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The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

The Henge Monuments of the British Isles: Myth and Archaeology

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Tel Gezer - Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel

Submitted by motist on Friday, 18 November 2016  Page Views: 15750

DigsSite Name: Tel Gezer Alternative Name: Tel El-Jazari
Country: Israel
NOTE: This site is 1.853 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Ramlea  Nearest Village: Carmey Yoseph
Latitude: 31.858833N  Longitude: 34.918351E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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jamesgang visited on 15th Apr 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 nice site, particulary good this time of year cool standing stones. great day for a

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer (Vote or comment on this photo)
The tel (mound) of the Biblical city of Gezer is located on the western slopes of the Judean Hills, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Built on a hill overlooking the fertile Ayalon Valley. Tthe importance of this city was its strategic location at the intersection of the road from Egypt, along the coastal plain northward, and the road leading to the Judean Hills and Jerusalem.

The ancient name of Gezer is preserved in the Arabic name of the tel: Tel El-Jazari. Verification of the site comes from Hebrew inscriptions found engraved on rocks, several hundred meters from the tel. These inscriptions from the 1st century BCE read "boundary of Gezer."

The tel covers an area of over 30 acres. Part of this area was excavated between 1902-1909, when archaeology was still in its infancy, and caused considerable damage to the site. Since the 1960s, new excavations have been conducted in several areas of the tel. The rich finds discovered in these excavations attest to the importance of the city in antiquity and constitute a unique contribution to the study of past material cultures of the Land of Israel.

Bronze Age

Inhabitants of the first settlement established at Tel Gezer, toward the end of the 4th millennium BCE, lived in large caves cut into the rock. At the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE), there existed an unfortified settlement covering the entire area of the tel. Following its destruction in the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE, the tel was abandoned for several hundred years.

Then, in the Middle Bronze Age (first half of the 2nd millennium BCE), Gezer became one of the foremost cities in the Land of Israel. The entire tel was surrounded by a massive wall constructed of large blocks of stone 4 m. wide, with strong towers erected at intervals along it. This fortification wall (known as the "inner wall") was protected on the outside by an earthen rampart some 5 m. high, consisting of compacted alternating layers of chalk and earth covered with plaster. The city gate was located near the southwestern corner of the wall and consisted of two towers and three pairs of pilasters on which wooden gates were mounted (as was common in that period).

At the centre of the northern part of the tel was an unusual Cult area. A row of ten monolithic stone stelas - the tallest 3 m. high - stood at its centre, oriented north-south. A large, square, stone basin that has been interpreted as serving for libations in cult ceremonies, was found in front of one of the stelas. This is a unique Canaanite temple of Masseboth (standing stones), both in terms of the number of steles and their size. The researchers suggest that the stones represent the city of Gezer and nine other Canaanite cities; rituals related to a treaty between these cities were probably performed here. The Canaanite city at Gezer was destroyed in a violent destruction, traces of which were found in all excavation areas of the tel. It is assumed that the destruction was the result of the campaign of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III.

The importance of Bronze Age Gezer (2nd millennium BCE), is attested to in the many references to the city in Egyptian sources. In an inscription of Thutmose III, Gezer is mentioned as being conquered from the Canaanites in his campaign in 1468 BCE. In the archives of El-Amarna in Egypt, dating from the 14th century BCE, there are ten letters from the kings of Gezer, assuring loyalty to the Egyptian pharaoh whose vassals they were.

The Late Bronze Age (second half of the 2nd millennium BCE) is represented by a wealth of finds, many imported from the Aegean islands, Cyprus and Egypt, from both within the city and in tombs. During this period, a new fortification wall was erected around the city (the "outer wall"), which was some 1,100 m. long. This wall, 4 m.-thick, was constructed outside the earlier wall, on lower ground. This is one of the only fortifications known in the Land of Israel from the Late Bronze Age, providing further proof of the special political status of Gezer in southern Canaan during the period of Egyptian rule. In the 14th century BCE, a palace building was constructed on the high western part of the tel, its acropolis. It appears to have had two storeys; its walls were built of stone and covered with white plaster and in the courtyard were water cisterns. Remains of another large structure, probably the house of the governor of Gezer, were found in the northern part of the tel. Toward the end of the Bronze Age, the city declined and its population diminished. The victory stela of Merneptah (from the end of the 13th century BCE) for the first time specifically mentions "Israel" as a nation, which was defeated and goes on Canaan was plundered and Gezer was captured. Clear evidence of the Egyptian destruction of Gezer was found in the remains of the town.

Solomons gate
Iron Age

According to the Bible, Joshua and the Israelites defeated the King of Gezer (Joshua 10:33), but the Book of Judges (Judges 1:29) relates that the Tribe of Ephraim did not drive the Canaanite inhabitants from Gezer and that they remained in the city among the Israelites.

