5000-Yr-Old Strategically Planned Residential Area Unearthed in Israel Is Region's 'Largest and Oldest' Bronze Age City

Over several years, ancient civilizations have remained preserved in time under the surface until archaeologists unearth them. Israeli archaeologists found one such ancient settlement along the northern coast of the country in 1950, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. Several excavation projects followed but the experts could not determine the importance of the site. Yitzhak Paz, the director of excavation with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), had a chat with Amanda Borschel-Dan from the Times of Israel about the site.

In 2017, the IAA started a large-scale excavation before a road was about to be constructed in that area and the experts stumbled upon something fascinating. The site known as En Esur happened to be a 5,000-year-old settlement and was the largest and the oldest city from the early Bronze Age, according to BBC. En Esur was a strategically planned residential area that had structures like silos to store food and a well-connected network of streets. The streets were built with stone and plaster to protect them from rain damage, as reported by Ariel David of Haaretz. The city was fortified and there was a cemetery outside the boundaries, too.

Potteries found at En Esur were from distant lands of Egypt and the Jordan Valley, hinting at trade relations of the early civilization. "You really have the complete package of early urbanized settlements," IAA archaeologist Itai Elad told David. A temple at the site was possibly one of the most impressive discoveries made. Two huge basins outside the temple were built out of stones and approximately 6,000 people lived in En Esur which spread over 160 acres.

The city was unusually big for the Southern Levant area. "There is no doubt that this site dramatically changes what we know about the character of the period and the beginning of urbanization in Israel," the IAA said in a statement, stated the BBC, adding that En Esur was a cosmopolitan like the New York City in the Early Bronze Age. However, En Esur sat over another older settlement that was 7,000 years old and belonged to the Chalcolithic period. "The rise of urbanization is an issue that must constantly be re-discussed," Paz mentioned to David. "We used to think that urbanization started somewhere in the late fourth millennium but maybe it started earlier."

En Esur opened up for public tourism on October 15 and 16 of 2019 but the regional officials wanted to proceed with the plan of constructing a road over it. IAA archaeologist Dina Shalem spoke to Borschel-Dan and said, "The country is small and crowded. We have many archaeological sites and also a growing population. We need to find balance." structures and artifacts recovered from the En Esur sites were photographed and converted to 3D images using specialized software and it would help archaeologists to continue studying the site even after the constructions complete over it.