Tel Dothan is located in northern Samaria, in the center of the Dothan Valley about 10 km southwest of the city of Jenin. The hill has a spring on its southwestern slope. The area of the hill is about 100 dunams.
Dothan in the Bible
Dotan is mentioned for the first time in the records of the cities conquered by King Thutmose III of Egypt, Benjamin Mazar opposes this claim. The story of Joseph’s sale in Genesis takes place in Dotan. During the time of the Kingdom of Israel, the prophet Elisha lived there and the king of Aram besieged the city. In Sefer Yehudit, Dotan is mentioned as the battleground of the Holofernes War in the Land of Israel, next to the settlement “Balama” (nearby Khirbat Balama). Eusebius of Caesarea states that Shadtan is 12 miles north of Samaria. Dotan is mentioned in a street mosaic from the Byzantine period. Ashtori Farahi identifies the site in the 14th century as “Dota”. Tel Dotan is mentioned in the British survey from 1865 as DOTHAN.
The excavations:
In the years 1953 to 1964 Joseph Perry excavated at the site on behalf of Wheaton College for about nine excavation seasons and uncovered archaeological remains from 21 different layers. 2 excavation areas L and A were opened. The main remains are from the early bronze, late bronze and iron periods. During the royal period, Dotan was a fortified city, to which the king of Aram sent “horses and chariots and a heavy army” to surround the city in order to capture Elisha, but they were blinded, and the prophet led them to Samaria. Area L is fortified with a retaining wall and it is possible to estimate the thicknesses of the inner and outer walls of about 1 m. On the eastern side of area L, four spaces of different sizes were exposed. To the northwest, buildings were discovered that seem to have been used for industrial or agricultural activity. House 14 (which is unusual in Dothan) had plastered walls and floors. In Perry’s opinion the building had two or even three floors. Two stones described as “tombstones” were discovered on the floors. In 2013, a 4-horn altar made of broken stone was discovered in the courtyard of the building. The retaining wall of the structure was built from three courses of Rosh Patin, which is typical of the Iron Age 2. The layers of destruction were found in an excavation during the Iron Age 2, the archaeological findings and carbon 14 samples that came out of the assemblages show that these ruins must be dated to the 9th century BCE. In area L, human burials were discovered that were dated to the eighth century to the beginning of the seventh century BCE.
The Altar of the Four Horns
In 2013, fragments of an altar made of local limestone, with four horns from the Iron Age 2, were discovered at Tel Dotan. Its dimensions are 65×65 cm and about 18 cm thick. Due to the location of the find within a system of buildings, it is possible to date the altar to the beginning of the 9th century BC. The complex of buildings in which the altar is found was originally identified by Joseph Perry as an administrative building, but following the discovery of the altar, Master claims that the complex of buildings had a ritual function Altars of this type were used for burning incense or other material, and were not used for sacrificing animals or other offerings.
Bor Yosef:
The site is near the mound and is called in Arabic “Bir el Hafira” and some identify it with “Joseph’s Well”, or “Joseph’s Pit” which according to what is described in the book of Genesis, Joseph’s brothers threw him into the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites.
Most of the finds from Tel Dotan are displayed in a small museum housed in a cistern in the college yard of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem.
Part of the Tel Dotan excavations on the mandatory Antiquities Authority site.
Findings: Kedra Barzel 1, Tel Dotan Israel Museum
Sources:
Gibson S. (Tashat). A note regarding the Iron Age altar of the four horns at Tel Dotan in Ma’aba Ha’er, Har Ephraim and Binyamin researches, pp. 151-167.
Master M. D. Monson J. M., Lass E. E. S. Pierce (2005). Dothan I: Remains from the Tell (1953-1964) (Excavations of Joseph P. Free at Dothan (1953-1964)). Winona Lake, Indiana Eisenbrauns.