Iron Age Fortress Unearthed at Ashdod

Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered the massive, 3-foot-thick walls of an Iron Age fortress at the coastal site of Ashdod south of Tel Aviv. The walls, dated to the late eighth and early seventh centuries B.C.E., were excavated atop the so-called “Hill of Jonah,” associated by tradition with the burial place of the Biblical prophet. In addition to the massive fortifications, the excavators discovered an inscribed pot sherd (or ostracon) bearing an Aramaic inscription that records the gift of a certain Ba‘altzad to a holy place. IAA archaeologist Sa’ar Ganor said the fortress could have been either an Assyrian fortification or a construction of King Josiah of Judah “who we know conquered territory from the Assyrians and controlled Ashdod-Yam in the seventh century B.C.E.”

Archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered the massive, 3-foot-thick walls of an Iron Age fortress at the coastal site of Ashdod south of Tel Aviv.

Read more about the Ashdod fortress.

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