A monumental city gate dating to about 5,500 years ago has been found at Tel Erani in southern Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. That makes it Israel’s earliest city gate by centuries.
Dating to the Early Bronze Age, this stone gate was built from imported giant stone blocks, augmented by the usual local mud-brick. But the rationale behind what had to have been vast construction effort remains enigmatic.
“This is the first time that such a large gate dating to the Early Bronze IB has been uncovered,” said Emily Bischoff, the director of the excavation on behalf of the IAA. It was more than a meter and a half (nearly 5 feet) in height and consisted of a stone-tiled passageway through the city wall into the ancient town. It also featured two stone-built guard towers.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the gate is that the city wall was mud-brick. So, we have a monumental stone gate – with stone tiling, no less – at the northern entrance to the city surrounded by a mud-brick wall. Not a stone wall. Mud-brick was typical of city walls at the time, but their gates were mud-brick too.
Image : The site of the 5,500-year-old gate at Tel Erani, Israel. Credit: Emil Aladjem/IAA
