Phoenician and Greek Ashlar Construction Techniques at Tel Dor, Israel

This study describes the ashlar construction techniques used at Dor from the late Iron Age through the Hellenistic period; the primary typological criterion used is the pattern in which the blocks are set in the wall. The study then attempts to reevaluate the question of Palestinian ashlar construction using the new data and the proposed typology. Two ashlar construction traditions are identified within the Palestinian assemblage. The first originated in Phoenicia and was used continuously from the tenth to the second century B. C. No clear case can be made for the diffusion of this style to the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean. Although some influence of Greek construction styles is first discernible in the third century B. C., it does not become predominant until after the middle of the second century.