New Update! (19 June 2009)
The dig session will begin on Sunday, 21 June. Keep checking the dig blog page for up-to-the-minute daily reports.
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Come join us at Tel Kabri this summer, where we will be digging from June 21 through July 30, 2009 — You can come for the first three weeks, the last three weeks, or all six weeks. If you want college credit, that isn’t a problem, but you can also just come dig for the pure fun of it!
Located in a quiet rural setting within the western Galilee of Israel, only a ten minute ride from the historical town of Acco, with its Medieval and Ottoman old city, fishing harbor and traditional market, and the modern resort town of Nahariya, the site of Tel Kabri has what may be the earliest-known Western art yet found in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Today the Tel and its surroundings are an agricultural land, with lush plantations of bananas and avocados overlying the ancient remains. During excavations conducted at the site from 1986-1993 by Professor Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier and the late Professor Aharon Kempinski, a floor and wall frescoes painted in an Aegean manner—probably by Cycladic or Minoan artists—were discovered within a building that they identified as a palace. Our preliminary excavations in 2005 indicated that this building, which dates to the Middle Bronze (MB) IIB period during the early second millennium BCE, is at least twice as large as previously thought, with much still remaining to be excavated.
During the 2008 season of excavations we were able to retrieve data from the entire history of the MB palace, from a pre-palatial period through to final destruction. We also found approximately 45 more fragments of wall plaster, at least some of which appear to be painted, and additional evidence for red paint on one of the plaster floors in the palace. Our 2009 season will focus on continued excavation of the palace, with the goal of investigating its life cycle, from humble beginnings to its destruction three centuries later.
Please click on the links at the top of the page for more information….
Poichè sono greco, nato all’isola di Creta, sono felice delle vostre ricerche! Sarò felice di confrontare le immagini degli affreschi scoperti con quelle di Santotini e di Creta. Sono molto curioso anche della struttura architettonica del sito: sono architetto. Complimenti e auguri per il vostro lavoro, che sottolinea il fatto che il mediterraneo è un UNICUM culturale. Auguri
Hi
Was lucky enough to have worked on 1992 excavations at Kabri, accommodation this year sounds a lot better than the tents we were in!
Happy digging!
Hi, I was in Kabri with Kempinsky and Niemeier for the excavation of the painted floor and I personally did the conservation of the frescoes found. It is a long time I wanto to assess the conditions of the frescoes after such a long time. Could you give me some informations?