Horbat Shim'on: An eighth-century BCE textile workshop in the southern Coastal Plain

This article examines the finds from Horbat Shim'on in the southern Coastal Plain. Salvage excavations revealed a distinctly non-domestic eighth century BCE structure consisting of four identical areas. Analysis of the pottery indicated a strong coastal orientation alongside Judaean influence at a time when Tell es-Sâfi/Gath, just two kilometres away, exhibits a predominantly Judaean presence, thus expanding our perception of rural activities in this region at the time. Among the rich corpus of diverse finds are c. 160 clay loom weights. Using criteria based on the chaîne opératoire of textile production, an alternative explanation is presented for the function of this distinct building as a small-scale workshop associated with the production of textiles.