An intermediate Bronze age settlement and a middle Bronze age II cemetery at the 'Third mile estate', Ashqelon

The MB II pit graves excavated at the site are unrelated to the Intermediate Bronze Age settlement located to the north. Apparently, only a portion of the cemetery was excavated, which probably extends further beyond the limits of the excavation. The inhabitants buried here may have lived in a satellite settlement of the MB II fortified city at Tel Ashqelon, enjoying the features that had attracted settlers earlier in the Intermediate Bronze Age: the fertile soil and the wells of the Migdal Valley. Seven MB II graves discovered at the northwestern edge of the site (Zelin 2002; see Figs. 1, 2) may have belonged to the same settlement. The cemetery uncovered in our excavation was located along the route leading to Tel Poran, a site with a rampart dating to MB IIB (Gophna 1992), located some 5 km northeast of the 'Third Mile Estate'. It should be noted that another MB IIB graveyard was found c. 1.3 km southeast of our site, near the Migdal Valley (Migdal Ashqelon; see Fig. 1; Gershuny 1996). The graves and grave goods from the site are similar to those found at other MB IIB-C sites, such as Tel Ashqelon, Afeq-Antipatris, Bet Shemesh and Tell el-'Ajjul, and in particular the MB IIB cemetery excavated south of the Tel Aviv Harbor (Kaplan 1955). Both the Tel Aviv cemetery and the cemetery discussed here consist of pit burials with bodies interred in an east-west direction (heads to the east), with a similar composition of funerary equipment placed in similar arrangements (Kaplan 1955: 2-3). The 'Third Mile Estate' cemetery contained individuals interred with grave goods, including domestic wares dating to MB IIB-C, in particular storage jars along with dipper juglets and bowls. Such a 'funeral kit' corresponds to the early phases of the tombs at Tel Ashqelon (Phases 1 and 2), comprising mainly domestic wares. Baker posits that these assemblages were not only intended to provide the dead with provisions for their journey to the next life, but may have also been used in funerary banquets that took place at the time of the burial (Baker 2006: 23).