Abstract:

The site of Tel Batash is identified with Biblical Timnah, well known as the setting of the Samson stories. The final report of its stratigraphy and architecture provides a comprehensive picture of the history of the town. Its distinctive square shape and concave surface were determined by the ramparts of the Middle Bronze Age. The unwalled Late Bronze Age town contained several patrician houses. Philistine Timnah was a substantial and densely built-up site and the excavations provided evidence of the existence of a city wall. In the 10th century BCE the town was unwalled and sparsely settled, but the earliest phase of the city gate probably dates from this period. Timnah of the 8th-7th centuries BCE was defended by a stone wall and a city gate. The densely built-up town included large public buildings, private dwellings, and evidence of an olive oil industry. This two-part set consists of a text volume, lavishly illustrated by photographs and schematic plans, and a volume containing 107 detailed plans and sections.