Straight from Ashkelon to Your Table: The Ascalonian

“We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic…” (Numbers 11:5)

While Ashkelon is noted for many things, such as Philistines, the oldest arched gateway, and horrific Roman-era sewers, it has another, lesser-known claim to fame. It is also the hometown of one of the world’s most popular vegetables: the onion.

More specifically, it is famous for a particular variety of the Alum family. During the Roman era, the name Ashkelon was latinized, becoming Ascalon or Ascalonia. Among the city’s many exports, such as its famous wine, it also cultivated a smaller variety of onion that did not tend to mature to the full bulb, and was known for its mild flavor. Writers such as Theophrastus and Strabo expounded on the qualities of this humble root. And, since it was cultivated in Ascalon, it became known as the ascalonian, or escalonia. Pliny the Elder described it in The Natural History as:

The Ascalonian onion is of a peculiar nature, being barren in some measure in the root; hence it is that the Greeks have recommended it to be reproduced from seed, and not from roots: the transplanting, too, they say, should be done later in the spring, at the time the plant germinates, the result being that it bulbs with all the greater rapidity, and hastens, as it were, to make up for lost time; great dispatch, however, is requisite in taking it up, for when ripe it rots with the greatest rapidity. If propagated from roots, it throws out a long stalk, runs rapidly to seed, and dies.

As the name passed through many centuries and many tongues, it was altered slightly into the French shallot and English scallion. 

The Mighty Ascalonian

Today, scallions are still cultivated in the park, though the crops often suffer from foraging picnicking parties and barbeques. However, in forgotten corners, they have grown quite large, with huge clusters that blossoming archaeologists have to clean out of their grids with pickaxes. It is rather a disappointment to come home smelling like onions without having had the pleasure of eating them.

Clumps of Ascalonians

Grid 20 – The “Snake Tower”

While Rebekah has been digging to her heart’s content in the Grid 16 step trench, I have been mostly working in Grid 20, which we affectionately refer to as the “Snake Tower.”  As you can imagine, this name has a purpose.  It’s not that it looks like a snake or has some meaningful historical origin, but in recent times a snake or two was spotted when it was being surveyed for excavation, and as with nicknames, it caught on.

Here is a view from down the rampart slope, looking up.

So how does this grid and it’s architecture factor into the history of Ashkelon?  The majority of what you see in the photo is Islamic era construction, some of it possibly Crusader.  This is much later than most of the history we have focused on in this blog related to Ashkelon (apart from historical overviews).  The grids we were in last year were from much earlier time periods (me in Grid 51 Persian layers, Rebekah in Grid 38 Philistine layers).  Grid 20, our “Snake Tower” location, was initiated this year to investigate the latter years of Ashkelon’s fortifications and how they were modified over time during the different Islamic periods (11-12th century A.D.) and the Crusader periods following.

Photo of earlier construction at the base of the tower, explained below.

It is interesting in the photo above, that we actually do tie back to earlier times.  This does not quite not make it back to the Persian period, but the current thought by experts is that you do see some Hellenistic (Greek) wall construction in this photo.  In the center, notice the larger blocks with white lime mortar, extending up to where the current ground level is at the edge of the trench.   The block composition and mortar style is similar to structures found some years ago in Grid 47, where the odeon (small Roman theater) was built on top of previous Hellenistic construction.  Something interesting to think about as we expose this wall and lower layers is how the original digging for the foundations for the larger and taller Islamic wall would have exposed and reused foundational elements of the Hellenistic walls.  This would have happened some 1,000 years after the Greeks were fortifying the site.  As we are digging the site today, it is some 1,000 years after the Muslims and Crusaders were occupying the site.  I wonder if, when the Muslims or Crusaders were digging their foundations, they took a moment to ponder whose wall they were coming down on and thought about it in any way as we do today, asking the questions of “who built this,” and how or why.  Of course, they may have been building as fast as possible to prevent the next invasion.  If in that mode, it does not leave much time for historical reflections.

This is another view of the site, from the top of the ramparts, complete with excavation shades.

Typical excavation tools and setup here

Below is a photo of a wall foundation.  What is interesting here, as with the front of the Snake Tower, is the reuse of ancient columns in medieval architecture.  In the Snake Tower itself, the use of columns looks aesthetic, but would serve as a strengthening component when used at 90 degree angles to the layout of the tower.  However, in the photo below, you can see where columns were used in parallel orientation with a wall foundation, which would actually make the wall less stable, particularity when the mortar begins to chip away.  The wall just behind this, still standing, also has some column use parallel with the wall.  Admittedly, it has been standing for over 1,000 years…so I suppose we owe the design engineers some credit.

