Apollonia-Arsuf: Final Report of the Excavations: Volume II

The second in a series of final publications of the Apollonia-Arsuf excavations, this volume reports the finds from the 1996, 2002, 2006, 2012, 2013, and 2017 seasons. The main topics are the excavation of areas to the east of the Apollonia National Park, outside the walled medieval town; the excavations carried out within and just outside the perimeter of the Park; skeletal remains; faunal remains; and a variety of finds, including pottery, glass, stone, metal, and bone objects as well as numerous coins.

The analysis of the finds discussed in this report contribute to our understanding of the site during the Byzantine and early medieval occupation. Byzantine Apollonia, called Sozousa, was unwalled and extended over an area of some 280 dunams. Among its architectural remains are a church and industrial quarters with wine and oil presses, plastered pools, and raw glass furnaces. In the days of the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik (685–705), the site, at that point called Arsuf, was fortified by a wall that encompassed some seventy-seven dunams. By the end of the Early Islamic period, it became a ribbat (fort) where Muslim philosophers resided. In 1101, the site was conquered by the Crusaders. Towards the mid-twelfth century, ownership was transferred to a Crusader noble family, and the site became the center of a feudal seigneury. Construction of the castle in the northern sector began in 1241, and in 1261 administration of it, the town, and the seigneury of Arsur, as it was then called, passed to the Knights Hospitaller. By the end of the Mamluk siege in 1265, the town and castle were destroyed and never again settled.

Oren Tal is Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. He is the Director of the Apollonia-Arsuf-Excavation Project and codirector of the Tell Iẓṭabba Excavation Project.