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Biblical Dan

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Biblical Dan was the northernmost limit of ancient Israel. The Bible says that prior to the coming of the Danites, the city was known as Laish, which means "lion." According to Judges 18 five spies from the Danites saw that the people of Laish lived a quiet and secure life. Perhaps they were traders as they lived after the manner of the Sidonians. They were defenseless against the Danite raiders.
Avraham Biran's _Biblical Dan_ begins with the Neolithic Period. Excavations at what is now known as Tel Dan began in 1966. In 1984, a trench in the southern section of the exca-vation which had been dug to almost 40 feet uncovered a wall and sherds dating from the 5th millennium BCE.
The huge quantity of sherds from the Early Bronze Age (c. 3000 BCE) impressed Biran. Fortifications from this period have not been found, but Biran calls the site a city because the 50 acres would have required urban services and administration.
During the 3rd millennium the first ramparts were built. In the 2nd millennium a technological revolution occurred in pottery making. At the beginning of the millennium much pottery was in vessel form, but by the middle of the millennium a fast wheel resulted in mass production.
Over many seasons the ramparts were excavated. The earth-fill was covered by a layer of plaster some 10 inches thick. The smooth surface and incline made attack difficult. At its base the rampart was about 82 feet in width. However the exact width
of the rampart in the lowest strata can only be estimated due to a later stone gate termed Israelite. The city's dense was dependent upon this rampart.
Biran injects comments into his book which remind us of the reality of the region. taking aerial photographs to find the location of a gate, Biran's photographs found modern military installations. Another season later at another site, Biran began to unearth an arch for a gate. Dating some 1500 years before the Romans, Biran had found an arched gateway.
Terraces and houses were built on the ramparts during the Late Bronze Age. The city had expanded beyond the boundaries of its previous settlement.
Biran had hoped to find tangible evidence of the con-quest by the Danites. He found moderate degrees of destruction in several grid squares of Area B. "Perhaps this thin layer of burnt material and ash relates to the mention of the destruction of the city in Judges 18 and in Joshua 19."
Much of the archaeological work at Tel Dan dates to the time of the Monarchy and runs through the Persian and Hellenistic Periods into the time of the Romans. Biran concludes his book with a postscript of the Aramaic Stele from Tel Dan.
This book is for those of us who enjoy reading about archaeological finds and imagining how the people lived who once produced them.

Tel Dan held an important place in biblical history, representing the northern frontier of the early Israelite kingdoms and a major cultic site after the division. Pottery and city gate structures from the middle bronze age are lavishly described and illustrated. Contrary to assertions by the minimalists, the late bronze age destruction conforms to events described in Judges 18 when the Danites took Laish and renamed the region. A sacred precinct corresponds to the sanctuary from the 9th century BC reign of Jeroboam. Fortifications are also described for this important outpost on the frontier. The book concludes with a postscript regarding the famous Aramaic inscription (first part) found in 1993. (The second part was discovered after the _BD_ was published.) The inscription represents what may be the first extrabiblical reference to the House of David and apparently dates from the period Ben-Hadad's attack in 1 Kings 15 in the 9th century. While the inscription remains controversial, Biran's contribution to Dan's archaeological excavation and reporting of this site is beyond reproach.