Introduction The identification of activity areas in archaeological sites relies on the architectural context and associated finds. In relatively few studies, macroscopic observations have been combined with microscopic analyses to enhance the inter- pretation of activities on floors. Such studies have been car- ried out using methods such as microartifact concentra- tions (e.g., Rosen 1989), micromorphology (e.g., Courty, Goldberg, and Macphail 1989; Matthews 2005), phy- tolith analysis (e.g., Tsartsidou et al. 2008), and the con- centration of chemical elements (e.g., Terry et al. 2004). Most studies focus on floors within houses and in only a few cases have features in open areas within urban sites been published (e.g., Matthews and Postgate 1994; Albert et al. 2008). Laminated features in open areas have been recognized in many Near Eastern tell sites. While these have largely been interpreted as midden deposits in Mesopotamian tell sites (e.g., McCorriston and Weisberg 2002), their inter- pretation in tell sites in Israel has not been straightforward. Previous studies at tell sites in Israel (fig. 1) offered sever- al interpretations for laminated features in open spaces in Iron Age strata, including destruction layers, industrial de- posits, rubbish accumulations, and threshing floors (Dev- er 1986). In most cases, interpretations were offered based on architectural context and macroscopic finds. In a few cases, interpretation also took into consideration results of paleobotanical analyses. For example, at Tell Gezer, Dever argued that an “accumulation of surfaces with alternating laminae of charred ash and hard-packed earth may best be interpreted as a series of threshing floors, perhaps burned off annually to clear them of chaff as well as vermin” (1986: 73). Sieving and flotation of these sediments pro- duced a variety of charred seeds that were identified as wheat, barley, chickpeas, grapes, and olive pits, leading De- 171 Identifying Threshing Floors in the Archaeological Record: A Test Case at Iron Age Tel Megiddo, Israel Ruth Shahack-Gross Mor Gafri Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel Israel Finkelstein Tel-Aviv University Tel-Aviv, Israel The identification of activity areas in archaeological sites is an important part of archaeo- logical research contributing to the reconstruction of past ways of life. The threshing floor is an activity area that relates to subsistence practices in agricultural societies, yet identifying threshing floors in the archaeological record is difficult. We present a geoarchaeological study conducted at an Iron Age layered feature unearthed in 1998 at Tel Megiddo, Israel, in which we tested a previous assumption that it represents the remains of a threshing floor. Using micromorphology, mineralogy, elemental analysis, phytoliths, and dung spherulites, we show that the materials comprising the bulk of the layers in the Megiddo feature include large amounts of wood ash and the inorganic remains of livestock dung. Based on these results, coupled with ethnographic data on threshing floors and observations on the macro- scopic traits of the feature under consideration, we conclude that the layered feature at Megiddo does not represent a threshing floor but a single-household trash heap. We suggest that the interpretation of similar features at other archaeological sites as threshing floors be reevaluated.