Golan Research Institute Golan Archaeological Museum

Archaostyle Scientific Research Series 14

Horvat Kanaf

Excavations in 1978- 1980

and 1985, Final Report

Zvi Uri Ma'oz

Archaostyle

Qazrin 2015

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Contents Prefu~ 5

Chapter 1 - The Origin, Chronology and Distribution of the Black and Red Phoenician Hellenistic Pottery 7

The Hellenistic Tower at Horvat Kanaf 9

Stratigraphy and Chronology- General 9

Seleucia 10 Chronology . 12

Origin 13

Distribution 15

Epilogue 15

Bibliography 16

Chapter 2 - Hellenistic Tower and Barracks at Horvat Kanaf 20

Name, Location and Topography 20 The Hellenistic Tower-Architecture 23

Stratum IV-the Underground Chamber 32

The Hellenistic Tower (Stratum VI)-Stratigraphy 34 The Barracks (Stratum V): Architecture 38

The Barracks (Stratwn V): Stratigraphy 40

Stratum Vb 42

The Hist01y of Kanaf in Strata Vl-V 45

Bibliography 48

Chapter 3- Hellenistic Coins and Stamped Amphora Handles from Horvat Kanaf Donald T. Ariel 49

Hellenistic Coins- Pl. 3.1 54

Stamped Amphora Handles- Pl. 3.2 55

Bibliography 56

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Chapter 4 -Excavations at Kanaf: The Pottery Andrea M. Berlin ............................ 57

Stratum VI .... 57 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 57 TheLoci .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 58

Catalogue of the Pottery 64 Endnotes ... I 02 Bibliography I 08 Plates 114

Chapter 5- Building 300 at Kanaf 132

The Layout of the Village and the location of Building 300 .... I32 ThePlan 132 The Finds I42

Chapter 6- The amulets 145

Chapter 7- The Coins from Building 300 Donald T. Ariel ............................ 151

Plate ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. . I 54

Chapter 9 -The Byzantine Pottery from Building 300 at Horvat Kanaf Jodi Magness ... .. ........ ........ ...... .... .. .. ... .. .. ... .. .. ......... ..... ................... .. .... .. .... ........ ... ....................... 155

Catalogue ... . Endnotes ............................................................................. ................................................................................................................................................................................. . Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ .

I61 I7I

I72 Plates 176

Chapter 8- The Coins from Stratum III in Area A Donald T. Ariel ..... ... 179

Tables ISO Description of Coins on the Plates 196 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 200

Plates .... .. 202

Publications in Archaostyle Scientific Research Series 206

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Chapter 3 — Hellenistic Coins and Stamped Amphora Handles from Horvat Kanaf

Donald T. ArielIn excavations in the Hellenistic strata (Strata VI and Va) at Horvat Kanaf, two

coins and four stamped amphora handles were uncovered. In addition, five coins not found in Hellenistic contexts may date to that period. One other stamped amphora handle also not found in Hellenistic contexts is itself certainly Hellenistic as well. These seven coins and three stamped handles are the subject of this chapter.

The CoinsThe seven coins are the earliest of 644 coins found at the site, of which 429 are

identified. See Ariel 1980 for a preliminary report of the coins from the 1978 and 1979 seasons, in which 339 coins are summarized. Only two other coins are dated before the third century CE. They are bronzes of Agrippa I (41/2 CE; TJC:238, No. 120; Reg. No. 3016, L306, IAA 16639, Pl. 3.1) and a procurator under Claudius (54 CE; TJC:259, No. 342; Reg. No. 1205/1, L162, IAA 26193, Pl. 3.1 noted in-correctly by myself , as a coin of a procurator under Nero; Ariel, 1980:59), both minted in Jerusalem. Of the two coins found in Hellenistic contexts, only one is well dated. It is a silver tetradrachm of Antiochus VII Sidetes from Tyre (Reg. No. 1409, L406, IAA 16681, Pl. 3.1), cf. SC II:385, No. 2109.8–11). The coin was already noted by Maoz 1985:6. Of the date in the right field, only the following is visible [·]ΠΡ. Consequently, the date of the coin may only be given as c. 133/132–130/129 BCE. The second coin (Reg. No. 1272, L195, IAA 26283) is a nicely bevelled small bronze of Tyre, as indicated by the reverse type of palm tree with fruit below. On the obverse a head facing right may barely be distinguished. Whether this is a Seleucid issue or an autonomous issue is not certain. Based upon the apparent absence of any peripheral inscription the coin’s reverse the issue is likely to be autonomous and date to the 28 years between 125 and 99/8 BCE (Syon 2008:302). Unfortunately, while there are traces of a letter in the right field no clear date could be discerned.

