Overview

Bibliography

Tell Gezer is located 8 kilometers south-southeast of Ramla. The 33-acre mound is situated in the Judean foothills and thus provides a commanding view that was most likely utilized to guard the Via Maris road. R. A. Stewart Macalister with the Palestine Exploration Fund was the first to excavate Gezer from 1902-1909. Alan Rowe took over for a summer in 1934. In 1964, the Hebrew Union College Biblical and Archaeological School as well as the Smithsonian Institute funded the excavations of Gezer by G. Ernest Wright (1964-65), William G. Dever (1966-71, 1984, and 1990), and Joe D. Seger (1972-74).

The earliest evidence for occupation in Gezer comes from the Chalcolithic period (3400 BCE), indicated by a cream ware Macalister found in Stratum XXVI. Storage jars filled with grain found in surrounding caves are dated to the Early Bronze Age (3040 BCE). Occupation seems to have come to an end during Early Bronze IIIA period until the Middle Bronze Age. Whether Gezer was deserted during this gap or destroyed is difficult to determine since there are no clear material remains from these periods.

Gezer reached its zenith in the Middle Bronze Age (Strata XIX-XVII) as indicated by the city's first fortifications. During the Late Bronze Age, (fourteenth century BCE) it seems Gezer's prominence as a Canaanite city-state was maintained due to Egyptian rule. The Egyptians withdrew from Gezer during the tumultuous period at the end of the Late Bronze Age. During the Iron I period, a significant Philistine presence is attested at the site. According to the Bible, an Egyptian Pharaoh (probably Siamun of the Twenty-first Dynasty) sacked Gezer and offered it to Solomon as a marriage dowry. Solomon rebuilt and fortified the city (1 Kings 9:16-17). The "Gezer Calendar," which is the earliest known Hebrew inscription, also belongs to the tenth century. Solomon's fortifications, however, were not strong enough to stop the Assyrian king Tigalth-pileser III, who destroyed the city in 734 BCE. Although occupation did not end, little is know of Gezer until the Hellenistic period. During the Hasmonean period, Gezer became a prominent center for Simon Maccabaeus and his son John Hyrcanus. It was during the Herodian period that Gezer was no longer an independent city, but rather part of a large private estate. Macalister found some tombs from the Byzantine period (fourth-sixth centuries CE) that seemed to be reused much later in the thirteenth century CE.

Three significant structures remain at Gezer: the Middle Bronze Gate complex (Strata XIX-XVII), the Iron Age or Solomonic Gate (Strata VIII-VII), and the mysterious High Place (Strata XIX-XVII).

The archaeological strata uncovered at the site, as illustrated in the site plan, date to the following periods:

	Hellenistic Period
	Strata VII–VI
	Stratum VIII
	Strata XIX–XVII