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Gezer
Also known as
Tel el-Jazari, Tel Gezer, Tel Jeser, Tell Jezer, Abu Shusheh, Gazara, Gazer,
Gazru |
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Gezer from South Situated
near the International Coastal Highway and guarding the primary route
into the Israelite hill country, Gezer was one of the most strategic
cities in the Canaanite and Israelite periods. Gezer is a
prominent 33-acre site that overlooked the Aijalon Valley and the road
leading through it to Jerusalem. The tell was identified as
biblical Gezer in 1871 by C. Clermont-Ganneau who two years later found
the first of many boundary stones inscribed with the city's name. |
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Middle Bronze Tower Gezer
was one of the most important Canaanite cities in the Middle Bronze period
(2000-1500 B.C.), as attested by the significant archaeological
remains. The city was protected by a large wall which included a
massive tower. Fifty-two feet in width, this tower is the largest
structure in any defensive system in this period. |
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Middle Bronze Gate
Built with a stone foundation and a
mudbrick superstructure, this city gate was constructed about 1650 BC.
and is of the typical style of the period. This gate was connected
to a four meter wide city wall which likely had 25 or more rectangular
towers. The Middle Bronze city was probably destroyed by Thutmose
III in his invasion c. 1477 BC. |
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Standing Stones
A series of ten standing stones were
uncovered in early excavations of the site (they were found laying down
and re-erected by archaeologists). Poor excavation makes these
masseboth difficult to date, but most archaeologists believe they are
from about 1500 BC, in the heyday of the Canaanites. Some of the
stones are more than three meters high. The stones may have
represented a treaty alliance (cf. Exod 24) or have been a cult center (cf.
Lev 26). |
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Gezer Watersystem
Severed from its context by the poor
archaeological technique of Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister, the
dating of this watersystem is difficult to determine. This very deep
system reaches down to the water table by a 7 meter round shaft and a 45
meter sloping tunnel. Originally this system was dated to the Late
Bronze Age (1500-1200 BC), but the more recent excavator Dever dates it
to Iron II (1000-600 BC) based on parallels with systems at Hazor,
Megiddo and Gibeon. Reich sees a parallel with Warren's Shaft, which
he now dates to 1800 BC. Of
Macalister's work, Moorey says, "The Gezer excavations suffered from
the worst practices of the time...There was no control over stratigraphy...the
interrelation of objects and debris was ignored." Macalister
himself said, "the exact spot in the mound where any ordinary object
chanced to lie is not generally of great importance." |
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Solomonic Gate
What Macalister identified as a
Maccabean castle is actually a beautiful monumental gateway from the
time of Solomon, similar to those at Hazor and Megiddo. The date
of this gate is confirmed by the presence of a destruction level
underneath it (from the unnamed pharaoh who gave the city to Solomon)
and a destruction level not long after its construction (by Shishak in
925 BC). Biblical history is dramatically confirmed by these
archaeological findings. |
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