When the team from the Oriental Institute began excavating Megiddo in 1925, their goal was to excavate the whole city right down to bedrock. Nothing so ambitious had been attempted before and, in fact, it proved impossible. The lowest levels of the city were only reached in two areas, designated “Area BB” and the “Eastern Slope.” We looked at Area BB in the previous entry; let us turn our attention now to the Eastern Slope.
This plan of Megiddo shows major architectural features discovered in Stratum XIX on the tell and on the Eastern Slope.
The Dump
One of the problems every archaeologist faces when confronted with the daunting task of excavating a new site is what to do with the earth removed during the excavations. The Chicago team chose a location well away from the tell, on its eastern slope, but before dumping mountains of earth on the site, they decided to excavate it. They were surprised to discover that some of the earliest evidence for occupation at Megiddo was found in this area. Since the location was off the tell, the excavators decided to use the term “stages” to refer to the various levels of occupation which they uncovered on the Eastern Slope and to use a different numbering system for “strata” of the main tell.
Approximately a decade later, after Loud and his team had dug the sounding trench in Area BB, they were in a place where they could begin correlating the stages on the Eastern Slope with the strata of Megiddo.
Unfortunately, the documentation for the Eastern Slope is poor. The sole section diagram is highly schematic. It does not correspond precisely with what was actually found on the Eastern Slope but represents the Chicago team’s interpretation of the succession of levels which they encountered at various places.1Braun 2013, 22-23, 66 ff.
The stratification of the Eastern Slope which contained some of the earliest evidence of occupation at Megiddo. *The colors and side-brackets were added by the author.
The earliest structure excavated on the Eastern Slope was assigned to Stage V. This rectangular structure was replaced by several larger structures that were constructed with an “apsidal” ground plan—so named after the circular wall, or “apse,” incorporated into one end of the building. Stage V should probably date to the EB I which makes it contemporary with Temple 4050 of Stratum XIX on the tell. In this case, Stage IV could date to the EB II.
The foundation walls of buildings on the “Eastern Slope” belonging to different “stages.” Note how the “apsidal” building of Stage IV lies on top of the rectangular building of Stage V.
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