Tell es-Sakan

Tell es-Sakan was an important ancient Egyptian maritime settlement during the early Bronze Age, situated at the mouth of wadi Ghazzeh. Its geographical situation endowed it with a position of importance at the crossroads on the land based trade routes to Arabia, the Egyptian empire to the south and the Canaan region to the north. The site (dated between 3500-2350 BCE) appears to be the predecessor to the Tell al-'Ajjul settlement, where geomorphological dynamics of the estuary caused settlement trans-location or abandonment. The site dates from a period prior to the Egyptian military domination of the Levant. The pottery finds at Tell es-Sakan along with Tell al-'Ajjul shows a strong ancient Egyptian link to the area, while the Bronze Age settlement at Taur Ikhbeineh has revealed a more localised pottery production with Egyptian-Canaanite interaction. The Bronze Age port was contemporary with En Besor , an Egyptian First Dynasty Staging Post along the "ways of Horus " trade route in the Northern Negev. Although Tell es-Sakan was larger and surrounded by a city-wall, the earliest Egyptian town wall datable with any certainty. There were three consecutive building-phases, correlating with 3 strata of occupation. The site was discovered by chance in 1998 during construction of a new housing complex, and construction work was temporarily suspended to allow an archaeological investigation to be conducted.

Tell es-Sakan was an important ancient Egyptian maritime settlement during the early Bronze Age, situated at the mouth of wadi Ghazzeh. Its geographical situation endowed it with a position of importance at the crossroads on the land based trade routes to Arabia, the Egyptian empire to the south and the Canaan region to the north. The site (dated between 3500-2350 BCE) appears to be the predecessor to the Tell al-'Ajjul settlement, where geomorphological dynamics of the estuary caused settlement trans-location or abandonment. The site dates from a period prior to the Egyptian military domination of the Levant. The pottery finds at Tell es-Sakan along with Tell al-'Ajjul shows a strong ancient Egyptian link to the area, while the Bronze Age settlement at Taur Ikhbeineh has revealed a more localised pottery production with Egyptian-Canaanite interaction. The Bronze Age port was contemporary with En Besor , an Egyptian First Dynasty Staging Post along the "ways of Horus " trade route in the Northern Negev. By comparison, Tell es-Sakan was larger and surrounded by a city-wall, the earliest Egyptian town wall datable with any certainty. There were three consecutive building-phases, correlating with three strata of occupation. The site was discovered by chance in 1998 during construction of a new housing complex, and construction work was temporarily suspended to allow an archaeological investigation to be conducted.

Its geographical situation endowed it with a position of importance at the crossroads on the land based trade routes to Arabia, the Egyptian empire to the south and the Canaan region to the north.

"Hill of Ash", is a now almost entirely destroyed tell (archaeological mound) standing some 5 km south of Gaza City in what is today the Gaza Strip , on the northern bank of Wadi Ghazzeh . It was the site of two separate Early Bronze Age urban settlements: an earlier one representing the fortified administrative center of the Egyptian colonies in southwestern Palestine from the end of the 4th millennium, and a later, local Canaanite fortified city of the third millennium. The location at the mouth of what was probably a palaeochannel of the river, allowed it to develop as an important maritime settlement with a natural harbour. Its geographical location endowed it with a position of importance at the crossroads of land-based trade routes between the Canaan region, the Old Kingdom of Egypt , and Arabia . As of 2000, the early Egyptian settlement was the oldest fortified site known to researchers in both Egypt and Palestine. Israel Exploration Society / Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) . The emergence of proto-state societies in Palestine.