Tel Megadim is located at the Carmel Coast near ‘Atlit, about 17 km south of Haifa. The excavations were commenced between 1967 and 1969 under M. Broshi (Broshi 1969). In 1994, S. Wolff directed a
salvage excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority between the acropolis (Broshi’s Area C) and the railroad track that bisects the site (Wolff 1996: 748).
During the Persian regime, there was increasing urbanization throughout the site, and Tel Megadim had seen a high intensity of shipping traffic and external trade, which is ascertainable from the Greek and Cypriot pottery vessels (Wright 1985: 95; Broshi 1993: 1003). The Persian-period level was very rich and subdivided into three strata: Strata I, II and III. Stratum I contained low-quality walls, and most of its remains are in ruins as a result of topographical changes over the years followed by erosion and other natural processes as it is the closest stratum to the surface. The primary layer is Stratum II since it is the best preserved Persian-period level and contained coherent walls formed a well-planned city. The walls of Stratum III are loose, and thus, no clear plan could be established (Broshi 1993: 1001). Consequently, there is no place for addressing the remains of Strata I and III, and therefore, only the remains of Stratum II will be described.
2.7.4.1. The Settlement 2.7.4.1.1. Contextual Analysis
In the Persian period, Tel Megadim was a city, consisting of insulae flanking streets intersected at right angles. The settlement was enclosed by a rectangular casemate wall constructed mainly of rubble and roughly dressed sandstones also known as kurkar. Of this fortification wall, the entire western wall had been unearthed, which measures 170m-long and only portions of the northern and southern walls (100m and 20m-long respectively). The city-gate was on the south wall (Plan 2.45).
At any rate, the insulae under discussion were abutting the western side of the casemate wall. The northern insula contained eleven casemate structures neatly arranged in parallel rows: three large chambers flanked by two smaller on both sides. A complex of three chambers was attached to the fourth, fifth and sixth chambers (see Plan 2.45). To the south of this block, two insulae are flanking a street. The anterior insula incorporated into the western wall and consisted of ten chambers arranged in a single row.
On the opposite side, there is the second insula which is composed of thirteen relatively large rooms. To the east of these blocks run a 90m-long street on the north-south axis. Its width varied from 2.40m to 3m, and two lanes intersected with it at right angles. The finds excavated inside these structures represented by significant amounts of jars, bowls, jugs, stands, basket handles, juglets, iron and bronze arrowheads, fibulae, coins, Egyptian-style seal depicting Isis nursing Horus and terracotta figurines including Astarte (Broshi 1993: 1003; Stern 2001: 392).
2.7.4.1.2. Topographical Location and Planimetric Analysis
The western flank of the mound, where the storerooms were excavated, however, is the closest point to the seashore, which unequivocally corroborates their supposed functions (see Plan 2.45). The southernmost insulae are separated by a street opened to every structure in each insula. A narrow lane running east-west communicated between this street and the easternmost one running south-north.
Perhaps this road expanded northward in the northern quarter and therefore, the insula located over there opened to this street as well.
2.7.4.1.3. Functional Interpretation
The store function of these chambers could not be rejected given the large numbers of the store jars and other pottery vessels and the arrangement of the rooms in parallel rows near the harbor to facilitate loading and unloading of goods (Fig. 2.54). The city-wall would have been erected to protect the city against the intrusion of pirates and not designed to be a giant defensive wall (Broshi 1993: 1002). On the other hand, the international trade flows and patterns, including the import/export and taxes or charges for public utility services, however, needed management and organization that should be controlled by an administrator officer. Indeed, the seal impression found in a room is an actual manifestation of the existence of a local authority tasked with monitoring all works related to the harbor. Combating violations of the regulations and ensuring security in this area needed armed patrols whose their presence is proved by the arrowheads.
The Egyptian influence is illustrated by the terracotta figurines, including Astarte and the seal impression depicted the Egyptian deities Horus and Isis. Nevertheless, no one of the excavated chambers intimates to have been a cultic place, and no favissa was found, which would indicate that the people worshiped his or her beloved deities in the house or workshops viz an individual worshiping. Like Tell Abu Hawam, it appears that Tel Megadim in the Persian period maintained its flourishing and had all necessary elements to be a cosmopolitan city contributed largely to rekindling the sea international trade, and could have played a key role in economic recovery.
2.7.4.1.4. Chronology
This town was established by the end of the fifth century B.C.E. and continued to be settled for the following century when it was destroyed and deserted all of a sudden at the beginning of the fourth century B.C.E. as evidenced by the enormous amount of the intact pottery vessels unearthed in the entire excavated area (see Chapter 6 for explanation) (Wright 1985: 95; Broshi 1993: 1003).
2.7.4.1.5. Type
This type of structures, namely the parallel chambers arranged in successive rows one after another with a bunch of storage jars in them, however, appeared at several sites in the Levant during the Persian rule (see Jokneam for parallel examples). It could not be imagined that a prospered city like Tel Megadim has been arbitrarily established without a prior urban planning. Although only the western flank of the city was established with solely a street, we can perceive that there was a network of intersecting roads with buildings on their sides (Hippodamian plan). The site needs further investigations eastwards.