Tell Afis. The walled acropolis (Middle Bronze Age to Iron Age I). A work in progress.

Campaigns 2001-2005 revealed that the eastern side of the Acropolis of Tell Afis was continuously fortified from Middle Bronze Age to Iron Age I by various forms of architectural elements, well identified in distinct types for each period, even though some intra-site variability in the construction of the defences of Tell Afis citadel appears to have been the norm. The remains of huge foundationsless fortification mudbrick walls, dating to Middle Bronze Age, later covered by an earth rampart, were made of intersepsed fill layers. A Late Bronze Age defence stands over the rampart fortification mudbrick wall, built upon stone foundations. In this phase the slope was proctected by a mudbrick glacis. Upon the latter wall, in Iron Age I, a fortification wall was set, built with mixed technique: a parallel double stone foundation, the inner one set up on a higher level, with the space between them filled by cast of clay soil and mudbricks; a rectangular shaped mudbrick wall was built over this masonry. In 2006 campaign a trench across the fortifications will enable us to recognize the most ancient defences phase.