While there is evidence of activity at Tel Anafa in the Bronze and Iron ages as well as in more modern times the most significant phases were Hellenistic and Roman. Its heyday was in the late Hellenistic period from circa 125 to 80 BC (HELL 2) when a large building consisting of rooms around a central courtyard was constructed and repeatedly refurbished and augmented. The site was left derelict after circa 80 then reoccupied in the last decade of the century. This early Roman phase -- marked by less elaborate architecture than before -- continued until about the mid 1st century AD when the site was again abandoned. A poorly preserved early Hellenistic phase (HELL 1) is attested by scattered walls under the Late Hellenistic Building; associated coins and amphora handles range from the late 4th to the 2nd century but analysis of the plain wares in volume II suggests about a generation of settlement in the first half of the 3rd century followed by scanty and diffuse occupation (1)
While there is evidence of activity at Tel Anafa in the Bronze and Iron ages as well as in more modern times the most significant phases were Hellenistic and Roman. Its heyday was in the late Hellenistic period from circa 125 to 80 BC (HELL 2) when a large building consisting of rooms around a central courtyard was constructed and repeatedly refurbished and augmented. The site was left derelict after circa 80 then reoccupied in the last decade of the century. This early Roman phase -- marked by less elaborate architecture than before -- continued until about the mid 1st century AD when the site was again abandoned. A poorly preserved early Hellenistic phase (HELL 1) is attested by scattered walls under the Late Hellenistic Building; associated coins and amphora handles range from the late 4th to the 2nd century but analysis of the plain wares in volume II suggests about a generation of settlement in the first half of the 3rd century followed by scanty and diffuse occupation (