Tel Gezer is a large mound, lying in the western foothills of the Judean Mountains at a height of 250 m. above sea level. Gezer is adjacent to the modern village of Karmei Yosef and covers an area of 130 dunams. The site controls the junction of the Via Maris (which stretched from Egypt to Mesopotamia) with the route from the coast to Jerusalem. Gezer rose to fame partly thanks to its 10th-century BCE monumental gate, which some scholars believe was built by King Solomon. A recent alternative hypothesis linked the construction of the gate with the Kingdom of Gath.
Early research
The site (Arabic: Tell Jezar) was identified with biblical Gezer in 1871 by the French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, who discovered in 1873 the “Boundary of Gezer” inscriptions. These inscriptions mention the name of the city, and confirm Clermont-Ganneau’s identification. In the 1900s the site was excavated under the supervision of R.A.S. Macalister of the Palestine Exploration Fund. He excavated long north-south trenches down to the bedrock, often to a depth of 13 meters, which covered two-thirds of the surface of the mound. This irregular excavation method made later study at the site difficult.
Recent research
In 1964 a new expedition of the Hebrew Union College and the Semitic Museum at Harvard (today Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East) began excavations at the site for 10 years. William Dever led the expedition in 1966. In 2010 another excavation was conducted by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the New Orleans Baptist Seminary of Theology. Tzika Tzuk, one of the supervisors, came to the conclusion that the large water system was constructed in the Middle Bronze Age, making it the oldest known in the country.
The water system
References to Gezer from the time of Egyptian rule on Canaan (15th-13th centuries BCE)
The importance of Gezer in different periods can be studied through its mentions in many biblical and historical sources. The city is first mentioned in the list of cities captured by Pharaoh Thutmose III in his campaign in Canaan in 1468 BCE. Among the El-Amarna letters of the 14th century BCE, nine are of correspondences of the rulers of Gezer with the Egyptian Pharaohs Amenhotep III and his son Akhenaten. Gezer is also mentioned in the Merneptah Stele (known as the “Israel Stele”) from c. 1220 BCE, as a city conquered in his campaign to Canaan. Dever claims that evidence of that destruction is seen at the site.
Biblical and Hasmonean sources
In the biblical sources Gezer is mentioned in the narrative of Joshua’s conquest (Joshua 10) and later as a city in the territory of the Tribe of Ephraim (Joshua 16:3). King David in his war against his Philistines is said to have pushed them to the border of Gezer (II Samuel 5:25), his son Solomon is said to have built Gezer after receiving it from his bride’s wife, identified with Pharaoh Siamun who ruled in c. 978-969 BCE (1 Kings 10:14-17). Gezer is mentioned as one of the most important cities constructed by Solomon (1 Kings 9:15-17). The Book of Maccabees states that Gezer was fortified and housed granaries and food storage in the 2nd century BCE (1 Maccabees 16:18-31, 35; 10:32-38). In historical sources, Gezer is said to have been conquered and fortified in the days of Judas Maccabeus and Simon Thassi during the Hasmonean period (2nd-1st centuries BCE).
Archaeological findings: The beginning of Canaanite Gezer
The strategic location of the site and its access to water sources attracted its residents. The earliest settlement layer of the site is from the Chalcolithic period (between 3600-3300 BCE). In the Middle Bronze period, Gezer became a large city, with extensive trade relations with Egypt and Mesopotamia. A large Canaanite temple with monumental columns was exposed, dating to the Middle Bronze III (1650-1550 BCE). Dever hypothesized that it was used in forming alliances with other political powers. Across the site many imported ware from Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt were found, indicating an increase in international trade during that period. At the end of the Middle Bronze period, a massive fortification system and water system were set. At the beginning of the Late Bronze Age period (around the year 1457 BCE) Gezer was destroyed, probably by Thutmose III, and continued to exist as a city-state under the rule of Egypt, until its withdrawal from Canaan in the 12th century BCE.
