‘Impressive’ gate guarded city 5,500 years ago. Now, it’s been uncovered in Israel

Brendan Rascius
Tue, August 15, 2023 

An ancient gateway was unearthed during an excavation in Israel that dates back 5,500 years, making it the oldest such structure found in the country, officials said.

Its discovery sheds light on the early inhabitants of the region and their quest to build a well-defended urban center.

The entryway was discovered in Tell Erani, an archaeological site nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Judean foothills, according to an Aug. 15 news release from the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

Large stones, standing about five feet high, make up a narrow passageway leading to the gate, which is flanked by two towers, officials said. The entryway is connected to fortifications that were previously identified.

The gate, which was flanked by two towers, was made of large stones and mudbricks, officials said.

“This is the first time that such a large gate dating to the Early Bronze (Age) has been uncovered,” Emily Bischoff, the director of the excavation, said in the release.

“To construct the gate and the fortification walls, stones had to be brought from a distance, mud bricks had to be manufactured and the fortification walls had to be constructed,” Bischoff said. “The fortification system is evidence of social organization that represents the beginning of urbanization.”

The Tell Erani archaeological site, which spans several acres, has been excavated since the 1960s, according to a study published in 2021 in the journal Antiquity.

An acropolis and multiple terraces have been found at the site, along with artifacts from various time periods and cultures, including the Byzantines and the Ottomans.

City residents likely engaged in trade along the coast to the west and highlands to the east, according to the study.

It’s not clear who was occupying the settlement when its gateway was constructed 5,500 years ago, but the builders may have had a specific enemy in mind when they designed it, officials said.

The “impressive” stone entryway served a “message to outsiders, possibly also to Egypt, where the process that would lead to the unification of the Lower and Upper Egypt under King Narmer was already beginning,” Martin-David Pasternak, a Israel Antiquities Authority researcher, said in the release.

The gateway “conveyed the message that one was entering an important strong settlement that was well-organized politically, socially, and economically,” Pasternak said.

If the goal was to fend off Egyptians, though, the gate ultimately did not achieve its purpose as the southern civilization took over the city during the twilight of the Early Bronze Age, Pasternak said.

But the Egyptians, perhaps in a nod to its craftsmanship, carried on using the gate while they occupied the city.