The strata which represents the 12th-11th centuries BCE of Gezer show several phases of intensive construction. A large, well-constructed building that included many courtyards and rooms on the Acropolis, where grains of wheat were found among the shards of storage jars and grinding stones, must have been a granary. Next to it was a large plastered surface that served as a threshing floor. After it went out of use, two dwellings were built on top of the granary, each consisting of a courtyard surrounded by rooms. A street ran between the dwellings. Local, as well as Philistine, vessels found there attest to a mixed Canaanite/Philistine population at that time.

At the beginning of the 10th century BCE, Gezer was conquered and burned by an Egyptian pharaoh (probably Siamun), who gave it to King Solomon as the dowry of his daughter. Pharaoh King of Egypt had come up and captured Gezer; he destroyed it by fire, killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the town, and gave it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. (I Kings 9:16)

Solomons gate reconstruction

King Solomon (10th century BCE) rebuilt Gezer as a royal Israelite centre on the border with Philistia. The impressive series of fortifications consisted of a double wall with gates; at the centre of the southern wall was the main gate with three pairs of chambers and a central passage between them. The gate was expertly constructed of well-trimmed stones, the corners of large ashlars. It was originally two storeys high and roofed. Plastered stone benches were placed along the walls of the chambers and below its floor and the entry threshold was a deep drainage channel that carried rainwater out of the city. An outer gate, consisting of two towers, protected the approach to the main gate; from it extended a solid wall with numerous towers, built on the foundations of the "outer wall" of the previous period. Similar fortifications of this period were found at Hatzor and Megiddo; they cast light on the biblical description of these three administrative centres of Solomon's kingdom: This was the the purpose of the forced labour which Solomon imposed: It was to build the House of the Lord, his own palace, the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and [to fortify] Hatzor, Megiddo and Gezer. (I Kings 9:15)

Gezer appears to have been destroyed soon after the death of Solomon and the division of the United Kingdom, during the campaign waged by Shishak King of Egypt against King Jeroboam in 924 BCE. (I Kings 14:25)

The Gezer Calendar

Researchers attribute the famous Gezer Calendar, found in excavations conducted at the beginning of the 20th century , to the Solomons period. The calendar is a small limestone tablet on which a list of agricultural chores performed during the different seasons, identified by months, is engraved. The Gezer Calendar is regarded as one of the earliest paleo-Hebrew texts known, and testifies to the use of Hebrew writing as early as the 10th century BCE.

The material culture found at Gezer shows that after the division of the kingdom, Gezer was part of the Kingdom of Israel, on the border with the Kingdom of Judah. During those years, the Solomonic fortifications continued to defend the city, though the gate was rebuilt as a gateway with two pairs of chambers only. It was probably during this period that a water system was constructed, similar to those found at Hatzor and Megiddo. It consisted of a wide shaft, 7 m. deep, with a staircase inside the city, and a tunnel at a 45-degree angle which led down to the water source; its purpose was to guarantee the water supply of the city in time of siege.

Border stone

The conquest of Gezer by the Assyrian ruler Tiglath Pileser in 733 BCE is depicted in a stone relief found in the ruins of the palace of the kings of Assyria at Nimrud in Mesopotamia. In this depiction, a battering ram is seen hitting the wall of the city while some of the town's defenders on the wall surrender to the Assyrian Army. The name of the conquered city, in cuneiform, is Gazaru. Later on it served as the center of the Assyrian administration in the Coastal Plain. Two clay cuneiform tablets were uncovered in the excavation; they are documents from the year 651 BCE and are typical of Assyrian texts dealing with the purchase of land.

By the end of the Iron Age, when Gezer was under the control of the Kingdom of Judah, the city was no longer a major center. During the 5th-4th centuries BCE, it was part of the Persian province of Yehud. In 142 BCE, Simon the Hasmonean conquered Gezer and built a royal palace there. (I Maccabees 13:43-48) The Iron Age fortifications were restored and semi-circular towers added. Evidence of a Jewish population during this period includes several stepped pools for ritual bathing (mikva'ot). During the reign of King Herod, Gezer lost its importance as a border town and until the end of the Second Temple period (70 CE), it was a private estate, its boundaries marked by inscriptions on rocks, "boundary of Gezer".

Tel Gezer was first excavated by R.A.S. Macalister. New excavations were conducted from 1964 to 1973, in 1984 and in 1990. These were first directed by G.E. Wright, later by W.C. Dever and J.D. Seger on behalf of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Note: Archaeologists discover artefacts dating back some 3,600 years at the Tel Gezer excavation site, more details in the comments on our page
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Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer, Israel Monolith temple (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer ,Israel Monolith temple (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer, Israel Monolith temple (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer ,Israel Monolith temple

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer, Israel Monolith temple

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer, Israel Solomon's gate

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer, Israel The Salomon era wall

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist : Tel Gezer, Israel

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

Tel Gezer
Tel Gezer submitted by motist

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"Tel Gezer" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Trove of ancient gold, silver discovered at Israeli archeological site by motist on Monday, 14 November 2016
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A treasure trove of gold and silver objects dating back about 3,600 years from the Canaanite period has been found in the Tel Gezer excavation center.

