TEL AVIV Vol. 38, 2011, 194–207 © Friends of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 2011 DOI 10.1179/033443511x13099584885303 Observations on the Layout of Iron Age Samaria Israel Finkelstein Tel Aviv University The article deals with the topography, extent and layout of Iron Age Samaria. It raises the possibility that the 9th century BCE city covered an area of ca. 8 hectares, and comprised two main components: an upper platform that consisted of a royal compound on the summit and a lower platform that surrounded it on all sides. Both were created by constructing massive support walls and laying fills behind them. Keywords Samaria, Omride dynasty, Northern Kingdom The study of Iron Age Samaria—by both the Harvard and Joint Expeditions—focused on the royal casemate compound with the remains of the palace on the summit of the hill. The construction of the royal compound is dated to the days of the Omrides (Reisner et al. 1924; Crowfoot et al. 1942; Kenyon 1971; Ussishkin 1997, 2007; Finkelstein 2000; see Franklin 2004 for a somewhat different view). Sporadic Iron Age remains unearthed below the royal compound—to the south of and under the Roman basilica (Reisner et al. 1924: 64–65, Plan 12; Crowfoot et al. 1942: 18–21), under the Roman forum (Crowfoot et al. 1942: 20), possibly under the Roman western gate (Reisner et al. 1924: 120–121, Plans 10–11; Crowfoot et al. 1942: 18–20) and under the colonnaded street (Crowfoot et al. 1942: 20)—led the excavators to propose that the Iron Age city spread across an area almost as large as the Herodian city, and that it was protected by a city wall (Crowfoot et al. 1942: 20–21; but see Kenyon 1971: 82, arguing that “the capital was administrative only”). The conventional wisdom understood 9th century Samaria as encompassing the royal compound on the summit (e.g., Tappy 2001: 170) and attributed the maximal expansion of the site to the frst half of the 8th century BCE—a time of unparalleled prosperity in the Northern Kingdom. Ussishkin (1997: 358) estimated the size of the 9th century city at 23–28 acres (ca. 10–12 hectares). In what follows I present several observation regarding the topography, extent and layout of Iron Age Samaria. My observations are based on recent visits to the site, on what can be deduced from aerial photographs, including Google Earth and on comparisons with other Omride sites. Regarding the latter, the excavations of Jezreel (Ussishkin and Woodhead 1992, 1994, 1997; Ussishkin 1997) paved the way for a better understanding