テル・ゼロールと海の民 : その関連づけの正否について
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概要
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In the research of ancient Palestine, Tel Zeror, located in the northern Sharon plain, is generally considered to be a site once occupied by the Sikil Sea People (formerly known in the scholarship as Tjekker) in the early Iron Age. The examination of artifacts brought from mid 1960s excavations of Tel Zeror, some of which are examined here for the first time, reveals that the sites ethnic association with the Sikils is not sufficiently supported, despite the fact that some “Philistine” indicators, such as the lion-headed cup, or “rhyton”, and bottle pyxis were found at the site. The material culture revealed by the early Iron Age layers, including collared-rim pithoi, fails to demonstrate that a certain ethnic group was dominant among the population of Tel Zeror in this period. Furthermore, the common assumption that a fortress that once stood at Tel Zeror that dates back to the late 11th century BC was built by the Sikils is belied by the fact that recent excavations at nearby Dor indicate that the Sikils settlement there had been destroyed before the fortress was constructed at Tel Zeror.The history of the northern Sharon plain in the late 11th century BC should not be characterized chiefly in terms of Philistine material culture. The local Canaanite tradition still existed, and “Phoenician” influences had started to emerge. The Philistine, or Sea Peoples, culture only played a limited role outside the southern coastal plain, with the probable exceptions of coastal cities in the north, like Dor and Akko. It is more likely that the basic cultural character of early Iron Age Tel Zeror belonged to the continuity of the local tradition. New elements, which can possibly interpreted as belonging to the Sea Peoples, do not have any significance in the material culture of early Iron Age Tel Zeror, particularly in the late 11th century BC. Archaeologically, the Sikils dominance over the northern Sharon plain cannot be demonstrated in the way most scholars have come to accept.