Tel Afek

History

The site contains remains from the Chalcolithic age. Tombs from the Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Age have been excavated, including burial caves cut into chalk-like bedrock dating to Middle Bronze Age IIA that were likely reused during Late Bronze Age II. The pottery assemblage includes vessel types from the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze periods, with later finds comprising both local types and imports such as Cypriot ‘milk bowls’ and bilbils, as well as a few Mycenaean vessels. The biblical town of Aphik or Aphek is mentioned as belonging to the Tribe of Asher, and according to Biblical history, this area was part of Cabul given to Hiram I by Solomon as a reward for services in building the First Temple. Pottery from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras has been found, along with pottery from Crusader times. During the Crusader era the site was known as Recordane, and in 1154 the mill and village were acquired by the Hospitalliers, who owned the water mills here for several years. Between 1235 and 1262 the Hospitalliers had a dispute with the Templars about water rights. Two aqueducts from this era have been excavated. In 1283 the site was still part of the Crusader states, mentioned in the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan Qalawun. According to al-Maqrizi, it came under Mamluk rule in 1291, when it was mentioned as Kerdanah and sultan al-Ashraf Khalil allocated the village's income to a waqf in Cairo. A two-story fortress still stands, with a water-powered flour mill operating on the lower floor. Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, it appeared as Kufrdani in the 1596 census, located in the Nahiya of Acca of the Liwa of Safad; the village was noted as empty but taxes of 1,800 akçe were paid, all revenues going to a waqf. The stair to the tower roof of the mill and two more wheel-chambers in the southern part were added in the Ottoman period. In 1856 it was named Kurdany on Kiepert's map of Palestine.