Overview
Tel Aphek rises 15 meters above the source of the Yarkon River, about 12 kilometers east of Tel Aviv. Aphek, with an area of 30 acres, appears as a raised plateau, with a steep slope along the northern side and less-defined contours on the eastern, southern, and western sides. The numerous natural springs surrounding Aphek granted the city a natural defense and an easily accessible water source. Due to its key geographical position, Aphek played an important role in antiquity as a mound with over 4000 years of uninterrupted habitation. Excavators note that the hilly landscape and the nearby east-west line of the Yarkon River formed an obstacle to the ancient international north-south road, the Via Maris. Control over this transportation bottleneck provided Aphek with regional attention and potential means for income.
The earliest remains discovered at Aphek date from the last phase of Early Bronze I (estimated at 3000 BCE), during the beginning of the urbanization in Palestine. Occupation at the site continued into the Iron Age. In the Hellenistic period, the mound was resettled and acquired the Greek name Pegae (meaning "the springs"). In 9 BCE Herod expanded the town and named it Antipatris (after his father) and it was by this name that Aphek was to be known for the next one thousand years. After 750 CE there was no city on the mound, although the Arab Caliphs of the Ummayad dynasty built a single residence over the ruins of the Byzantine town and in 1571 Selim II constructed a Turkish fort on the tell.
The name Aphek is first mentioned in the nineteenth century BCE group of Execration Texts. The identification of the site is based on Thutmose III's list of conquered cities in Palestine and Syria, where Aphek is located between Lod and Ono to the south and Socoh to the north. Aphek is also recorded in the annals of Amenhotep II. In the Bible, Aphek is mentioned as one of the Canaanite cities defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:18) and as the departure grounds for the Philistines' aggression against the Israelites (1 Samuel 4:1, 29:1). Assyrian and Egyptian documents referred to Aphek as a stronghold on the main road to Egypt.
W. F. Albright's initial 1923 survey of the mound yielded Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery, as well as Hellenistic and Roman pottery. In 1935 and 1936, two northern areas and test pits were excavated under the supervision of J. Ory. The Aphek project continued in 1961 when A. Eitan excavated three areas along the mound's southeast slope. The Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and the Petah Tiqva municipality organized thirteen seasons of excavations between 1972 and 1985 under the direction of Pirhiya Beck and Moshe Kochavi.
The following areas have been excavated: Area A on the northwestern slope, Area B on the northern slope, Area C which includes the main street and forum of Antipatris, just south of the Ottoman fort, Area D near the southern perimeter of the tell, Area E at the southeastern edge, Area F north of the tell, Area G at the southwestern perimeter, and Area O in the northeastern corner. Area X contains the acropolis of Canaanite Aphek, where twenty strata ranging from the Ottoman period (Stratum 1) to the Middle Bronze IIA (Stratum 20) were uncovered. Numerous inscriptional finds (a bilingual lexicon, a trilingual lexicon, a Hittite bulla, an Egyptian foundation deposit tablet, and a letter from Ugarit) have been found in Area X. Today, only Areas C and X have visible remains and Area X is presented in the tour.
Governor’s Palace (Palace VI)