Object description

En Esur or Ein Asawir is an ancient site located in the northern Sharon Plain in the Israeli Coastal Plain. The site includes an archaeological mound , called Tel Esur or Tell el-Asawir, another unnamed mound, and two springs, one of which gives the site its name. During the Early Bronze Age, around 3000 BCE, a massive fortified proto-city with an estimated population of 5,000 to 6,000 inhabitants existed there. It was the largest city in the region, larger than other significant sites such as Tel Megiddo and Tel Jericho, but smaller than other distant sites. The city was discovered in 1977 during a salvage excavation in the site of a future water reservoir, but its massive extent was realized only during excavations in 1993. A major excavation was conducted between 2017 and 2019 ahead of the construction of a new highway interchange for the new town of Harish exposed the city's houses, streets and public structures, as well as countless pottery, tools and artifacts. An even earlier settlement with a 7,000 year-old temple was discovered below the ruins of the Bronze Age city.