Archaeologists Dig Ancient City of Dor

Only partially excavated to date, the ancient port city of Dor on the northern coast of Israel is revealing a virtual potpouri of artifacts and structural remains attributed to at least eight great civilizations that left their indelible mark at its location.  Now, archaeologists return to explore remains bearing on the Roman period, including a Roman theater and private homes; a large Hellenistic period complex; a large Israelite structure; sections of a Phoenician settlement; and possibly the remains of the earlier Bronze Age city.

Among the goals of the excavation is to examine how the ancient inhabitants were influenced by a cross-cultural environment, where the business commerce brought a variety of different cultural and societal elements together into a port city that was one of the major coastal trade centers of the Middle East.

Dor dates from the Bronze Age, around 1100 BCE, to the 3rd century CE.  It is considered to be the city of D-jr of Egyptian sources, Biblical Dor, and Dor or Dora from Greek and Roman sources.  Dor was successively ruled by Canaanites, the “Sea Peoples” (people originating further west in the Mediterranean), Israelites, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, and later, a Crusader presence. The city served primarily as a commercial entrepot, a gateway between East and West. It is this aspect that makes the investigation of the site, as compared to many other sites, unique. 

Excavations were conducted from 1980 to 2000 under the direction of Ephraim Stern of the Hebrew University, but a new consortium, consisting of two Israeli universities and several American universities, taking a multi-disciplinary approach, has renewed the excavations with the application of new technology and methodologies. Officials also hope to conserve the site and develop it more for public access. 

More information about Tel Dor and how one can participate in the upcoming excavations can be obtained at http://dor.huji.ac.il/index.html and at http://depts.washington.edu/teldor/wordpress/.

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Cover Photo, Top Left: View of the ancient harbor of Dor, now full of stones.  Daniel Ventura, Wikimedia Commons

*Republished with permission from Popular Archaeology