Israeli archaeologists uncover year-round industry in the biblical Kingdom of Israel

Tel Shikmona operated as a small fortified production center under the Kingdom of Israel and is considered the largest known Iron Age scarlet-production site in the Mediterranean.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

During the eighth century BCE, workspaces at Tel Shikmona, a fortified industrial site on the Carmel coast south of modern-day Haifa that was controlled by the Kingdom of Israel, were adapted seasonally for different activities rather than dedicated to a single permanent use, according to a new University of Haifa study.

The findings provide new insight into how the kingdom managed labor and economic resources.

Workers appear to have reused the same spaces for different forms of production throughout the year, maximizing the use of existing facilities and resources.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, examined microscopic remains preserved in two workspaces dating to approximately 790–740 BCE, during the reign of King Jeroboam II and the peak of industrial activity at the site.

Tel Shikmona operated as a small fortified production center under the Kingdom of Israel and is considered the largest known Iron Age scarlet-production site in the Mediterranean.

Earlier excavations uncovered more than 170 artifacts associated with scarlet production, most stained with the dye, as well as dozens of large pottery vessels used to produce and apply dyes.

The new research indicates that the facilities served broader purposes throughout the year.

One workspace was used at different times for pressing olives, keeping animals, and textile-related activity. The second contained extensive evidence associated with scarlet production as well as traces of olive processing.

Dr. Golan Shlavy, who directed excavations at Tel Shikmona, said the findings challenge the assumption that a major installation necessarily represents a structure’s only purpose.

“When archaeologists find an oil press, the natural tendency is to say, ‘This is where they produced olive oil.’ However, the harvest only lasted for a relatively short period of time in late autumn,” Shlavy said.

“Therefore, to understand the use of the space, one must ask what was done in the structure during the rest of the year.”

Researchers identified an olive-crushing stone and olive impressions in sediment, while animal dung and trampling marks indicated that the same area was later used as an animal pen.

Two loom weights found in their original locations pointed to textile activity.

At the second workspace, researchers found crushed scarlet shells, olive-pit impressions, a press weight, and pottery fragments from dyeing vessels bearing traces of scarlet.

Together, the evidence suggests a seasonal cycle: olive pressing in autumn, animal keeping in winter and textile-related work in spring.

Scarlet production was also part of the site’s activities, although its precise seasonal timing remains unclear.

Layers of animal dung covered by ash suggest that workers deliberately prepared the space between uses.

The researchers believe the ash helped disinfect the area, reduce odors and control pests.

The findings also demonstrate how microscopic traces preserved in soil can reveal activities that may be difficult to identify through conventional excavation, offering archaeologists another way to reconstruct how ancient production sites were used.