"The street"

- CONTENT -
TEL STREET IS A ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE IN THE BEIT HAN VALLEY, ABOUT 5KM SOUTH OF THE SHI'AN HOUSE, FROM THE CANAANITE PERIOD AND THE ISRAELI PERIOD. THE AREA IS 100 HECTARES AND IS THE LARGEST IN ITS REGION AND ONE OF THE LARGEST IN ISRAEL.

HISTORY AND FINDINGS

THE IDENTIFICATION WITH THE ANCIENT STREET WAS MADE IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY BY FELIX-MARIE BUT. IN THE EARLY 1950S, A ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION TOOK PLACE. AMONG THE FINDINGS WERE THREE IN THE YEARS, WHICH WERE PROBABLY USED FOR POTTERY.

IN 1973, A STREET ADDRESS WAS DISCOVERED ON A MOSAIC FLOOR OF A BUILDING THAT WAS A SYNAGOGUE. THE ADDRESS IS DATED TO THE END OF THE BYZANTINE PERIOD, AND THE MATTER OF THE HALAKHIC ISSUE IN THE TORAH AND IN THE TALMUD REGARDING ITS RULE, OR THE EXASPERATION, OF THE SHUN HOUSE IN THE “FALM OF BABYLON,” DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN WHICH ZION AND THE END OF THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD, REGARDING THE COMMANDMENTS DEPENDENT ON THE LAND. IN ADDITION, THREE HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS DESCRIBED IN THE 10TH AND 9TH CENTURIES BCE WERE REVEALED AND THE NAME OF THE YAHU FAMILY, WHICH REFERRED TO THE NAME OF THE YAHU FAMILY, AND "ALUSH", AS THE PROPHET'S SON.

THE SETTLEMENT IN TEL ITSELF CEASED TO EXIST UNTIL THE EARLY ARAB PERIOD, WHEN IT WAS UPROOTED AS A VILLAGE THAT SURVIVED UNTIL THE LATE MIDDLE AGES.

THE NAME OF THE ANCIENT SETTLEMENT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1951.

THE CITY IS ALSO MENTIONED IN SEVERAL EGYPTIAN INSCRIPTIONS. IT WAS AN IMPORTANT CITY DURING THE IRON AGE, IN THE 10TH AND 9TH CENTURIES BC, THE DAYS OF THE PRIME MINISTER IN ISRAEL. THE SAME PERIOD IS DESCRIBED AS TEN INSCRIPTIONS ON NESTS, WHICH WERE DISCOVERED IN TEL, THREE IN HEBREW.

THE EXCAVATIONS BEGAN IN 1997, UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGIST AMIR MASER FROM THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY. THE SETTLEMENT WAS PROBABLY PRESENT SINCE THE EARLY BRONZE AGE, PROBABLY AS A POOR SETTLEMENT. THE EXCAVATIONS ALSO RAISED A FINDING THAT INDICATES A COMMERCIAL-CULTURAL CONNECTION WITH CYPRUS, AND OTHER FINDINGS AS COLLECTORS, NOLL, AND BI-COLONIAL CONGESTIONS, WHICH INDICATE SIMILAR TIES WITH THE PLENIDIANS. THE CITY WAS THE CAPITAL OF A CANAANITE CITY DURING THE LATE BRONZE AGE, FROM THE 16TH TO THE 13TH CENTURY BC. THE CITY IS ALSO MENTIONED IN YOUR LETTER, IN LETTER NO. 2. IN EXCAVATIONS AT THE ANCIENT SHAN HOUSE THERE WAS AN ASTELLA DEPICTING A REBELLION OF CITIES IN THE AREA OF THE QAN TEMPLE VALLEY AGAINST THE FIRST SETH PHARAOH RULE. THE ESTA INDICATES THAT THE STREET DID NOT JOIN THE REBELLION. ANOTHER IMPORTANT FINDING WAS AN BAKING OVEN THAT WAS PRESERVED FROM THE LATE BRONZE AGE UNTIL THE 8TH CENTURY BC. THE OVEN WAS PRESERVED COMPLETELY AND ALLOWED RESEARCHERS TO VERIFY THE SPECULATIONS REGARDING THE SHAPE AND CONDITIONS OF THE OVEN, AS WELL AS TO CONDUCT RESIDUAL TESTS FROM ITS INTERNAL PARTS.

FINDINGS FROM THE 10TH CENTURY BC (IRON II-A) INDICATE THAT THE CITY HAS HAD TRADE RELATIONS WITH THE PHOENICIANS. AN ADDRESS FROM THE CONQUEST OF THE FIRST SACK (925 BC) INDICATES THAT THE EGYPTIANS CONQUERED THE CITY. IN TEL ITSELF, A LAYER OF DESTRUCTION WAS FOUND, BUT IT IS NOT CLEAR WHETHER IT SHOULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE FACTION, OR THAT ITS CONQUEST DID NOT LEAD TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY. FINDINGS FROM THE 10TH OR 9TH CENTURY BC, WHICH INDICATE THE DEITY OF THE CREATORS, ARE THE EARLIEST IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ONLY ONES CONTAINING HIVES (ABOUT 30 IN THE NUMBER WERE FOUND, AND IT WAS RECOGNISED THAT THERE WERE SEVERAL DOZEN MORE). LATER PERIODS WERE FOUND TO BE GRAVES, WHICH SEEMED TO BELONG TO MILITARY OFFICIALS OR OFFICERS OF THE EMPIRE WHO OCCUPIED THE CITY IN ITS OCCUPATION IN 732 BC. THE CANAANITE CITY WAS DESTROYED AND WAS NOT REBUILT.

ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE POD WAS A VILLAGE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.

JEWISH TOWN

IN THE FIELDS OF THE EIN COMMISSIONER, ABOUT 800 METERS NORTH-WEST OF THE STREET, FINDINGS FROM THE BYZANTINE PERIOD WERE DISCOVERED, INCLUDING AN ESTIMATED BUILDING AS A SYNAGOGUE WHOSE ESTABLISHMENT DATES FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE 4TH CENTURY CE. THE SITE WAS EXPOSED IN EXCAVATIONS CONDUCTED BETWEEN 1974 AND 1979, IN WHICH A CACHE WAS DISCOVERED AND CONTAINS A COLLECTION OF CONSTRUCTION STONES, BARS WITH A SEVEN-TOP LAMP, MOSAIC FLOORS, PAINTINGS AND EIGHT INSCRIPTIONS ON THE ROOF OF THE BUILDING AND ITS WALLS.

THE SIZE OF THE BUILDING 18 METERS ON 24 METERS; THE ENTIRE COMPLEX WAS PAVED IN MOSAIC. CHECK THREE LAYERS OF FLOORS