Gezer in the Iron Age – A city of King Solomon?
In the Iron Age I period (12th-10th centuries BCE) there is evidence of the continuation of the Canaanite settlement, in addition to a short period of Philistine presence between c. 1175-1050 BCE. In the beginning of the Iron Age IIa period (c. mid-10th century BCE), the site experienced violent destruction and on top of its ruins, a new settlement was established, including a monumental gate.
While Macalister claimed this gate is from the Hasmonean period, Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin claimed it was established by King Solomon. In 1 Kings 9:16-17 it is said that the Egyptian Pharaoh burnt Gezer and gave it to Solomon, his son-in-law, who erected massive fortifications and a city gate. Yadin based his claim on the similarity with the gates at Hazor and Megiddo, which were also linked to Solomon. Dever, who renewed the excavations, supported Yadin’s hypothesis.
With the development of the archaeological research in recent years, scholars have claimed that in the Iron Age I period Gezer was under the control of the Philistine kingdom of Ekron (hence the evidence of a Philistine settlement). Accompanying these developments is a new hypothesis: Gezer’s destruction and reconstruction, including the gate, should be attributed not to King Solomon but to the Kingdom of Gath. Either way, among the most important finds in the country is the “Gezer Calendar”, which deals with agriculture and is one of the earliest examples of Ancient Hebrew script.
The gate:
Gezer in the monarchic period and under the rule of Assyria and Babylons (10th-6th centuries BCE)
Gezer was destroyed during the campaign of Shishak (identified with Sheshonq I) in c. 925 BCE. The question about the continuity of the settlement after that destruction was debated. Macalister claimed that Gezer was abandoned until the 5th century BCE, while Dever claimed that it continued until the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE. The Assyrian tablets from the campaign of Tiglath-Pileser III in the southern Levant show, according to Dever, the conquest of Gezer in 733 BCE. An inscription from Nimurd even mentioned the name “Gazaru,” meaning “our Gezer.” According to Israeli archaeologist Roni Reich, after the Assyrian destruction of Gezer, it was re-established as an Assyrian administrative center. After the Babylonian conquest at the end of the 6th century BCE, Ephraim Stern identified evidence of the Persian period at the site, but without a considerable settlement. Later, it would seem that Gezer was uninhabited until the Hellenistic-Hasmonean period.
Gezer from the Classical periods until today
The Book of Maccabees describes Gezer as an administrative center with a fortress of the Hasmonean kings. Roni Reich has explored Macalister’s findings and identified evidence that after the year 142 BCE the site was inhabited by Jewish residents, apparently under the rule of Simeon. However, no Hasmonean fortress was identified
During the Roman period, there was a sparse settlement at Gezer, which probably served as an agricultural estate, whose demarcation inscriptions mark its limits (dated to c. 100 CE). Several Byzantine (4th-7th centuries CE) graves were also excavated. In 1177 CE an important battle took place at the site, between Baldwin IV, the Crusader king, and Salah a-Din, which ended in the victory of the former. Clermont-Ganneau identified the site with Crusader Montgisard, whose remains were not discovered at the site. Today the site is a park. In 2022 it suffered from a wildfire, but most of the archaeological remains were not damaged.
Sources:
דיוור, ג. ויליאם. 1998. גזר: צומת דרכים בארץ ישראל הקדומה. הוצאת הקיבוץ המאוחד. תל אביב.
דיוור, ג. ויליאם. 1970. גזר- עיר קמה לתחייה. קדמוניות: כתב עת לעתיקות ארץ ישראל וארצות המקרא. כרך 2 (10): עמ’ 57-62.
קוך, ע. ‘המערך המדיני בשפלת יהודה בתקופת הברזל א-בI (1150-800 לפסה”נ), קתדרה 143 (2012), עמ’ 45-64
Steven Ortiz and Samuel Wolff. 2012. Guarding the Border to Jerusalem: The Iron Age City of Gezer. Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 75, No. 1. pp. 4-19.
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