Of the five other related coins not found in Hellenistic contexts, two are similar to the Tyrian bronze described above in that they are bevelled and the reverses depict palm trees with hanging fruit. These coins may, with more or less certainty, be dated

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to the second century BCE. Reg. No. 1262/1 (L196, IAA 16658) has traces of a pe-ripheral inscription on the palm-tree reverse and therefore is likely to be Seleucid. If Seleucid, its date would fall in a theoretical range from 222 BCE until the very end of Seleucid hegemony in Tyre (126/5 BCE; SC II:432, No. 2200). Judging from the other well-dated finds from the site, a more restricted date in the second c. BCE and even in the second half of that century is likely. The second Tyrian bronze not found in a Hellenistic context, Reg. No. 1234 (L163, IAA 26196), lacks even traces of a peripheral inscription on the reverse, but nevertheless appears to be a Seleucid issue. A third bronze (Reg. No. 1247, L196) was identified in the field as a similar coin, but it is now missing, and the identification cannot be confirmed.

The remaining two bronzes are Hasmonean coins minted in Jerusalem, bearing a Hebrew inscription within a wreath on the obverse and two opposing cornucopias with pomegranate in between on the reverse. On one of them (Reg. No. 1281, L206, IAA 16657) the partially preserved inscription reads:/[ר ה]ה[כהן הג/דל ו]חב/[- - י[- . The coin may very well have been struck by John Hyrcanus I (129–105יהודי[ם]BCE; cf. TJC:201, Subgroup A7). On the second coin (Reg. No. 1372, L241, IAA 16659) the name in the obverse inscription is also unclear. The letter a, however, is somewhat visible above, yielding an reading as follows:

. a[- - -]/[- - -]/[- - -][יהו]ח/[ןן]הכה/We think that this, too, is a coin of Hyrcanus I.As a whole, the seven coins apparently relate to the Hellenistic stratum identi-

fied archaeologically. Their date may be as restricted as the last third of the sec-ond century BCE. This accords well with the dating of the ceramics found in the Hellenistic stratum at Horvat Kanaf.

Stamped Amphora HandlesThe five stamped handles are all certainly Hellenistic in date. Three belong to

Stratum VI. One was found in Stratum Va, and one is unstratified. Even though only one was found in a Hellenistic locus. All are of Rhodian manufacture.1 None appear 1 In addition, two (or possibly three) unstamped Koan amphora handles were found at Hor-vat Kanaf.

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to belong to the same vessels. The first handle (Reg. No. 1255, L190, Pl. 3.3, photo-graph by C. Amit) bears a circular impression reading

’Epˆ Timod…k[ou `U]akinq…ou roseThe eponym officiated in 145 BCE based upon the presence of the eponym’s

name on stamps of the fabricant QeÚmnastoj together with the absence of his name among finds in Carthage and Corinth, both destroyed in 146 BCE (Finkielsztejn 1998:53; 2001:195). The second stamped handle (Reg. No. 1408, L406, Pl. 3.1) bears a rectangular impression reading

cornu- ’Im©

copia caduceus rightA red spot appears between the impression and the handle’s join with the body

of the vessel. This is a previously noted phenomenon appearing often on Rhodian amphoras, though as yet of no known meaning. The type of impression with its particular configuration of symbols is one of four main stamp types employed by the fabricant ’Im©j. The impression may be identical to Grace and Savvatianou-Petropoulakou 1970:304, E8. The period of activity of ’Im©j is now determined to be between c. 159/158–154/153 and 146 BCE at the least. This range derives from the evidence that this fabricant produced amphoras in the years of almost all of the eponyms of Period IV, from Dama…netoj (159/158–154/153 BCE) to AÙtokr£thj 1st (146 BCE). Cf. Finkielsztejn 2001:131, 193).

The third stamped handle bears a rectangular impression reading[- - -]q[- - -]While the stamp is unhelpful as an indicator of its date, the handle’s angular

profile provides a rough date in the second century BCE, based upon the typological development of the Rhodian amphora form.

The fourth stamped handle has a general Stratum V context (Reg. No. 1240/1, L223, Pl. 3.2). It bears a circular impression with eponymic date, and reads

’Epˆ [- - -]wrou Karne…ou

rose

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Unfortunately the eponym’s name cannot be restored. As above, we may rely upon the characteristic angularity of the handle’s profile to provide a rough date in the second century BCE.

