A monumental 5,500-year-old city gate has been unearthed at Tel Erani in Israel, according to an announcement by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Tuesday. This latest discovery is Israel’s oldest known city gate.
Instead of the traditional local mud-brick, the stone for this gate was constructed from giant stone blocks dating to the Early Bronze Age. Standing at nearly five feet tall, the gate also included a stone passageway through the city walls and two stone guard towers.
The material construction of the gate puzzled archaeologists, along with the presence of another gate made of mud-brick that is more consistent with the rest of the settlement.
The team used pottery found with the gates to determine that they were both operational during the same time.
The gate would have served as both a defense mechanism and as a signal of political, social, and economic fortitude during a time when Egyptians were beginning to unify the Lower and Upper kingdom. By the end of the Bronze Age, the Egyptians had settled in the area.
Prior to this discovery, the earliest known gate in Israel was built three centuries later at Tel Arad.
While Tel Erani has been occupied since the Chalcolithic period, it was largely settled in the Bronze Age. Based on Bronze Age pottery found at the site, archaeologists know that Tel Erani traded with other areas in the region such as the Negev and the Judean Desert.
Rescue excavations over the last month have been funded by the Mekorot water company, who found artifacts while laying a new water pipe.