Tel Shimron is an ancient site on the northern edge of the Jezreel Valley in the Lower Galilee region of northern Israel. The site has been referenced in various sources throughout antiquity, including the Egyptian Execration Texts or Proscription Lists and in the Amarna Letters. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an Israelite conquest. Archaeological investigations at the site have been few and cursory until Wheaton College in the U.S. and Tel Aviv University in Israel began systematic excavations on the site during the summers of 2016-2019 and 2021-2024. The field seasons were canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic and in 2025 because of the Israel-Iran conflict. These excavations have revealed that the site has been occupied from the late Neolithic period (ca. 5500 BCE) through the Bronze Age, reaching a peak size during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BCE). It also hosted a Hellenistic town; it was a Jewish village in Roman times; it was inhabited during the Islamic period, the Crusades, and in Ottoman times; and it was a transit camp for new immigrants after the Jewish state was established in 1948. The most fascinating part of the site is found at the acropolis, the highest point of the site, where a monumental edifice dating to the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1800 BCE) has recently been exposed. The ramparts of this cone-shaped monument were covered in dark basalt chips while the top was covered in white chalk, creating a stark visual contrast designed to be seen from very far away. In 2023, a mudbrick passageway with a corbelled vault ceiling was discovered near the top of the mound leading to an as-yet undetermined location. In 2024, a space adjacent to the previously discovered passageway was identified as a favissa, a storage space for cultic artifacts and votive objects no longer in use, as well as 40,000 highly burned animal bones of sheep, cattle, and goats, and 57,000 pottery sherds. This cultic monument may have had a political function and possibly a funerary function. Continued excavations at the site will help answer many questions.
Gordon C. Tucker Jr., PhD (“Gordy”) is a professional archaeologist who has worked for more than 40 years in cultural resources management as a consulting archaeologist. During that time, he was employed with several engineering and environmental firms in Colorado and has worked on hundreds of projects in more than two dozen states, mostly in the western U.S., and in Japan. He retired in 2021. Since then, he has been teaching several classes at Metro State University of Denver as an Adjunct Faculty member. Dr. Tucker has been privileged to excavate two sites in Israel: Ashkelon (2012-2016) and Tel Shimon (2017-2024).
The Denver Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society, in conjunction with the Egyptian Studies Society proudly presents Dr. Gordy Tucker, Jr. on Saturday, August 16 at 4:30 pm at the Aurora History Museum. Dr. Tucker will be presenting on the exciting finds at Tel Shimron in Israel.
The Museum is open to us before and after the meeting from 4 pm to 7pm. The presentation will start at 4:30 pm.
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85814513326?pwd=O6zM6C3IxkiQXUaQhUe5w27agF7YmK.1
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