Gezer (Tell Jezer)
What Was Found
A major Canaanite and Israelite city located at Tell Jezer in the Shephelah region of central Israel, mentioned in 1 Kings 9:15-17 as one of three cities — along with Megiddo and Hazor — that Solomon fortified. According to the Biblical text, an Egyptian pharaoh conquered Gezer and gave it as a wedding dowry to Solomon's wife. R. A. S. Macalister conducted the first major excavations from 1902 to 1909, discovering the famous Gezer Calendar — a small limestone tablet inscribed with a list of agricultural seasons in Hebrew, dated to approximately 925 BCE and considered one of the oldest known Hebrew inscriptions. Later excavations by G. Ernest Wright and William Dever (1964-1974) uncovered a monumental six-chambered gate that Yigael Yadin argued was part of Solomon's building program, matching similar gates at Megiddo and Hazor. The attribution of these gates to Solomon is one of the most debated questions in Israelite archaeology: Israel Finkelstein and others argue they date to the 9th century BCE (the Omride dynasty, not Solomon), while conventional chronology scholars maintain the 10th-century Solomonic date. The Gezer Calendar is now at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum; the site itself is a national park in Israel.
Why This Matters
The Gezer Calendar is one of the oldest known Hebrew inscriptions. The six-chambered gate is a key piece of evidence in debates about the scale of Solomon's kingdom.
Acceptance Assessment
Widely Accepted
The identification of Tell Jezer with biblical Gezer is universally accepted. The attribution of the six-chambered gate to Solomon is debated.
What Scholars Debate
The attribution of the Solomonic gate is contested — Israel Finkelstein and others argue the gate dates to the 9th century (Omride period) rather than the 10th century (Solomonic period). The gate dating is central to the broader "low chronology" vs "high chronology" debate in Israelite archaeology.