Gezer
תל גזר · Tell Gezer · Tell Jezer · Gazara
Early Bronze to Iron Age·Canaanite → Egyptian → Israelite·🇮🇱 Central District, Shephelah, Israel
Wikipedia contributors · CC (see file page)
About
About Gezer
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 3 m, 5 tonnes) with double-bowl altar — Canaanite high place. Egyptian Thutmosis III, Merneptah, Israelite Solomon gate trio. Massive Middle Bronze glacis, Iron Age water tunnel (similar to Megiddo), and boundary stelae 'Boundary of Gezer, of Alkios'.
Why it mattersEarliest Hebrew inscription; Canaanite massebot cult; Via Maris spur.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Massebot alignment — solstice?
- 02Gezer Calendar purpose — receipt vs school?
Theories
- 01High place with child sacrifice debate (Macalister) — probably foundations
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3500 BCE; Gezer Calendar c.950 BCE
- Period
- Early Bronze to Iron Age
- Culture
- Canaanite → Egyptian → Israelite
- Builders
- Pharaoh gift to Solomon (1 Kings 9:16)
- Purpose
- Shephelah agricultural fortress and high place
- Abandoned
- c.586 BCE then Hellenistic/Christian
- Rediscovered
- 1871 Clermont-Ganneau; 1902–09 Macalister
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.1500 BCE
MB massebot high place
c.950 BCE
Gezer Calendar tablet (school text)
On the ground
Structures & features
31.8580° N · 34.9230° E · 220 m · 3 mapped features
Gallery