Tell en-Nasbeh
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تل النصبة תל א-נצבא | |
 Aerial view of Tell en-Nasbeh | |
  Tell en-Nasbeh Shown within the West Bank | |
| Alternative name | Mizpah |
|---|---|
| Location | Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate |
| Region | West Bank |
| Coordinates | 31°53′06″N 35°12′59″E / 31.885136°N 35.216417°E |
| Type | settlement |
| History | |
| Periods | Iron Age II – Byzantine period |
| Cultures | Canaanite, Israelite, Second Temple Judaism |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1926-1935 |
| Archaeologists | William Badè |
| Condition | In ruins |
Tell en-Nasbeh, possibly the biblical city of Mizpah,[1] is a 3.2 hectare (8 acre) tell located on a low plateau 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank.
Early Bronze
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), Babylonian and Persian (Stratum 2; 586–323 BCE), Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods (Stratum 1; 323 BCE – 630 CE).
Early Bronze I
Tell en-Nasbeh (Stratum 5, EB I, 3500-3300 BCE) was a small village 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.[2]
Iron II
Tell en-Nasbeh (Stratum 3A-C, Iron II, 1000-586 BCE). By Iron Age IIA (9th–8th centuries BCE), it was a walled settlement with a massive city gate, on the frontier between the southern and northern Israelite kingdoms.[1] Archaeologist William G. Dever estimates the city's population to have been between 500 and 1,000 people during this period.[3]
._City_gate_from_the_east,_part_of_the_barricade_still_in_place_LOC_matpc.15691.jpg)
Babylonian and Persian periods
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.[4] After the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587/6 BCE, Mizpah became the administrative center for the district of Binyamin in Judah.[1] According to a study done by Tel Aviv University, Tell en-Nasbeh survived the Babylonian campaign and rose to prominence in the sixth century BCE as the most important settlement nearby.[4]
._Astarte_sanctuary_on_the_east_side_LOC_matpc.15692.jpg)
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 Hellenistic Period when according to the Hebrew Bible Judas Maccabeus gathered his army at Mizpah to confront the Seleucid army.[5] 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.[2]
