Preface ix Seymour Gitin Map of Philistine Coastal Plain and Shephelah sites in the Iron Age xi Tel Miqne-Ekron revised top plan xii Aerial view of Tel Miqne-Ekron xiii Tel Miqne-Ekron Middle Bronze Age II-Iron Age I Stratigraphic and Chronological Chart xiv Tel Miqne-Ekron Iron Age II Stratigraphic and Chronological Chart xv Tel Miqne-Ekron Field Reports xvi Objects Chapter 1: Sickles in Sockles: The Tel Miqne-Ekron Flaked Stone Assemblage 1 Ann Roshwalb Chapter 2: Stone Tools and Vessels from the Bronze and Iron Ages 45 Ianir Milevski Chapter 3: Vessel Plugs and Covers and Reworked Ceramics: Typology, Context, and Function 99 Gary P Arbino Chapter 4: Weights, Scale Pans, and Miscellaneous Small Stones/Objects 165 Raz Kletter Chapter 5: Zoomorphic Terracottas 187 David Ben-Shlomo Material Culture Studies Chapter 6: Microwear Analysis of Flint Artifacts from the Early Iron Age in Field I (Sondage and Summit), Field III, and Field IV Lower 255 Mark S Becker Chapter 7: Archaeobotanical Remains 269 Yael Mahler-Slasky and Mordechai E Kislev Chapter 8: Forensic Science Applied to Archaeology: Last Use Analysis of Living Surface Samples Collected in the 1996 Season 303 Azriel Gorski Chapter 9: Geoarchaeological Report: Analysis of the Landscape of Tel Miqne and Its Environmental Evolution 327 Arlene M Rosen, Daniel Wachs, and Oren Ackermann Chapter 10: Analysis and Geological Provenancing of Grindstones and Other Stone Artifacts 341 Olwen Williams-Thorpe Chapter 11: Reprinted Abstract: Asphalt in Iron Age Excavations from the Philistine Tel Miqne-Ekron City (Israel): Origin and Trade Routes 357 Jacques Connan, Arie Nissenbaum, Kendra Imbus, John Zumberge, and Steve Macko Color Figures 359 Color Photos 365 Appendix 3A 371 Gary P Arbino Appendix 5A 444 David Ben-Shlomo Bibliographic Abbreviations 473.