Tel Shimron, called Tel “Samonia” in Arabic, is located at the foot of the settlement of Timart on the border between the Jezreel Valley and the Lower Galilee. The mound rises to a height of 185 m and is the highest of the mounds in the Jezreel Valley. Findings from the Neolithic period to the Ottoman period were discovered at the site, when the peak of the settlement was in the Middle Bronze Age. Even after it (Late Bronze), it is evident that the city maintained its status as a large northern Canaanite royal city, mentioned in the letters to Amarna of the period. The place is also mentioned in the Bible as part of Joshua’s conquests, in the writings of Josephus Flavius ​​and in the Jewish Talmud. Among the finds in the mound: a Ptolemaic coin from the Ashkelon mint, fortifications and a monumental structure (possibly a fortress) from the Persian period.

Historical references

The city of Shimron is mentioned for the first time in the list of cities of Amenhotep III, and as a Canaanite kingdom in the letters to Amarna as the city of Shemuna (or Sheman). The King of Shimron appealed to Pharaoh, King of Egypt (the ruler of the region in the Late Bronze Age) with a request to lower the tax burden.

In the Bible, the city appears as occupied during the conquests of Joshua (Joshua 12:20, 19, 15) as belonging to the Zebulun tribe. In the writings of Josephus Flavius, the city is mentioned as “Simonia”, as the place where Josephus stationed his forces in preparation for his early battles with Aybutius the cavalry officer, before the arrival of Vespasian’s forces in the area (Life of Joseph 115-118). The city is also mentioned by this name in the Jerusalem Talmud in the discussion of hybrid seed “Simonia Valley, there are no sowers in it but one species”.

Archaeological excavations

The mound was surveyed by Prof. Yuval Portuguese in 1982 as part of the Survey in the Jezreel Valley. In the same year, the mound was also surveyed by Avner Raban from the University of Haifa. In 2004, a rescue excavation was carried out on the edge of the mound, in which remains of buildings and ceramics from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period were discovered. In 2008, another salvage excavation was carried out on the western edge of the mound by Nurit Feig, where ceramics from the Early Bronze Age, Roman walls and Hellenistic artifacts were found, including a Ptolemaic coin from the Ashkelon mint. In 2017, an expedition led by Daniel Masters from Wheaton College in the United States, and Dr. Mario Martin from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, in collaboration with the Archaeological Institute of Tel Aviv University, began excavating at Tel Aviv University. The expedition has been excavating at the site for about 4 years.

The Bronze Age

As part of the survey conducted in 1982, Avner Raban suggested that the city was founded in the Early Bronze Age 1 and identified a settlement gap in the Early Bronze Age 3. Contrary to him, the American archaeologist, Douglas Esse, claimed that there was a continuous settlement in the place until the Middle Bronze Age. During this period, the city dominates  the commercial route on the north-south axis (Egypt). The city’s fortifications are attributed to this period.

The settlement at Tel Shimron reached its peak size during the Middle Bronze Age and spread over about 200 dunams. In the Late Bronze Age, despite its reduction in size, it is evident that the place maintained its status as a large northern Canaanite royal city, which is mentioned in the Al Amarna letters of the period. The city had extensive commercial ties with Mesopotamia and Egypt, and remains of imported Cypriot ceramics were even found – a fact that points to ties with the West.

The Iron Age

Shimron appears in the list of cities conquered by Joshua and was assigned to the possession of the Zebulun tribe. Apparently, the city lost its power and size during the Iron Age and its area was limited to the upper part of the mound. The excavations examine the connection of the city in the Kingdom of Israel to the Galilee and the coast. As part of the Assyrian occupation in the 8th century BC, Prof. Naaman from Tel Aviv University identified the city of “Shimhona” as Tel Shimron.

Persian-Hellenistic period

The occupation records of Tiglath Placer III indicate a decline in settlement in the Lower Galilee and the Jezreel Valley. During the Persian period, the area was sparsely populated. In the 1982 archaeological survey, remains of a monumental building from the Persian period (possibly a fortress) were discovered. This finding is consistent with the claim of Prof. Lipshitz from Tel Aviv University, that during the Persian period the settlement in Judea and the Galilee was mainly administrative-imperial. Prof. Stern from the Hebrew University claimed that this theory stems from the choice to excavate only the Acropolis in these mounds (mounds in the lower Galilee and Judea that were inhabited during the Persian period), and that digging in the lower part of the mounds would also reveal residential and civilian settlements. The nature and status of Shimron in the Hellenistic period is not yet clear. So far, several pieces of evidence (coins) have been found, but no evidence of a clear civil or administrative settlement has yet been discovered.

Roman-Byzantine period

In the Roman period there was a village at Tel Shimron called “Simonias” in Greek and “Simonia” in Hebrew. Near the settlement passed a road that connected two major cities: Legio (near Tel Megiddo) and Sepris (Tsipori), which was apparently paved at the beginning of the 2nd century AD as part of a Roman imperial initiative. According to the excavators, commercial traffic passed this way and the settlement in Tel Shimron benefited financially from this.

Guerin suggested that the building on the northwest side of the mound is a church. Others (Sukenik, Klein, Mazar) claimed that these are the remains of a synagogue of the period. The location of Tel Shimron was apparently used as an important military-strategic point, a fact that may explain Josephus’ choice to place his army there in the first stages of warfare.

bibliography

Feig, Nurit. 2009. Tel Shimron: Final Report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel. Israel Antiquities Authority.

Portugali, Yuval. 1982. “A Field Methodology for Regional Archaeology (The Jezreel Valley Survey, 1981).” Tel Aviv 9/2: 170–88.

Raban, Avner. 1982.  Archaeological Survey of Israel: Nahalal Map (28) 16–23. Jerusalem: Archaeological Survey of Israel.

Tel Shimron excavations project. https://www.telshimronexcavations.com/.

Biblical Hiking map