Field Report on the 2023 German-Israeli Tell Iz ˙t˙abba¯ Excavation Project (Beth She an), Israel

This article concerns the results of the third excavation campaign of the German-Israeli Tell Iztabba Excavation Project. Tell Iztabba is the location of the town of Nysa (Scythopolis) founded in the Seleucid period. This campaign was carried out in the months of February and March 2023. Based on our geophysical prospection of the site in February 2019 as well as other archaeological considerations, three areas of archaeological interest were excavated (E, F and G). The excavated evidence sheds light on the Seleucid-period foundation site and its Hasmonean destruction; in addition, it yields records on both earlier (Early Bronze Age) and later (Byzantine) occupations. The focus was on studying the site’s Hellenistic and Byzantine fortifications as well as domestic architecture. Construction methods employed in these complexes show the predominance of local building traditions, while the unearthed finds reveal a mix of local and imported goods from the eastern Mediterranean.