Biblical Archaeology Review

The study is being sponsored by the magazine Masa Acher, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Yehuda Ziv, in Drom Hagolan (1972), ed. E. Meltzer, pp. 82–86 (in Hebrew).

This identification was first suggested by Moshe Dothan, one of the 1961 excavators of ‘En-Gev; he was already aware of the absence of Iron Age remains at Fiq, see “Aphek on rhe Israel-Aram Border and Aphek on the Amorite Border,” Eretz-Israel 12 (1975), pp. 63–65.

Cf. Mordechai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor, 2 Kings, Anchor Bible series (New York Doubleday, 1988), pp. 147–152.

See Pitard, Ancient Damascus, chaps. 5–6.

The figurine is similar to another tambourine-holder figurine found at Tell Deir ‘Alla (Biblical Succoth), further south in the Jordan Valley. For discussion see Pirhiya Beck, “A Figurine from Tel ‘Ira,” Eretz-Israel 21 (Ruth Amiran Volume), 1990, pp. 87–93.

The stratum I house plans have recognizable similarities to houses known from central and northern Syria and from Tel Qiri in Israel.