Samaria is the ancient, historic, biblical name used for the central region of the Land of Israel, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first-century historian Josephus set the Mediterranean Sea as its limit to the west, and the Jordan River as its limit to the east. Its territory largely corresponds to the biblical allotments of the tribe of Ephraim and the western half of Manasseh; after the death of Solomon and the splitting-up of his empire into the southern Kingdom of Judah and the northern Kingdom of Israel, this territory constituted the southern part of the Kingdom of Israel. The border between Samaria and Judea is set at the latitude of Ramallah.
Endor was a Canaanite city, which is listed in the Book of Joshua as one of the cities the Israelites didn't manage to dispossess, neither the city nor its dependencies. It was located between the Hill of Moreh and Mount Tabor in the Jezreel Valley. It is mentioned twice more in the Hebrew Bible, in 1 Samuel and in Psalm 83.
Bryant G. Wood is an American biblical archaeologist and young earth creationist. Wood is known for arguing that the destruction of Jericho could be accorded with the biblical literalist chronology of c. 1400 BC. This date is some 150 years later than the accepted date of c. 1550 BC, first determined by Kathleen Kenyon and subsequently confirmed with a variety of methods including radiocarbon dating.
Wadi al-Hasa, known from the Hebrew Bible as the valley and brook of Zered, is a wadi in western Jordan. It is located between the Karak and Tafilah governorates.
El-Ahwat is an archaeological site in the Manasseh Hills, Israel. It located 10 miles east of Caesarea near Katzir.
Hamaam, or Wadi Hamam, is an Arab village in northern Israel, located near the Sea of Galilee, at the foot of Mount Nitai and across the Wadi Hamam valley from Mount Arbel. It is the easternmost part of the al-Batuf Regional Council. In 2019 its population was 1,503.
Tell el-Hammeh is a medium-size archaeological tell (mound) in the West Bank, at the southern fringe of the Beit She'an valley. It has been identified with the Canaanite city state of Hammath, mentioned in a late-13th century BCE Egyptian inscription.
Khirbet Qeiyafa, also known as Elah Fortress and in Hebrew as Horbat Qayafa, is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley and dated to the first half of the 10th century BCE. The ruins of the fortress were uncovered in 2007, near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, 30 km (20 mi) from Jerusalem. It covers nearly 2.5 ha and is encircled by a 700-meter-long (2,300 ft) city wall constructed of stones weighing up to eight tons each. Excavations at site continued in subsequent years. A number of archaeologists, mainly the two excavators, Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor, have claimed that it might be one of two biblical cities, either Sha'arayim, whose name they interpret as "Two Gates", because of the two gates discovered on the site, or Neta'im; and that the large structure at the center is an administrative building dating to the reign of King David, where he might have lodged at some point. This is based on their conclusions that the site dates to the early Iron IIA, ca. 1025–975 BCE, a range which includes the biblical date for the biblical Kingdom of David. Others suggest it might represent either a North Israelite, Philistine, or Canaanite fortress, a claim rejected by the archaeological team that excavated the site. The team's conclusion that Khirbet Qeiyafa was a fortress of King David has been criticised by some scholars, but has been validated by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
At-Tayba is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, located 18 km northwest of the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, and 2 km east of Umm el-Fahm in Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 2,386 inhabitants in mid-year 2006.
The Manasseh Hills or hill country of Manasseh, directly derived from Hebrew: Menashe Heights, called Balad ar-Ruha in Arabic, meaning "Land of Winds", is a geographical region in northern Israel, located on the Carmel Range, between Mount Carmel and Mount Amir/Umm al-Fahm.
Jaba' is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, located 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southwest of the city of Jenin. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had a population of 8,942 in the 2007 census. The village's name translates as "hill" and it is situated on the slopes of the Jabal Dabrun mountain. The village and its immediate vicinity contain a number of archaeological sites, including a tomb for a certain Neby Yarub. During the Ottoman era, Jaba' served as a throne village of the powerful Jarrar family. The town is administered by a municipal council, currently headed by Bassam Jarrar.
The Tulul adh-Dhahab is an archaeological site in Jordan. The site features two neighboring tells, separated by the Zarqa River, an affluent of the Jordan River. The two tells are commonly identified with the ancient Israelite cities of Mahanaim and Penuel, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
Adam Zertal was an Israeli archaeologist and a tenured professor at the University of Haifa.
Khirbet al-Mukhayyat also commonly known as the town of Nebo is a village in Madaba Governorate in Jordan. The village is about 3.5 km from Mount Nebo also known as Siyagha. Many Byzantine churches were found in the village, including the Church of Saint Lot and Saint Procopius, the church of St. George, and the al-Kaniseh Monastery located a short distance down in a valley below the hill. The town also contains material culture from a wide range of phases from the Chalcolithic to the Ottoman including several Hellenistic features, an Iron Age fort, and a number of caves, tombs, cisterns and agricultural infrastructure.
Khirbet Ibziq, Kh. Ibzîk, the ruin of Ibzîk, p.n. is the name of a village with two ruins in the West Bank, separated by one kilometer and referred to in the Manasseh Hill Country Survey as Khirbet Ibziq and Khirbet Ibziq. They are about twenty kilometers northeast of Nablus. The "Lower" site is to the northeast of the "Upper" site.
The so-called Bull Site at Dhahrat et-Tawileh, also spelled Daharat et-Tawileh, in the West Bank is an open air ancient cult installation from 12th-century BCE Canaan, where the bronze statuette of a bull was found. There is agreement that the statuette represents a sacred bull, but which god was represented by it is unclear. The statuette has been variously associated with the gods El, Baal, and Yahweh.
The Iron Age I Structure on Mt. Ebal, also known as the Mount Ebal site, Mount Ebal's Altar, and Joshua's Altar, is an archeological site dated to the Iron Age I, located on Mount Ebal, West Bank.
Khirbet Tana et-Tahta is an archeological site located in the West Bank. It lies near the Israeli settlement of Mekhora.
The Manasseh Hill Country Survey is an archaeological survey of the Manasseh Hill Country, a region in Israel and the West Bank associated with the territory of the biblical Israelite tribe of Manasseh. It began in 1978 under the direction of Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal, and continues for over 40 years. It has been described by fellow archaeologist Israel Finkelstein as “one of the most important ever undertaken in the Land of Israel”.
