Tel Nissa – Excavation

Come and Dig with us!

“We are looking for volunteers for the first excavation ever at Tel Nissa in the Valley of the Springs near Beit Shean! Come be the first to discover the secrets of the wonderful site.

The excavation will take place the week before Passover, April 14-19, 2024, as well as during the week of Passover and Hol Moed on the dates: April 21-22, April 24-26, 2024. A limited construction team will start working already on 11-12.4. The excavation will be carried out by a limited team and will be based mainly on volunteers. Preference is given to those who can come for at least three days. The team is organizing on a tent complex near the hill, but there will also be the option of staying in rooms for those who want and come from afar.

The Arab name of the hill “El Menshiyeh” means “the built one”. In the survey we conducted at Tel in November, we found spectacular findings, including decorated ceramics, an amazingly well-preserved arrowhead and a seal impression with a drawing of an animal, an impression that was probably used to close a letter. We also found a lot of Egyptian-style ceramics typical of the period of Egyptian rule in Israel, including many “beer bottles” that teach about the drinking culture of the people of the site. The most significant period discovered in the survey is the Iron Age IIa, the beginning of the royal period in Israel.

The excavation will focus on uncovering a layer of ruins from this period at the top of the mound, which includes burnt mud brick and certainly many pottery and special finds as we found in the survey. The project will include excavation at the top of the hill (the climb is challenging) but also the processing of the findings in a shaded area at the foot of the hill, so it is suitable for everyone. In addition, we will give comprehensive explanations about the excavation, go on tours of other sites in the area and dip in the springs in the area (it is recommended to bring swimwear). Feel free to forward to potential volunteers from the area. For further questions you can contact us by email/phone:

Yoav: 054-6269362   yoav.vaknin@gmail.com,   Ayelet: 052-3794477    ayelet.keidargold@mail.huji.ac.il

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Yoav Vakanin and Eilat Kidar Goldberg,

The Hebrew University”.

 


Here is the registration form:

Dig Request form (Hebrew)

          Tel Nissa – Biblical period – figurative illustration

 

Learn more about the site: Tel Nissa

 


Excavation update (updated April 18, 2024)

Three 5x5m squares were opened on the south side of the summit. The team of volunteers and archaeologists have removed the top soil within the squares and continuing to dig into the ground in order to search and identify the ancient objects.

 

Updated Apr 28, 2024


 

 

 

 

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Website restored (2)

The BibleWalks.com website was down for the past 24 hours due to a hosting service issue. We apologize for this disruption, and looking forward for a smooth and continuous operation.

The Google maps are still down, due to a change in Google Map interface. The fix will take some time.

In case some of the photos or content are found missing or non functional – please report this to us.

 

 

 

 

 

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New: H. Shfanim

A new site was added in the Beit Jann page: Horvat Shfanim (Kh. Shufnin):   Ruins of the large fortified Bronze and Iron age village are located on a hill, 0.5KM  east of Beit Jann. It may have been the Biblical village of  “Beth-Dagon” of the Galilee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Explore the site

3D modeling

We have started using 3D modeling of special objects and areas and embed them into our website.

The first modeling case we published is an Iron Age winepress unearthed on Tel Yizreel. This may have been used in the famous Biblical vineyard (1 Kings 21:1): “And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel”.

Pressing on the following photo will open a mp4 video player where the model can be viewed from different angles. Use pinch & stretch to magnify the view.

  3D model of the Iron Age winepress – scanned by Scaniverse app on iPad Air Dec 2023

 

Learn more on ancient Winepresses.

 

 

 

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More Jordan Valley sites

  Four new sites were added,  as part of BibleWalks survey of the Jordan valley:

  Tels Eshtori, Nimrod, Midrash, Zofim – Bronze/Iron age sites in the Jordan valley, on the route from Beit Shean to the Jordan river crossing at Sheikh Hussein.

 Explore the sites

 

 

 

 

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Website restored

The BibleWalks.com website was transferred this week to a new hosting service. This resulted in occasional outages of BibleWalks site. We apologize for this disruption, and looking forward for a smooth and faster operation.

In case some of the photos or content are found missing or non functional – please report this to us.

Happy Xmas!

Biblewalks.com staff

 

 

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Tel Nissa Survey

Breaking News:

The first excavation of Tel Nissa (Tell el-Manshiya) has been approved, one of the outcomes of BibleWalks Jordan Valley survey. It is headed by the distinguished archaeologists Professor Emeritus Amihai Mazar (Hebrew University), Dr. Yoav Vaknin (Tel Aviv University) and Archaeologist Ayelet Goldberg -Keidar (Hebrew University).

Prof. Mazar is one of the most senior experts on Biblical Archaeology, and among his major projects are the Beth Shean Valley Archaeological Project and the excavation and publications of Tel Beit Shean and Tel Rechov. Doctor Yoav Vaknin specializes on archaeomagnetic dating of mud bricks, a new technology which will help to determine the destruction time of the site.

A polygon survey will be conducted on Nov 24, 26, 27, 2023. We are seeking volunteers to participate in this research endeavor.

          Tel Nissa – Biblical period – figurative illustration

 

More on Tel Nissa

 

 

 

 

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