The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority announced Monday that it believes the objects found were part of a ceremonial offering that was laid in the center of the structure being excavated.
The trove was found in a pot made of china which was wrapped in fabric that was sill somewhat intact despite the humid climate.

Five artifacts were found in the trove, three of which had greatly corroded, preventing researchers from study them properly.

The remaining two items included a medallion consisting of a silver disc with an engraving of an eight-pointed star. At the edge of the disc are two horns meant for connecting with a rope. Dr. Irit Tziper said these symbols are recognized as representing Canaanite gods comparable to Mesopotamia's god's Ishtar and Sin of Akkadian culture.
The second artifact found was an Egyptian seal from the Hyksos period framed in gold.

The trove of findings led researchers to believe it was part of an offering meant to connect the two gods, Mesopotamia/Canaanite and Egyptian.

"Gezer was one of the most important cities in the Land of Israel during the Canaanite period," said Shaul Goldstein, director-general of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, "it's importance continued through the period when King Saul rebuilt the city. The trove found is a significant accomplishment that shines a light on the Canaanite culture in Israel 3,600 years ago,."

More at The Jerusalem Post
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King Solomon-era Palace Found in Biblical Gezer by motist on Friday, 02 September 2016
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Monumental 3000-year-old ruins, Philistine pottery support biblical tales of Gezer's rise, and fall to a jealous pharaoh.
A palatial building dating to the era of King Solomon 3000 years ago has been discovered in the royal city of Gezer, though there is no evidence which of the Israelite kings lived there, if any.

The monumental building dates to the 10th century BCE, the era associated with King Solomon, who is famed for bringing wealth and stability to the newly-united kingdom of Israel and Judah. The American archaeological team also found a layer featuring Philistine pottery, lending credence to the biblical account of them living in the city until being vanquished by King David.

The complex features a large central courtyard, like contemporary palace-like buildings found throughout the southern Levant, including at Hatzor and Megiddo. Though there's no telling who ruled from there, if anybody did, the edifice is significantly larger than the size of ordinary houses of the time, excavation co-director Prof. Steve Ortiz, representing the Tandy Museum of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary of Fort Worth, Texas, told Haaretz. Among the features not found in usual domestic structures is ashlar masonry - large rectangular-shaped monolithic hewn stones-in the corners of rooms, Ortiz said. Violent 6000-year history

Gezer, located in the Shephela (foothills) region of Israel overlooking the coastal plain, at the junction of a pass leading up to Jerusalem, goes back way before King Solomon. The site was occupied as far back as the Chalcolithic period (4th millennium BCE), and 3400 years ago, its Canaanite population was closely tied with far-off Egypt, as we know from cylinder seals and a large cartouche of Pharaoh Amenhotep III uncovered there in previous seasons.
Excavations have proven that the city did suffer violent destruction at the hands of the Egyptians, who mention Gezer time and again in their records. Thutmose III recorded its capture on the walls of the temple at Karnak; The city later played a prominent role in the Amarna Tablets, mentioned by name at least nine times. Pharaoh Merneptah boasted on his stele that he "seized Gezer." Later an Egyptian pharaoh turned on Gezer, for reasons we no longer know, burning down the city and slaughtering its Canaanite population.
According to the Old Testament, the city was also associated with the Philistines in David's time: the king broke their power “from Geba to as far as Gezer” (2 Samuel 5:25; 1 Chronicles 14:16). This excavation season has proved the Philistine link too, when the archaeologists revealed a layer with Philistine bichrome pottery. The archaeologists also found a tell-tale fragment of a so-called "Ashdod figurine," long-necked, bird-faced female figures that many believe depict an Aegean goddess. Such figurines have been found associated with Philistine remains in other excavations, such as in Ashdod, Timna, Ekron and Ashkelon. Ortiz puts these discoveries into proportion: Archaeologists still believe Gezer was mainly a Canaanite city, but during their era from about 1200 to 600 BCE, Philistines either lived in it alongside the Canaanites, or the two peoples had trading relations. "Gezer sits at an important crossroads. By location, it was an important border city,” Ortiz says.
Dowry to Solomon's wife
The newly discovered palace is west of the so-called Solomonic Gate, a six chamb

Read the rest of this post...
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Ancient City discovered beneath Biblical-Era ruins in Israel by Andy B on Tuesday, 26 November 2013
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Archaeologists have unearthed traces of a previously unknown, 14th-century Canaanite city buried underneath the ruins of another city in Israel.

The traces include an Egyptian amulet of Amenhotep III and several pottery vessels from the Late Bronze Age unearthed at the site of Gezer, an ancient Canaanite city.

Gezer was once a major center that sat at the crossroads of trade routes between Asia and Africa, said Steven Ortiz, a co-director of the site's excavations and a biblical scholar at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

The remains of the ancient city suggest the site was used for even longer than previously known.

More at
http://www.livescience.com/41143-city-found-under-canaanite-city.html?cmpid=555207

With thanks to Coldrum for the link
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