Early Bronze Age Excavations revealed an eight meter wide mud brick fortification wall (with glacis) around the upper mound which the excavators attributed to the Early Bronze III period though no city of that period was found.
Late Bronze Age The site was clearly occupied during the Late Bronze I and Late Bronze II periods, from 15th century BC to 13th century BC. Actual occupation from this period was found only on a small area (Area D) of the lower mound with possible exposure in probes on the upper mound. Some Egyptian material, including a scarab with the inscription "Scribe of (the) house of (the) overseer of sealed items, Amenemhat" indicates the town may have been under Egyptian control like other towns in the region, after the time of Thutmose III.
Iron Age The site was occupied in the Iron Age I and Iron Age II periods, from 12 century BC to 9th century BC. At that point it was destroyed and burnt which the excavators ascribe to the Assyrians in the mid-800s BC. During the Iron Age II, it was a city in the northern
Kingdom of Israel. It had an estimated population of 2,000 during the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, according to archaeologist
William G. Dever. In the Levant there is a large Iron Age chronology controversy (similar the even more complicated
Chronology of the ancient Near East with which there is some overlap). It is all very tangled with a High Chronology and a Low Chronology and some variants thereof. Given the careful stratigraphy and many radiocarbon dates Tel Rehov has been used to support and deny various chronologies. It has also been identified as a Lowland power center in opposition to the
Omrides.
Greek pottery From the
10th century BC and 9th century BC (Strata VI to IV) Greek pottery was found in stratified context. This is a useful result in addressing the chronology problems of the Levant (High vs Low) and of Greek pottery.
"Elisha" ostracon In 2013, a pot
sherd was found holding a partially preserved
inscription, which has been reconstructed as to be the rare name of Elisha, best known as the name of biblical Prophet
Elisha. The association with the prophet is tenuous, based on the date of the ostracon (the second half of the ninth century), the rarity of the name, and the geographic vicinity of Elisha's biblical hometown,
Abel-meholah; but the name reconstruction is disputed, and the presence of
incense altars in the house of the find and throughout Tel Rehov is considered contrary to the teachings of biblical prophets. In September 2007, it was reported that 30 intact
beehives and the remains of 100–200 more dated to the mid-10th century BCE to the early 9th century BCE were found (Strata V, Area C) by archaeologists in the
ruins of Rehov. The hives had been destroyed by fire. The beehives were evidence of an advanced
honey-producing
beekeeping (apiculture) industry almost 3000 years ago in the city, thought to have had a population of about 2000 residents at that time, both
Israelite and Canaanite. The beehives, made of
straw and unbaked
clay, were found in orderly rows of 100 hives each. Each individual beehive was shaped as a hollow cylinder measuring ca. 80 cm in length and 40 cm in diameter, with ca. 4 cm. thick walls. Supporting archaeological knowledge include evidence of other imports in Rehov from eastern Mediterranean lands; later Egyptian documentation of transferring bees in large pottery vases or portable beehives; and an
Assyrian stele from the 8th century BCE that evidences that bees had been brought from the
Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey to the land of
Suhu—about the same distance as between the Taurus and Rehov (). The beehives were dated by
carbon-14 radiocarbon dating at the
University of Groningen in the
Netherlands, using
organic material (
wheat found next to the beehives). Ezra Marcus of the
University of Haifa, said the finding was a glimpse of ancient beekeeping seen in
Near Eastern texts and
ancient art. Religious practice was evidenced by an
altar decorated with
fertility figurines found alongside the hives. == Archaeology ==