This year a team of students excavated 12 tombs high on the slopes of Necropolis III located to the
        southwest of the Tell. Last year we excavated tombs located at the base of this hill and we thus moved our
        efforts up the slope. Unfortunately all of these tombs had been recently robbed. Our most unique find was a
        coin of Constantine I (circa 316 CE) which firmly dates these tombs to the Byzantine period and is our first
        secure evidence for the use of group tombs during the Christian era at Ya’amun. The poor quality of the
        workmanship in the soft rock suggests that these tombs were used by a lower economic group living at the
        site. The wealthier inhabitants used finely cut tombs constructed into the hard rock located lower down the
        hillside. This pattern has held true for all four necropolises excavated to date: high quality tombs low on the
        hillsides and poorer quality tombs higher up the slopes.

        One team of three students opened two squares adjacent to the south wall of the previously excavated
        church. Here a pavement of flat stones separates the church wall from a secondary building. Two rooms
        with walls standing almost to two meters were exposed, each with a door opening onto the paved
        walkway. The original mosaic floors are preserved with each displaying a circular field for a decorative
        figure in the center of the room: a diamond pattern in one and two fish in the other. In both rooms, flat
        stones had been employed to complete the floor and protect the mosaic where it had been damaged along
        the edges. The base and initial stones of one archway was found in the west room and three bases and
        initial archway stones were found in the east room, all presumably to support the roof. These rooms were
        originally constructed over Iron Age structures of which a hearth area was excavated just to the south of the
        west room. The mosaic floors, contiguous walkway, and architecture all indicate that these rooms were
        contemporaneous with the church. This assumption is confirmed by two copper alloy coins found in
        association with the walls and dating to the sixth century and contemporaneous with the church mosaic floor
        dedication inscription. These rooms were subsequently and extensively modified and used during the
        Umayyad period. It is at this time that the mosaic floor was repaired by placing flat paving stones along the
        edges where the mosaic had been damaged. The reconstruction of some walls, indicated by different sized
        stones, suggests that the rooms had been in a state of great disrepair and had probably been abandoned
        prior to this reuse. Further modifications and reuse occurs during the Ayyubid-Mamluk period when new
        walls were built directly on top of the original mosaic floors. A stone hearth was constructed in the
        northeast corner of the west room and egg shells, animal bones and ash indicate that the room might have
        been used as a kitchen. The mosaic floor of the east room is extensively dented by the falling wall stones
        which were all found within their respective depressions in the floor. This suggests that the
        Ayyubid-Mamluk use of these rooms was ended in extensive destruction of the building, possibly by an
        earthquake.

        North of the church four squares were opened by a student team expanding the area where previous
        excavations had revealed rooms constructed on bedrock and dated to the Late Bronze period by sherds, a
        cylinder seal and scarab. The goal this season was to obtain the greatest areal extent rather than excavate
        down to bedrock where the wall foundations were situated. In the earliest occupation phase a courtyard
        with two entrances was constructed. Two large rooms whose full dimensions lie outside of the excavations
        border the courtyard. One of these rooms is bounded on the north and east by other corridors. The
        deepest levels produced Late Bronze sherds. During the next phase the area underwent extensive
        modifications. One of the large rooms was filled in and capped off forming a platform. Major walls were
        constructed on this platform and the area between was paved with stones and gravel. From this paved
        walkway a staircase of three steps leads down into the now sunken courtyard. To the south a trapezoid
        shaped room bounded on one side by a corridor was encountered, but its relationship to the other rooms is
        not yet clearly known, although it appears to be later in time. The following preliminary interpretation is
        offered. The courtyard complex built on bedrock dates to the Late Bronze Age occupation of the tell as this
        is at the same level and the walls are continuous with the firmly dated rooms excavated last season. Rooms
        to the south of the courtyard were subsequently filled, capped and paved leaving a sunken courtyard
        surrounded by rooms with higher floors. To the south additional rooms were constructed on this higher level
        and the inhabitants then disposed of their trash and debris in the courtyard and surrounding walkways. This
        trash consists of sherds; broken basalt grinding stones; the bones of large animals including goats, sheep
        and pigs; and many small objects such as broken iron blades and points were also included. Preliminary
        analysis of the sherds and objects within the trash layers tentatively place this last occupation into the Early
        Iron period, surely Iron II, but possibly Iron I.

        Four squares were opened by a team of three students along the southwest margin of the tell for
        comparison to the area just discussed located exactly on the opposite margin of the tell. At the highest level
        there are two connected walls about 50cm thick that run for about two meters in each direction out of the
        excavation unit. Unfortunately only a single course of stones remains. Between these walls there is an
        occupation floor and a tabun (oven), with a fire pit in a lower level below. These walls and features appear
        to date to the Hellenistic and/or Late Roman periods. The second phase of structures is dominated by two
        massive stone walls approximately 1.6 meters thick and running four meters out from the corner where they
        meet. The walls stand about 0.8 meters high. Just above the foundation level of these walls and extending
        through all four squares are the remains of floors and two stone-lined storage pits. Preliminary analysis of
        the sherds and other objects date all of these features to the Iron II period. All of these remains are
        evidence for an extensive Iron Age building with massive walls and extensive storage facilities. Going
        deeper there are the remains of smaller earlier walls that had been covered by the mud-clay floor of the
        previously described structure. A few sherds suggest that this wall might date to the Iron I period, but the
        end of the season arrived before this level could be widely exposed. In the bottom of this one deep test
        came some sherds dated to the Late Bronze Age suggesting that in the future we may find extensive Bronze
        Age structures corresponding to the northeast tell margin. One test trench was excavated between these
        two areas in the center of the tell and here walls were encountered along with sherds dating to both Iron I
        and II. These results from both tell margins, the test trench in the center and the deepest sounding by the
        church all suggest that the entire tell surface should be covered with buildings dated to the Iron and Late
        Bronze Ages.

        In conclusion, we had a very successful season meeting all of our goals except finding extensive skeletal
        remains. Although all of the excavated tombs were robbed, the coin and other artifacts provided our first
        solid date for this tomb type at Ya’amun. The rooms adjacent to the church added to our knowledge of the
        church complex and confirmed the order of reuse and reconstruction of the church buildings suggested last
        year in our excavation of the narthex. In particular the Umayyads reused the church and buildings for
        domestic purposes keeping the mosaic floors but rebuilding walls suggesting that the church had been
        abandoned. The Ayyubid-Mamluk reuse required extensive repair, but may not have been a full
        reconstruction of the building complex. This use ended with destruction of the building. Finding an extensive
        room, courtyard, and corridor complex dated to the Late Bronze Age corresponds with our previous
        discoveries of contemporaneous tombs. The younger walls dating to the Iron Age at both tell margins,
        under the church buildings and in the center of the tell present us with the prospect of being able to
        document the transition from the Late Bronze Age into the Iron Age at Tell Ya’amun.
 
 

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