Scientists wonder, «Why would you put in so much effort?»
In northern Israel, a huge 3,800-year-old monument stuns archaeologists. The ornate adobe-brick structure, the size of an Olympic swimming pool, with vaulted ceilings that raise the topographical height of Tel Shimron by 5 meters, was most likely hardly used.
Photo: wikipedia.org/Bukvoed/CC BY 3.0
The round hill of Tel—Shimron rises majestically about 70 meters above the Jezreel Valley — but this was not enough for the rulers of the ancient acropolis in the Middle Bronze Age, who about 3800 years ago built a massive monument that occupies almost the entire top of the hill. Today, archaeologists are trying to figure out why.
Constructed of mud-brick using the most advanced architectural techniques of the time, the ancient site raised the height of the hill by another five meters, The Times of Israel writes. The complex spans approximately 1,200 square meters across the top of the hill, roughly the size of an Olympic swimming pool.
Archaeologists announced the discovery of the ancient complex to the public the other day, but you should not go looking for it any time soon: the monument was buried for preservation and protection and is not available to the public, The Times of Israel notes.
“When we started digging, we found that this area between the clay bricks was filled with gravel, which is very unusual, so we started removing the gravel,” said Daniel Master, professor of archeology at Wheaton College, who has been excavating Tel Shimron since 2017. of the year. The current excavations are led by Prof. Mario A.S. Martin from the University of Innsbruck and archaeologists from Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Nature and Parks Authority.
Tel Shimron was not thoroughly excavated until 2017, and the team initially believed that this is a typical archaeological mound, built from layers of different periods of time. But when archaeologists began excavating, they discovered that the first five meters were a man-made structure.
“We continued to dig further, and it was preserved at a depth of one meter, then two meters, then three meters, then four meters,” says Professor Master. – This structure was completely intact, and suddenly we realized that we were dealing with the foundation of a building or a superstructure that was built on top of the site”.
The newly discovered complex consists of more than 9,000 unbaked clay bricks that have been stacked on top of each other to create a tower and a domed passage leading down into the city. The passage, two meters long, was built in the style of “cornice” — an architectural technique in which layered bricks gradually curve inwards, creating a progressively tapering roof.
This is the earliest documented example of cornice architecture in Israel, although the technique was widely used in Mesopotamia during this time period, around 3,800 years ago .
This is the era in which the inhabitants of Mesopotamia began to build the first megacities — Mari and Ur, in which up to 100,000 people lived. Since Mesopotamia consists mainly of alluvial floodplains with a small amount of large stones, the locals built buildings and dwellings from mud brick. At the time, they had the most advanced brick building technology in the world, Master explained. The rocky terrain of the Holy Land meant that the inhabitants could use both stones and bricks, so their masonry technique was less advanced, writes The Times of Israel.
In Tel Shimron, the builders even added an artistic twist: a layer of white chalk between the bricks. Working with scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science, the archaeologists determined that the white layer was applied purely for aesthetic reasons and did not serve as mortar.
Professor Master still doesn't believe they ever found undamaged arches, let alone that decorations are still visible on them, since unfired mud brick is a fragile material that rarely withstands the ravages of time.
“You know how it is with archeology — usually you have these stumps of walls that rise no more than a meter, and you only have the foundation,” Master said. – But suddenly here we are dealing with a huge monument that was built on top of this huge city in the Middle Bronze Age, and which really surprised us in terms of preservation”.
The monument is so well preserved because soon after it was built, it was completely covered with gravel, which supported and protected the arches, Master explained. They determined that it had hardly been used because the floor and stairs in the aisles were also made of mud brick and had very little wear, meaning that very few people walked on it after construction.
Purpose The monument has baffled archaeologists.
“Why would you put so much effort into something that is already 70 meters above the valley floor, and do it at a height of 75 meters above the valley floor? Professor Master. – What would that mean for the surrounding landscape and how people used the place?”
At first, the Master and others thought that the structure might have been the walls of an ancient fortified city, perhaps to protect the area from the conquering Egyptian armies. But wherever they found a gate, they led to a dead end.
Some suggest that the monument may have had religious significance. At the entrance to the main passage, archaeologists discovered a vessel with seven spouts, lying among the ashy debris. This type of vessel is called the «Nahariya bowl» because a similar vessel from the same period was found in Nahariya and was used for religious rituals.
A similar monument is located in Syria, called the White Monument at Tel Banat, also referred to to the Middle Bronze Age. It is believed that this is one of the oldest war memorials in the world, due to the systematic placement of the bodies of the dead on the mound.
The earliest finds at Tel Shimron date back to the Neolithic period about 9,000 years ago, but the site flourished in the middle Bronze Age, almost 4000 years ago. This was when the city was at its largest and extended over 19.5 hectares (195 dunams). It was an important stopover for goods and people heading north to Anatolia or the Caucasus, or south to the port of Acre.
The city was known throughout the world and is mentioned in Egyptian sources from this period.
“During the Bronze and Iron Ages, Shimron was the center of control over trade between east and west, from the Jordan Valley to Damascus and Hatzor”, said the Master.