Wall Foundation

Why do you want this view?

Sunrise from the “Snake Tower”

In the parting shot for this post, it is apparent why this location was a perfect spot for ancient occupation.  Ashkelon’s ancient ring of sand dunes, with the gaps filled to create the earthen ramparts which still exist and shape the site today, provided an excellent vantage point over the surrounding land.  Philistine or Greek, Islamic Fatimid or Crusader, ancient defenses were all about vantage point.  All directions were visible from Ashkelon’s ramparts, but north and east could particularly be viewed for some distance.  Take away the modern buildings and introduce ancient cropland and barren patches, and you have the view which would have existed for centuries–just change the names of the occupants or the invaders.  But, even though their names changed, through all the transitions, the city name always seemed to stick.  Much like the “Snake Tower” for Grid 20.

Life in the Trenches–Ashkelon Grid 16

First of all, we would like to thank our readers for their interest in our photo product–we had a wonderful time putting it together during our Vagabonding Tour, and it is now linked in our sidebar if you would like more information.  As today marks our 2nd Independence Day in Ashkelon, we would like to describe what life has been like for Rebekah for the past 4 weeks.

One of the exciting aspects of field archaeology is the various experiences available: occupation levels, the nature of finds, even the methods used can vary depending on where you are digging, and what you are digging for. Last season, I had the opportunity to work in Grid 38, where we carefully traced floors and occasionally broke out the delicate tools to flake up layers of phytolith (vestiges of organic materials like baskets or grain) or carefully pedestal beautiful Philistine artifacts. However, this season, I have been in the new Grid 16. Together with my old supervisor and a new team of volunteers, we have been excavating a step trench in the North Tel of Ashkelon.

The step trench is an excavation method in which the team digs a trench into a hill or slope of a tel (or rampart) to explore the occupation levels by excavating graduated levels from top to bottom—creating a visual stairway from the latest occupation to the earliest. For us, this was a steep bit on the side of what was at first assumed to be a Crusader-era moat by our friend Richard Cornwall.

Looking from the North Tel across the “moat.”

Our first week was spent transforming what we lovingly termed “The Waterslide,” a flat, slippery grade cleared by heavy equipment, into two squares and 6 steps. Over the past 4 weeks, those steps have been deconstructed and reconstructed as massive amounts of dirt have been dug and dumped by our team, fluctuating from 8 volunteers to 6, plus our two intrepid supervisors. And in those 4 weeks, we have articulated a fantastic tumbled down tower, cleaned out an early-Islamic water channel, sorted through many hundreds of years worth of assorted and intersecting garbage pits, and lovingly cleaned several courses of an Early Bronze Age mudbrick wall.

Grid 16–Week 1

Grid 16–Week 4

Each day is strenuous, as we use large tools like pickaxes and turias to move dirt into gufas and buckets (which we then haul out). And after the big messes are cleaned up, our task is to brush the loose soil off our area to reveal pit or mortar lines (this is an art—it’s really all in the wrist). But it’s exciting. We’re not treasure hunting, and would have been sorely disappointed so far if we were. But we’re seeking answers to questions of what parts of the site were inhabited, and by whom and how they lived. The Crusader and Islamic levels have yielded sherds from Cyprus to China and beautifully glazed local pieces. The Byzantine and Roman levels gave us parts of oil lamps and red-glazed ware. Atticware speaks of the Hellenistic age. Most precious of all have been the few ugly sherds of Early Bronze vessels.

Hauling Gufas with a Smile

Through this quest for ancient humanity, you also learn a lot about modern humanity. You live in a land with foreign customs and politics, and learn to navigate and understand them. You also get to watch a rag-tag bunch of near-strangers from all walks of life evolve into a battle-hardened team unified by pride, mutual respect, and the occasional baked goods.

Grid 16 Family Photo

Grid Foxes of Ashkelon

One of the fun things about traveling is enjoying the ecology of other lands.  For example, Trent’s fox in Grid 20, where they are exploring the Islamic and Crusader fortifications in the “Snake Tower.”  The fellow seems to be an adolescent who is more interested in playing with his rocks and dirt mounds than avoiding humans.  His interest in archaeology has also led to reports of volunteers in the trench looking up to see a fox peering down at them.

Our little friend is part of a long line of Grid Foxes that have graced us with their presence.  The whole family turned out last season to watch us sweat and toil in Grid 38 (and never offered to lend a paw).