Contributed
Visitors position themselves just outside the Canaanite gate at Dan.

Garth Gilmour, Contributor

Dan is one of Israel's great surprises. A medium-sized archaeological site with remains from all the significant periods of the historical past, it is situated on the northern border at the foot of the winding road to the northeast that leads up on to the Gola

As one approaches from the south, the site is hidden by leafy trees and lush vegetation. Indeed, the whole area is one of Israel's most unusual and beguiling national parks. For while the archaeology and history of the place is reason enough to visit, it is the greenery, the high trees, the forestation, the birds, the colours and the refreshing water-filled air that are the visitors' immediate impressions.

Why? Dan is the location of the biggest spring in the Middle East, gushing out of the ground at an enormous rate throughout the year. As one walks across the site, in the park, the whole area gurgles with the sound of water bubbling out of the ground. In some areas, it is almost impossible to find a place to put your feet without them becoming wet. The shade of the trees adds to the surreal sense of being in a different world.

There are three main sources of the River Jordan, and the Dan River is the biggest. The endless flow of water comes from the melting snows and rain of Mt. Hermon, a few miles to the north, which seep into the slopes of the mountain and emerge at the site. As so often happens, nature's beauty has become the subject of dispute. After the founding of the state in 1948, the border between Israel and Syria lay just a few metres north of Dan. The potential loss of the rich history associated with the site to Israel's northern neighbour in a war brought archaeologists to Dan in the 1966. They are still there.

Dan has proved to be an archaeological treat. Occupied from the Neolithic period in the fifth millennium BC down to the Roman period, its remains and the excavation trenches of the last 40 years scatter the site.

Arched mudbrick city gate

Among the most significant of these is an arched mudbrick city gate that was built in the Canaanite period, about 1700 BC. This is the time of the patriarchs of Genesis, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The oldest complete standing arch gate ever found anywhere, it was the entrance to the city to visitors from the north.

The city at the time was surrounded by a large earthen rampart some 50 metres wide that covered and sloped down on both sides of a solid stone core. The mudbrick gate was built into the rampart and consisted of three arches that one passed through on the way into or out of town. Wonderfully preserved almost to its origina it stood about 7 metres high, with a passageway 10.5 metres wide. Flanked by four towers, two inside the town and two outside, the gate was built of sun-baked mudbricks on a stone foundation. The walls were originally covered with a white plaster. It was approached from both sides by several stone steps, precluding the possibility of entering the city by chariot or cart or even on horseback.

The amount of energy expended in creating the gate, of cutting through the rampart and building this massive mudbrick superstructure, was huge. Dan at the time was one of the city states that were scattered around Canaan, and the local king would have had the authority to get the job done. It was a dramatic and impressive statement of his power and ability as a leader. No one visiting the city could fail to have been left unaware of the king's status.

It is remarkable then that the gate went out of use after just a generation or two, and was deliberately buried in the rampart.

What could have caused this?

What could have caused the gate to be decommissioned in this way? The most likely reason is the most obvious. Evidence was found during excavation that it had been repaired and shored up several times in its short lifespan, possibly in efforts to avoid collapse. Were poor building techniques used in its construction? Did it rapidly become a health and safety hazard? It is impossible to say for certain, but the deliberate decommissioning of so substantial a structure could well be explained in this way. What is certain is that its burial explains its remarkable preservation.

The thriving Canaanite city was destroyed violently by fire in the 16th century BC, but was rapidly resettled. What followed was a time of hardship in Canaan after the Egyptian conquest of the region. Dan, however, appears not to have been affected by these developments, surviving the privations of Egyptian colonial excess by looking to the north and west, to the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon, with which it maintained strong ties. Excavations show that this was a prosperous time, and that trade with the coast and even the importation of Mycenaean products from the Aegean was strong.

It is in the biblical books of Joshua and Judges that the town's Canaanite identity as Laish or Leshem is revealed. In Joshua 19:47, we learn of the migration of the tribe of Dan from the coastal plain north to Leshem, which they attacked and conquered, naming it after Dan their forefather. The story is repeated in greater detail in Judges 18, where verse 7 describes the city as lacking nothing and being prosperous. The Israelites conquered Leshem/Laish and settled and renamed it, and soon the name became synonymous with the northern extent of the country, as in the phrase "from Dan to Beersheba". By the time of the divided monarchy, Dan defined the northern border of Israel. Its relations with the rest of the Israelite kingdom, and with its northern neighbours, form another chapter in the city's colourful historical and archaeological past.

Dr. Garth Gilmour is a biblical archaeologist based at the University of Oxford in England. Send feedback to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com