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Tell Balata is an archaeological site in Nablus, Palestine. It identifies with the Canaanite town of Shechem, dating back to the 2nd century BC.
History
The first settlement on the site dates back to 3500 BC. Shechem was then established around 1900 BC as a small village that was fortified by 1650 BC. In its final years, Shechem was a Samaritan settlement. It was destroyed in 128 or 107 BC and abandoned around 100 BC.
The site was first excavated by German archaeologist Ernst Sellin from 1913 to 1914. Sellin continued work from 1926 to 1934. Under Jordanian rule, American archaeologists carried out excavations between 1956 and 1967. Since 2011, Tell Balata has been funded by the government of the Netherlands and is run jointly by a Palestinian-Dutch team.
Admission
Tell Balata is open daily. Adult admission is ₪10 (as of March 2023), which includes entry to a small museum. We were also able to watch a short film about the history of the site. I highly recommend watching the film because you’ll get a better understanding of Tell Balata. The archaeological site doesn’t contain much information.
Archaeological Site
After watching the film, we walked along the city wall to the North West Gate, where we entered the archaeological site.
From there, we viewed the West Wing, Fortress Temple, and Sacred Courtyards. There were also great views of the neighborhood of Balata, which surrounds the site. Balata was once its own village but was annexed by Nablus when the city was under Jordanian rule.
We then took a few minutes to wander around the site, although we weren’t too sure what we were looking at.
