Tel Dan (City of Dan)

When you enter the Tel Dan Park you are stepping back in time 7000 years ago. There are three sources of the Jordan River and the Dan River is the biggest and most important. It provides up to 238 million cubic meters of water annually. About 8.5 cubic million millimeters of water flow through the Dan River every second.


















Until the 67 War, the Dan river was the only part of the Jordan River in reach of Israeli Hands. Due to this shortage of water and the use of the Dan River to serve the needs of all the people almost ment the end of the reserve. In 1966 Israel's water planners decided that it would be best to "siphon" the water from the main source to use the force of gravity to carry it to the Hula Valley. People in Israel who adored Nature did not want the reserve to be harmed and that the water should be taken further north. this bit of a struggle went on for about three years and finally in 1969 the conservation lobby won and the Tel Dan Reserve became a reality.

In 1966 Tel Dan was in the beginning of its excavation. The amazing findings were walls, gates as well as a ritual site that dates to the time of dramaic events recounted in the Bible. A city was first built here in the early Canaanite period. It was active/lived in between 2700 and 2400 BCE. The story is identified with the city of Laish, captured by the tribe of Dan. Dan found it hard to deal with the Phillistines and therefore decided to go north. As it says in Judges, "They proceeded to Laish, a people tranquil and unsuspecting, and they put them to the sword and burned down the town. There was none to come and rescue, for it was distant from Sidon...They rebuilt the town and settled there, and they named the town Dan, after their ancestor Dan who was Israel's son. Originally, however, the name of the town was Laish." (Judges 18:27-29)





Important remains were decovered in a Mycenaean grave from the late Canaanite Period. One of the finds was a piece of a fossilized tablet from the second half of the ninth century BCE. What is carved onto it is an inscription of Hazael, King of Damascus, he was boasting his victory over the king of Israel and the kings of the house of David. This is the first time in words "house of David" were discovered outside of the Bible. Dan continued to be inhabited until the Roman period and then it was abandoned. The center of the settlement moved to the Banias.

I love being were History happened! Its really amazing and a huge experiance!