Tell Qasile is an archaeological site near the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv, Israel. Over 3,000 years old, the site contains the remains of a port city founded by the Philistines in the 12th century BC.
Prior to 1948, it was on the village lands of Al-Shaykh Muwannis, which was depopulated in the 1948 war. The first excavations at the site began in 1948, while the war was still ongoing. Today it is located on the grounds of the Eretz Israel Museum, which was built in 1953.
Identification suggestions
At first it was suggested to identify Tell Qasila with "Glil Yam", a place mentioned on an inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III. A later suggestion was to identify it with the phrase from the Book of Joshua "Mi Yarkon", stating it is a city and not a stream.
Two important ostraca were discovered at the site in 1945–46 by Jacob Kaplan and Robert Hoff.
Benjamin Mazar led excavations at Tell Qasile between 1948 and 1950. Though it was not the first archaeological excavation in the newly founded state, Mazar received the first permit to excavate.
In the 1950s the Haaretz Museum (later renamed the Eretz Israel Museum) was established adjacent to the tell, with the mound in the middle of the museum area. In 1955 a Byzantine grave was found by chance which led to another excavation at the tell. In 1957 another excavation was conducted by Jacob Kaplan who uncovered two Hasmonean rock cut tombs. Further excavations were held in 1959.
Amihai Mazar, Benjamin Mazar's nephew, directed later excavations at the site in 1971 to 1974 and again from 1982 to 1990. The excavations revealed a Philistine temple and the gradual development of the Philistine city over 150 years, from its founding (Level XII) to the peak of its growth (Level X) at the end of the 11th century BC.
During building works initiated by Rehavam Ze'evi at the Eretz Israel Museum in the 1980s a Byzantine mosaic was destroyed; Ze'evi was questioned by police over the destruction. The building has been dated by its excavators to a period between the ninth and eleventh century, though both earlier (Umayyad) and later (Crusader) occupations of the site were found. From the excavated parts, it is estimated that the building was 28 meters square. A paved entrance in the middle of the north wall led to a courtyard, paved with gravel.