Yoqne‘am III: The Middle and Late Bronze Ages (Final Report of the Archaeological Excavations 1977–1988)
This volume presents the architecture and pottery of the Middle Bronze Age Strata XXV–XXI and the Late Bronze Age Strata XXb–XIXa, together with other finds from the Bronze Age (including some unstratified Early Bronze Age finds). Although fills containing Early Bronze Age pottery were found on the site’s bedrock, the earliest architectural remains uncovered date from the MB IIA. During most of the Middle Bronze Age, from Stratum XXIV of the MB IIA to the end of the MB IIB, Yoqne‘am was a fortified city, as attested by its three successive fortification systems. A new era in the history of the site, during which the city was unfortified, started with the MB IIC Stratum XXI and lasted until Stratum XVI of the Iron Age II. A feature of particular interest at the site is the fact that, as at nearby Tel Qashish, the temporal divisions based on the ceramic analysis do not always conform with the stratigraphic ones.