Introduction
In the summer of 2011, archaeological excavations were renewed at Tel Shiloh, identified as “the first supra-tribal center” of the Israelite population.1 The excavations focused on the southern margins of the tell, where two adjacent areas were investigated. Area N1, located to the southeast, yielded a residential structure and an olive-oil production complex, the final phase of which dates to the Early Islamic period.2 Area N2, excavated by the author (not yet published), revealed remains spanning from the Middle Bronze Age onward, including a continuation of the southern city wall, a fortified complex abutting the wall from the south in which ceramics from the Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age I were recovered, a Roman-period residential structure, and architectural remains from the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.