2. Previous Excavations and Studies (Con't)
At the beginning of the Late Bronze Age the site was apparently occupied by an Egyptian garrison. The gate continued to be used throughout the period, though the moat and the glacis were neglected. The "Govenor's Residence" is attributed to the Late Bronze Age. This square building has a central court surrounded by rooms. On the west a building was attached which could not be entered from the residence and probably housed the personnel of the residence. The building continued in use until Iron Age I. The quantity of Philistine pottery in the upper occupation layers and its absence in earlier ones leads one to the conclusion that the Philistine took over the structure during the Iron Age I. During this period the building continued to be used with certain modifications and additions, such as the paved court.
Plan of the "Govenor's Residence" after MacDonald 1932: Pl. LXIX
To the Iron Age belonged several building layers, but the excavated area is rather small. Both the standard of excavations methods and the insufficient publication do not permit a full reconstruction of the houses or living quarters. The excavators dated a city wall to the Iron Age I ("Twentieth Dynasty"). If this dating is correct, Tell el-Far'ah would be one of the very few Iron Age I sites with a fortification. The Iron Age layer "S-R" yielded some of the finest architecture of the site. In the northern part of the city part of the city part of a brick wall of this layer was excavated. Near the wall was a large building, with a long court and rooms on three sides. The date of layer "S-R" is not clear. Petrie attributed it to Pharaoh Sheshonq (Shishak) on historical grounds. He assumed that Sheshonq fortified the site. Yael Yisraeli has suggested the possibility that this last Iron Age level is to be dated to the seventh and sixth centuries BCE (Yisraeli 1993: 442).