The fifth and final stamped handle from Horvat Kanaf is unstratified (Reg. No. 1240/1, L223). It is broken near the upper join of the handle with the neck. It bears only the frame of a rectangular impression and is illegible.

Hellenistic stamped amphora handles often receive attention when other am-phora fragments are ignored. Where stamped amphora handles are found, how-ever, unstamped fragments of amphoras should also be found. Berlin notes three unstamped Rhodian amphora rims and one unstamped Koan amphora rim and part of its handle from this site (Berlin, this volume). The additional presence of Koan amphora material signals that there was a fuller representation of Hellenistic am-phora classes at Horbat Kanaf. Although none of the unstamped amphora fragments were found in the same contexts as the stamped material, Berlin’s fragment No. 3 (Reg. No. 1264B) was found in the same locus (L195) as a coin (Reg. No. 1272) apparently dating to between 125 and 99/8 BCE. This date is slightly later than the well-dated handles, but well in keeping with the general chronology of the more roughly dated handles.

Rhodian amphora handles, and presumably other imported amphora material, have been found at a large number of sites in the southern Levant. The finds from the northeast of the region have been summarized in Ariel 2009:272–273. The stamped amphora handles from Horvat Kanaf are noted there on p. 272. Three of the stamped amphora handles published here were also noted by Maoz (1981:2; 1985:6). The geographically closest published finds of stamped handles are probably the two from Gamla (Ariel 2006). The excavation of five Rhodian amphora handles at Horvat Kanaf is therefore not in itself extraordinary, as such finds are found in sites in the vicinity with Hellenistic strata. Their significance is that their dates accord in a gen-eral way with the coin finds. The Rhodian amphora handles do not point to direct commercial associations of Horvat Kanaf with large Greek entrepots overseas. The evidence of the coins, however, is different. It is possible to argue that the clustering of five coins from Tyre and four from Jerusalem (two of John Hyrcanus I, and of Agrippa I and Festus) give a sense that commercial associations did exist between this Golan site and those cities.

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The Hellenistic coins and stamped handles from Horvat Kanaf support the in-dications of the ceramic assemblage that the Hellenistic occupation at the site was short-lived. A date in the last half of the second century BCE is suggested. The latest dated material within these two classes of finds are the autonomous Tyrian bronze (125 and 99/8 BCE) and the two Hasmonean coins. If the latter were in fact struck by John Hyrcanus I, as we believe, then their date is also in the last quarter of the second century BCE.

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1

2

3

Hellenistic Coins - Pl. 3.1

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2

1

3

Stamped Amphora Handles - Pl. 3.2

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BibliographyAriel D.T. 1980. Coins from the Synagogue at Horbat Kanef, Preliminary Report.

Israel Numismatic Journal 4:59–62.Ariel D.T. 2006. The Stamped Amphora Handles. In A.M. Berlin. Gamla. Final

Report. Volume I. The Pottery of the Second Temple Period (IAA Reports 29). Jerusalem. Pp. 157–158.

Ariel D.T. 2009. Stamped Amphora Handles from Bethsaida. In R. Arav. Bethsaida – A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, Four. Ed. by R.A. Freund. Kirksville, Mo. Pp. 267–292.

Finkielsztejn G. 1998. More Evidence on John Hyrcanus I᾽s Conquests: Lead Weights and Rhodian Amphora Stamps. Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 16: 33–63.

Finkielsztejn G. 2001. Chronologie détailée et révisée des éponymes amphoriques rhodiens de 270 à 108 av. J.-C. environ. Premier bilan (BAR Int. S. 990). Oxford.

Grace V.R. and Savvatianou-Petropoulakou M. 1970. Les timbres amphoriques grecs. Pp. 277–382 in L’Ilot de la maison des comediens. Exploration archeologique de Delos faite par l’ecole francaise d’Athenes, Vol. 27, by P. Bruneau, et al. Paris: E. de Boccard.

Maoz Z.U. 1981. H. Kanaf — 1980. Hadashot Arkheologiyot 77:2–3 (Hebrew).Maoz Z.U. 1985. H. Kanaf. Hadashot Arkheologiyot 86:6 (Hebrew).SC II: A. Houghton, C. Lorber and O. Hoover. Seleucid Coins. A Comprehensive

Catalogue II: Seleucus IV through Antiochus XIII. New York, Lancaster, Penn. and London 2008.

Syon D. 2008. The Bronze Coinage of Tyre: The First Years of Autonomy. American Journal of Numismatics 20:295–304.