Tel Yokneam
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Tel Yokneam, also spelled Yoqne'am or Jokneam (Hebrew: תֵּל יָקְנְעָם), is an archaeological site located in the northern part of the modern city of Yokneam Illit, Israel. It was known in Arabic by a variant name, Tell Qamun (Arabic: تل قامون), believed to be a corruption of the Hebrew name.[1] The site is an elevated mound, or tel, spanning around 40 dunams (10 acres/4 ha) and rising steeply to a height of 60 meters (200 ft).[2] With a few brief interruptions, Yokneam was occupied for 4,000 years, from the Middle Bronze Age to the Ottoman Empire.[3]
תֵּל יָקְנְעָם | |
Location | Israel |
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Region | Jezreel Valley, Israel |
Coordinates | 32°39′51″N 35°06′6.3″E |
Type | Tell |
Area | 10 acres/4 ha/40 dunams (20 acres with slopes) |
Height | 60 meters (200 ft) |
History | |
Founded | Rock-cut tombs c. 2000 BCE, fortified city c. 1900 BCE |
Abandoned | Ottoman period |
Periods | Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman |
Site notes | |
Archaeologists |
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The ancient settlement at Tel Yokneam is first mentioned in Egyptian sources as a city conquered by Pharaoh Thutmose III.[4] It appears later in the Hebrew Bible as a city defeated by Israelite leader Joshua and settled by the Tribe of Levi.[5] It is mentioned twice in Roman sources.[6] During the Crusades, it was called Caymont, or Cain Mons, recalling a legend that Yokneam was the site of Cain's death.[7] For a period, it was the center of the Lordship of Caymont, the smallest seigneurie of the Crusader state of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[8]
The earliest archaeological features of Yokneam date from the Chalcolithic period, in the fourth millennium BCE. The first structures date from the beginning of the second millennium BCE.[9] During the Middle and Late Bronze Ages (2000–1200 BCE), Yokneam was for the most part a fortified city,[10] which was razed during a period known as the Late Bronze Age collapse.[11] During the Iron Age, the city was razed and rebuilt several times; events which are attributed to the biblical accounts of the conquests by Joshua, King David, Hazael of Aram-Damascus, and the Neo-Assyrian Empire.[5][12][13][14] The period between the 10th and 8th centuries BCE is considered Yokneam's golden age, during which it extended beyond the mound's limits.[15] The city was protected at that time by a massive fortification system.[14] During Persian rule (539–330 BC) Yokneam was a dense, unfortified and cosmopolitan city, housing Jews, Phoenicians and Persians.[16][17] Very little has been found in Yokneam from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods (333 BCE–634 CE), because the settlement was probably located on a different hill, south of Tel Yokneam.[18] The remains of a Byzantine church were found in the southern part of the mound.[19] After the Islamic conquest of 634 AD, a well-planned city was established on the mound by the Abbasid Caliphate. It was gradually abandoned, and was struck by an earthquake in 1033 CE.[20] In the 12th century CE, the Crusaders built a fortified city on the site, the largest since the Iron Age.<[21] The city eventually fell to the Muslims, and was rebuilt by the Mamluks during the 14th century CE.[22] After the Ottoman conquest of 1517 CE, a fortress was built in the 18th century, and later abandoned in the 19th century.[23]
The site, which had remained abandoned, was surveyed by the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1878,[24] and by Avner Raban in the 1970s.[15] It was first excavated as part of a "Yoqne'am Regional Project" run by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society. The excavations, between 1977 and 1988, were directed by the archaeologist Amnon Ben-Tor.[2] Some of the digs were also headed by Renate Rosenthal and Yuval Portugali.[25] Two other sites were studied in that project: Tel Qashish and Tel Qiri.[2] Further excavations were conducted on the acropolis by Miriam Avissar, in 1993.[23]
Today there is an archaeological park and a visitor center on the mound. The park is operated by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the municipality of Yokneam Illit. It was created as part of a conservation project, with the participation of school students from Yokneam Illit.[26]