Tel Aphek is situated in the Sharon Plain of Israel. The 12 ha mound was continuously inhabited from the Chalcolithic period to the 20^th century CE. Systematic excavations were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s. The MBIIA city was one of the largest at the site and its remains spread over the entire mound. The best stratigraphic evidence of this period was obtained in excavation Areas A, B and X. As no physical connection existed between these areas, local stratigraphic assignment was kept throughout the project. Correlation between the different strata was achieved on the basis of a comparative study of the pottery.

Four ceramic phases were distinguished. The earliest (Phase 1) was discerned in the resettlement of the site (Area X) and the final (Phase 4) was found in Post-Palace II strata (Area A). The picture that emerges from our research is one of gradual change and evolution of MBIIA ceramic forms. Each phase was defined either by elements which were introduced or those that vanished. For example, the red slip which is accepted as one of the dominant features of MBIIA assemblages, appeared only in our second phase. Pattern combing started in Phase 1 and continued throughout the period. In the early phases bowl bases were flat, flattened or discs, and ring bases only began to appear in Phase 3. The characteristic carinated red burnished bowls appeared only at the end of Phase 2 together with the red-slipped jugs and juglets. Only in Phase 4 did we find unslipped bowls with high, rounded carination together with stepped rim juglets.

Storage jars too exhibit differences over time. Only a few of the elongated folded rims of the first phase had a slight ridge which became more pronounced in the following phases to result in the "standard" MBIIA storage jar. The thickened folded rim with a flaring neck, typical only of the early phases, disappeared later. The concave thickened rim of the medium-sized handleless storage jar of Phase 1 changed to a moulded rim in Phase 3.