, dating approximately to the time of Ramesses II (1279-1212 BC), when Dor is mentioned for the first time as Tw-i3-r. The oldest archaeological relics however date from c.3000-2000 BC.

Red-on-Black pottery and Cyclopaedian wall appear in the Middle Bronze Age IIC (c.1650-1550 BC).

In the early Iron Age we encounter a lot of bichrome ceramics (The Dynamics of Phoenician Bichrome Pottery. A view from Tel Dor, A.Gilboa).

Layer XII (1150-1050 BC) town of the Sikels

Layers X-XI Phoenicians take over the town

Layer IX (1000-1050 BC) Hebrew influence (in the time of David?)

Layer VIII

Layer VII (1000-925 BC) destruction by Shishak / Seshonq I pharaoh.

See: Phoenicians, Sikils and Israelites in the Light of Recent Excavations at Tel Dor, E.Stern.

The original harbour was made in the Love bay close to the Northwest edge of the Tell. In the Iron Age (especially Persian period) the North Bay got more important.

Seals of glass in the Persian episode: the conical one of them is called the scorpion man, because it consists of a sphinx, body of a bird and an Assyrian bearded head. The other one is a scaraboid and was part of a ring. Here we see the Persian king or Baal Ešmoen in his chariot. See: Two Phoenician Glass Seals from Tel Dor, E.Stern.

There are two other destruction layers:

- stratum VB (400/380-350 BC) by actions of Evagoras.

- stratum VA (350-275 BC) in the aftermath of the revolt of Tennes.

Inscriptions:

KAI 14.18/20 (ph):

W ‘ d  y t n  l n  ’ d n  m l k m  ’ y t  d ’ r  w y p y ……

w y s p n n m  ‘ l t  g b l  ’ r  s  l k n n m  l Ṣ d n m

« Furthermore, the lord of kings ceded to us Dor and Joppe, ……

And we annexed them to the territory of <our> land. That they might belong to the Sidonians forever.”

A bifacial seal (750-700 BC): “to Ṣadoq, son of Mika, [so]n of Krio[s], priest-king of Dor.

l-Ṣdq / bn mk’/ [b]n kryw / khn D’r.

Krio[s] (greek) could also be: Z]kharayu (hebrew).

See: The priest of Dor by N.Avigad.

 ncfps