An atlas of Earth’s mysterious places — megaliths, pyramids, lost and sunken cities — with the evidence shown plainly: what is verified, what is contested, and what is still unknown.

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Israel

61 places in the atlas, 9 of them inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.

Kinds found here

Ancient cities36
Tells32
Mounds28
Buried cities17
Ancient villages15
Archaeological wonders9
Caves7
Submerged sites7
Burials5
Palaeolithics5
Port cities5
Capitals4

How well established

Verified59
Accepted1
Contested1

Top regions

Arava Valley, Southern District1
Beth Shean Valley, Jordan Rift1
Central Coast, HaCarmel, Sharon Plain1
Central District, Herzliya1
Central District, Shephelah1
Central District, Sorek Valley, Shfela

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Verification

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Verified59 Widely accepted1 Contested1

Central District, Tel Miqne (Kibbutz Revadim)1

Haifa District, Caesarea, Hof HaCarmel1

Haifa District, Carmel Coast1

Haifa District, Hof HaCarmel1

Haifa District, Hof HaCarmel, Ma'agan Michael kibbutz coast1

Haifa District, Mount Carmel north, Nahal Sefunim1

Hypothetical0

Unverified0

Pseudoarchaeology0

Heritage

UNESCO World Heritage only

Excavation

Partially excavated21 Excavation ongoing21 Excavated12 Submerged5 Buried2

32 places · page 1 of 2

Tells

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🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient village

Abu Gosh

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B to Pottery Neolithic (7600–5500 BCE) · Southern Levant PPNB → Yarmoukian (Pottery Neolithic)

Judean Hills PPNB ridge village with goat domestication ancient DNA archive.

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Keisan (Tell Keisan)

Middle Bronze – Persian (2000–300 BCE) · Canaanite–Phoenician–Persian

Middle Bronze – Persian (2000–300 BCE) tell of Canaanite–Phoenician–Persian in Northern District, Akko Plain (c.2000 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Ashdod (Tel Ashdod / Isdud)

Late Bronze – Iron Age (1700–600 BCE) · Philistine–Israelite

Late Bronze – Iron Age (1700–600 BCE) tell of Philistine–Israelite in Southern District, Philistine Plain (c.1700 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tell el-Farah South (Tell el-Farah S)

Middle Bronze – Iron Age (2000–900 BCE) · Hyksos–Philistine

Middle Bronze – Iron Age (2000–900 BCE) tell of Hyksos–Philistine in Southern District, Negev Border (c.2000 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tell Jemmeh (Tel Gamma)

Late Bronze – Persian (1400–400 BCE) · Philistine–Assyrian

Late Bronze – Persian (1400–400 BCE) tell of Philistine–Assyrian in Southern District, Besor River (c.1400 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tell Beit Mirsim (Tell Beit Mirsin)

Early Bronze – Iron Age (3000–600 BCE) · Biblical Debir

Early Bronze – Iron Age (3000–600 BCE) tell of Biblical Debir in Southern District, Hebron Hills (c.3000 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tell Qasile

Late Bronze–Iron II (1200–600 BCE) · Philistine–Israelite

Late Bronze–Iron II (1200–600 BCE) tell of Philistine–Israelite in Tel Aviv District, Yarkon River (c.1200 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Miqne (Ekron)

Early Bronze through Iron Age II; EBA, LB Canaanite, Iron I–II Philistine, Assyrian 7th c. · LB Canaanite → Sea Peoples Philistine → Ekronite (Philistine) kingdom → Neo-Assyrian vassal

Ekron — Philistine pentapolis capital with 115-press oil industry and Achish inscription (Iron I–II, 1200–603 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tell es-Safi (Gath)

Chalcolithic through Ottoman; EBA III, MB–LB Canaanite, Iron I–II Philistine/Judahite, Crusader–Mamluk · EBA Canaanite → Philistine Pentapolis (Sea Peoples) → Judahite fortress → Crusader

40 ha Philistine pentapolis capital — EBA to Crusader tell with Gath Siege Trench and Goliath inscription (c.5000 BCE–present).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Middle Bronze Age through Crusader (c.2000 BCE–640 CE); MB Canaanite → Phoenician (Siky) → Assyrian province → Persian–Hellenistic Phoenician Dor · MB Canaanite → Iron I Siky/Phoenician → Phoenician (Tyre) → Perso-Phoenician province → Hellenistic

Phoenician purple-dye port (c.2000 BCE–640 CE) — 20 ha Carmel headland tell with Iron I Wenamun harbour and mole (Stern).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Rehov (Rehov)

Late Bronze Age through Iron Age II (c.1550–732 BCE); LB Canaanite, Iron I–II Israelite/Aramaean, Assyrian · LB Canaanite (Rehov/Sharuhen?) → Iron I Israelite → Israelite–Aramaean contested city

Beth Shean Valley’s largest mound (10 ha) with 10th-c. apiary (30 hives) and Iron I–II Rehov — Shoshenq anchor (1200–732 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Batash (Timnah)

Late Bronze Age through Iron Age II (c.1550–586 BCE); LB temple, Iron I Philistine, Judahite 10th–7th c. · LB Canaanite → Iron I Philistine → Iron II Judahite frontier town

Biblical Timnah (Samson) — 5 ha Philistine–Judahite border town with Iron II casemate and olive press quarter (1550–586 BCE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Azekah

