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Tel Dan Gate

Triple-arched gateway and gatehouse complex from Tel Dan (Tell el-Qadi) in northern Israel, Middle Bronze Age IIA-B period (18^th century B.C.E). Mud-brick construction, uncovered in 1979 during excavations led by Avraham Biran.

This well-preserved gate complex from the location of the later Israelite city of Dan reflects the Middle Bronze Age Canaanite (pre-Israelite) city known as Laish. Contemporaneous references to Laish and one of its rulers named Horon-ab come from the Egyptian “Execration Texts” and the Mari Letters; it is identified in Judg 18 as the name of the city which the Danites conquered. The mud-brick structure features a series of three impressive arches that span the gate’s central passageway (a feature without extant parallel in the region and period). Possibly because of structural instability, the entire gateway was buried under an earthen rampart in antiquity, an action which allowed for its remarkably complete preservation.

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Literally "mound," a small hill-shaped site containing numerous occupational layers of a town or city built on top of one another over millennia.

The historical period from the beginning of Western civilization to the start of the Middle Ages.

The stage of development during which humans used copper or bronze weapons; in the ancient Near East, approx. 3300 to 1200 B.C.E.

Still in existence.

Relating to or associated with people living in the territory of the northern kingdom of Israel during the divided monarchy, or more broadly describing the biblical descendants of Jacob.

A city along the Euphrates River.

The period of 2000–1550 B.C.E.; the Bronze Age is characterized by the development and proliferation of bronze for tools, weapons, and other objects. In ancient Canaan, the Middle Bronze Age saw the development of cities such as Hazor.

Judg 18

The Migration of Dan
1In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself a territory to live in; for u ... View more