The ancient city of Dor, situated on a sandstone ridge protruding above sea level, is an ongoing excavation which was begun in 1980. It had been directed by Professor E. Stern of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the last summers, his former students, Dr. I. Sharon (the Hebrew University) and Dr. A. Gilboa (Haifa University) continue the project with the assistance of students and volunteers from Israel and around the world. In various periods, Dor was destroyed and rebuilt and its remains form an immense mound (see aerial photo). Since the second millennium BCE, four civilizations existed in Dor whose material cultures are evident in the different strata of mound: A. The earliest civilization at Dor is the Canaanite, ending c. 1200 BCE. B. The Sikil tribe, one of the five "Sea Peoples", conquered Dor at the same time that the Philistines controlled the southern coast of Israel. The Sikil occupation continued until 1050 BCE. C. The Phoenician civilization. The influence of the Phoenicians, the Canaanites' descendants, is recognized throughout the first millennium BCE, in the times of Israelite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic dominance. D. The Greco-Roman civilization was dominant at Dor from the end of the first millennium BCE until the third century CE. |
