Tell en-Nasbeh, likely the biblical city of Mizpah, is a 3.2

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

(8 acre) tell located on a low plateau northwest of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

History

The site lies adjacent to an ancient roadway connecting Jerusalem with the northern hill country, which is how Tell en-Nasbeh gained importance as Judah's northern border fortress during its prime phase of occupation in the Iron Age II (Strata 3A-C; 1000–586 BCE). There are also archaeological remains at the site and in surrounding cave tombs that have been dated to the Early Bronze I (Stratum 5; 3500–3300 BCE), Iron I (Stratum 4; 1200–1000 BCE),

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

(Stratum 2; 586–323 BCE),

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Periods (Stratum 1; 323 BCE – 630 CE).

Early Bronze

Early Bronze I

Tell en-Nasbeh (Stratum 5, EB I, 3500-3300 BCE) was a small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze I periods. It was then abandoned until the beginning of the Iron Age.

Iron Age

Iron I

Tell en-Nasbeh (Stratum 4, Iron I, 1200-1000 BCE). The settlement started to develop again after a long period of abandonment. Around the 10th century BCE it had become a sizable agricultural village.Zorn, J. R. 1993. 'Tell en-Nasbeh.' Pp. 1098–1102 in ''The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land'', ed. E. Stern. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society & Carta.

Iron II

Tell en-Nasbeh (Stratum 3, Iron II, 1000-586 BCE). By Iron Age II (9th–8th centuries BCE), it was a walled settlement with a massive

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

, on the frontier between the southern and northern Israelite kingdoms. Archaeologist

William G. Dever William Gwinn Dever (born November 27, 1933, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American archaeologist, Biblical scholar, historian, semiticist, and theologian. He is an active Biblical scholar, scholar of the Old Testament, and historian, specialized ...

estimates the city's population to have been between 500 and 1,000 people during this period. Tell en-Nasbeh Stratum 2 (Babylonian, Persian periods 585-323 BCE). During the Jewish–Babylonian War, the area to the north of Jerusalem yielded to the Babylonians without a battle, according to archaeological evidence and other indications in the Hebrew Bible.Finkelstein, I., & Silberman, N. A. (2002). ''

The Bible Unearthed ''The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts'' is a 2001 a book by Israel Finkelstein, Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, and Neil Asher Silberman, an archaeologist, historian ...

: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts''. Simon and Schuster. p. 307 After the destruction of Jerusalem by

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

in 587/6 BCE, Mizpah became the administrative center for the district of Binyamin in Judah. According to a study done by

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, Tell en-Nasbeh survived the Babylonian campaign and rose to prominence in the sixth century BCE as the most important settlement nearby.

Hellenistic period

Tell en-Nasbeh Stratum 1 (Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, 323 BC-630 AD). Pottery, coins, and other small finds indicate Tell en-Nasbeh was still occupied by the

Period when

Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...

gathered his army at Mizpah to confront the

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, a ...

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. Later finds, including a tower, tombs in the extramural cemeteries, and the floor of a Byzantine church near the western cemetery, speak to some occupation in later periods.

Excavations

The site was excavated over 5 seasons between 1926 and 1935 by William Frederic Badè of the

Pacific School of Religion The Pacific School of Religion (PSR) is a Private university, private Protestant seminary in Berkeley, California. It maintains Covenant (religion), covenantal relationships with the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, and the ...

in Berkeley, CA. The project was jointly sponsored by the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) and the

American Schools of Oriental Research The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), founded in 1900 as the American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, which supports the research and teaching of ...

(ASOR), and represents one of the earliest scientific excavations in region. After Badè's untimely death in 1936, his colleagues compiled and published a 2-volume final report for the excavation.McCown, C. C. 1947. "Tell en-Nasbeh I: Archaeological and Historical Results." Pacific Institute of Pacific School of Religion and American Schools of Oriental Research, Berkeley and New Haven.Wampler, J. C. 1947. "Tell en-Nasbeh II: The Pottery." Palestine Institute of Pacific School of Religion and American Schools of Oriental Research, Berkeley and New Haven. The original dig records, specifically the stratigraphic evidence, were later re-analyzed and published by Jeffrey R. Zorn of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

.Zorn, J. R. 1993. "Tell en Nasbeh: A Re-evaluation of the Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Early Bronze Age, Iron Age and Later Periods." Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of California Berkeley. Research of the Tell en-Nasbeh collection continues today, both by staff of the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion (formerly the Palestine Institute, then Badè Institute of Biblical Archaeology) and by outside scholars from around the world. Museum staff are also involved in a huge multi-year project to digitize over 5,800 objects that comprise the Tell en-Nasbeh collection. This project, based in Open Context, is in collaboration with staff of th
Alexandria Archive Institute
in San Francisco, CA.

References

External links

Digitizing Tell en-Naṣbeh (Biblical Mizpah of Benjamin) collectionBadè Museum of Biblical Archaeology collections database archiving excavations at Tell en-Nasbeh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasbeh Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate Hebrew Bible cities Iron Age sites in Palestine Archaeological sites in the West Bank Tells (archaeology)