Early Bronze through Iron Age and Byzantine (c.3500 BCE–600 CE); LB–Iron I–II Judahite fortress 8th–6th c. BCE · EBA–LB Canaanite → Judahite fortress (Hezekiah–Zedekiah) → Babylonian destruction → Persian–Byzantine

Judahite Shfela fortress (18 ha) with Sennacherib 701 BCE and 588 BCE Babylonian destructions — Lachish letter Azekah (Iron II).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Beth Shean (Beisan)

Chalcolithic through Byzantine (c.5000 BCE–749 CE); EBA, MB–LB Canaanite/Egyptian, Iron I–II, Hellenistic-Roman-Byzantine · Chalcolithic–EBA Canaanite → New Kingdom Egyptian garrison → Israelite → Decapolis (Scythopolis)

Egyptian garrison tell (1450–1130 BCE) + EBA–Byzantine Beth Shean — 11 cities with Mekal temple and 749 CE earthquake debris (c.5000 BCE–749 CE).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Erani

Late Chalcolithic through EB III–MBA (c.3500–2200 BCE); Late Chalcolithic, EB Ia–III Egyptian contact · Ghassulian → EBA I–III Canaanite urban with Naqada IIIb Egyptian colony (1st Dynasty)

25 ha EBA fortified town with Egyptian Colony (Dynasty 0–1) and EB IB wall — S. Yeivin gateway tell to Hebron hills.

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tell el-Hesi

Neolithic through Persian–Hellenistic (c.5000 BCE–332 BCE); EBA, MB–LB Canaanite, Iron I–II, Persian · Chalcolithic–EBA Canaanite → LB Canaanite → Iron I Philistine/Judahite → Persian province

1890 stratigraphic excavation origin — 12-m Petrie tell with EBA–Persian sequence (Neolithic–Iron) founding ceramic seriation.

✓VerifiedUNESCO

🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Beersheba

Chalcolithic to Byzantine (peak Iron I–II, 1200–701 BCE) · Chalcolithic well-diggers → Canaanite → Israelite/Judahite → Assyrian → Byzantine

UNESCO biblical frontier tell with four-room houses and Israel's earliest engineered water-tunnel.

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Arad

Early Bronze II to Iron II / Persian (c.3000–400 BCE; EB peak 2950–2650, Iron 1000–587) · EB Canaanite → absent MB → Israelite Judahite → Babylonian era → Persian

Double-stacked tell: 2950 BCE walled EB city plus Iron Age Judahite fortress-temple twin of Jerusalem.

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Yarmuth (Yarmut)

Early Bronze Age II–III (c.3000–2350 BCE) with MB II and Iron I–II reuse · EBA III Canaanite urban (Proto-Canaanite) — Jordan Valley city-state network

16 ha EBA III walled palace-city (2700–2350 BCE) with Palace B2 (6000 m²) — largest EBA town in Israel (Miroschedji).

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🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Dan

Neolithic to Iron Age/Crusader (peak Middle Bronze to Iron II, 2000–733 BCE) · Canaanite (Sidonian) → Israelite (Dan tribe) → Aramaean → Israelite kingdom → Assyrian

Bubbling Jordan spring tell with world's oldest intact triple mudbrick arch (1750 BCE) and House of David stele.

✓VerifiedUNESCO

🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city

Hazor

Early Bronze to Hellenistic · Canaanite → Israelite → Assyrian

Largest Canaanite and Israelite tell in Israel (100 ha total: 12 ha upper acropolis + 70 ha lower city) — 'head of all those kingdoms' (Joshua 11:10) — with Middle Bronze earthen ramparts, Late…

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🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient village

Sha'ar Hagolan

Pottery Neolithic / Yarmoukian · Yarmoukian (Levantine Pottery Neolithic)

Type-site of the Yarmoukian culture (6400–5800 BCE), the first Pottery Neolithic culture of the southern Levant, on the Yarmouk River.

✓VerifiedUNESCO

🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city

Gezer

Early Bronze to Iron Age · Canaanite → Egyptian → Israelite

Hilltop Canaanite tel (c.3500–586 BCE) with the Gezer Calendar (10th c. BCE, earliest Hebrew inscription — agricultural almanac) and bronze-age standing-stone alignment: 10 monolithic massebot (up to…

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🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient village

Kfar HaHoresh

Middle PPNB · PPNB cult complex

PPNB cult and mortuary center (7500–6650 BCE) in the Nazareth hills, not a normal village but a regional feasting and secondary-burial site serving surrounding settlements.

Israel

Kinds found here

How well established

Top regions

Category

Heritage

Excavation

Tags

32 places · page 1 of 2

Abu Gosh

Tel Keisan (Tell Keisan)

Ashdod (Tel Ashdod / Isdud)

Tell el-Farah South (Tell el-Farah S)

Tell Jemmeh (Tel Gamma)

Tell Beit Mirsim (Tell Beit Mirsin)

Tell Qasile

Tel Miqne (Ekron)

Tell es-Safi (Gath)

Tel Dor

Tel Rehov (Rehov)

Tel Batash (Timnah)

Tel Azekah

Tel Beth Shean (Beisan)

Tel Erani

Tell el-Hesi

Tel Beersheba

Tel Arad

Tel Yarmuth (Yarmut)

Tel Dan

Hazor

Sha'ar Hagolan

Gezer

Kfar HaHoresh