Project Co-Directors: Dr. Itzick Shai and Dr. Steven Ortiz

Research Goals

The goal for the first couple of seasons at Ashdod are concerned mostly with conservation and helping to prepare the site as a newly established national park. Our team's work concentrates on re-excavating and conserving the Bronze Age city gate and the Iron Age city gate.

Goals for the upcoming season

As our first season of excavations, our goals consist of:

1. Gridding the site and setting up fields

2. Surveying the land between 'Ether and Burna, on both sides of the Nahal Guvrin

3. Excavating some of the agricultural installations found on the survey

4. Excavating a sondage (or cut) on the tel that will give us the most comprehensive picture of the site's history

Timeline of the Project

• 2020: the team conducted a survey of the site

• 2025: first season of excavations

Results so far

Survey Results

The survey was conducted through the collection of pottery sherds and documentation of architectural features, while satellite and drone images were used to produce 3D images of the site and its surrounding areas. The survey results indicate that human activity at the site in the Iron Age was essentially contemporaneous with that which was exposed at Tel Burna, from the late Iron Age IIA through the Iron Age IIC.

Excavation Areas

Coming soon

Staff and Consortium Schools

Principal Investigator: Dr. Itzick Shai, Ariel University

Co-Directors: Dr. Itzick Shai, Ariel University and Dr. Steven Ortiz, Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University

Senior Staff:

• Dr. Oren Ackermann

• Marcella Barbosa Rigsby, PhD Candidate

• Dr. Debi Cassuto

• Dr. Chris McKinny

Specialists:

• Dr. Michal Hejcman

• Leah Tramer, pottery restorer

Consortium Schools:

• Ariel University

• Lipscomb University

Project Website

The project hosts its website in conjunction with the Burna website at https://telburna.wordpress.com/