Tel Taanach
Tel Taanachclick on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth
| Transliterated Name | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Ta'anakh, Taanach | Hebrew | תַּעֲנָךְ |
| Ti'inik, Ti’innik | Arabic | تعنّك |
| Taanach | Greek | Θαναάχ, Θανάκ |
- from Chat GPT 5, 23 February 2026
- from Wikipedia: Tiʿinik (Tel Taʿanach)
There has never been any doubt that biblical Taanach is located at Tell Taʿannek (map reference 171.214). It is an impressive 11-acre mound rising more than 40 m above the Jezreel Valley on the southwest flanks of the Iron Hills, 8 km (5 mi.) southeast of Megiddo. The maximum north–south limit of this pear-shaped mound is 340 m. Its widest east–west limit is 110 m. Taanach lies between Megiddo and Ibleam on a northwest–southeast route. Unlike them and Jokneam, it does not guard a major pass at the head of the Jezreel Valley. By the tenth century BCE, Taanach was an Israelite administrative and religious center. It may have served the same function during the Bronze Age.
In nonbiblical literary sources, the earliest reference to Taanach is in the fifteenth-century BCE Karnak inscription describing Thutmose III's first military campaign into Asia. To reach the enemy encamped at Megiddo, one of the three routes to the Jezreel Plain was a road along Wadi Abu Nar, past modern Yaʿbad, through the Burgin Pass, which debouches into the plain 4 km (2.5 mi.) south of Taanach. Both Thutmose III in 1468 BCE and Shishak I in 918 BCE list Taanach as a city captured by their forces. J. A. Knudtzon's restoration of "Taanach" (Ta-ah-[nu-ka]) in an early fourteenth- century BCE Amarna letter (248:18) is unlikely on both archaeological and paleographic grounds. Eusebius' Onomasticon (100, 7–10) indicates that in the third century CE Taanach was a "very large village," 3 Roman miles from Legio-Maximianopolis (near Megiddo).
In biblical tradition, Taanach first achieved eminence as the site of the battle of Israel, mustered by Deborah and Barak, against the Canaanites led by Sisera (Judges 5:19). Although the king of Taanach was reported as one of the thirty-one kings defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:21) and the city was assigned to Issachar and Asher, it was later given to Manasseh (Joshua 17:11; 1 Chronicles 7:29) who, however, failed to occupy Taanach because of the strength of the Canaanites (Judges 1:27). In time, probably not before the tenth century BCE, "When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor" (Judges 1:28) and occupied (ruled) the site. In the same century, Taanach seems to have become a Levitical city (Joshua 21:25), as well as the headquarters of Baʿana, the son of Ahilud. Ahilud was the administrator of Solomon's fifth district, which included all of the Jezreel and the Beth-Shean valleys, to just beyond the Jordan River (1 Kings 4:12).
Tell Taʿannek was first excavated between 1902 and 1904 by E. Sellin, then of the University of Vienna. In three campaigns (with a total of four months of actual excavation), he opened long trenches on the mound. He was first assisted by G. Schumacher and later, after the discovery of an archive of Akkadian cuneiform tablets (see below), he was joined by F. Hrozný. Sellin's two major reports were published by 1905, and although they lacked adequate plans and photographs of buildings and pottery, he was nevertheless a perceptive observer and prompt reporter. Two years later, H. Thiersch critically reviewed the results.
The second excavation at the site was the work of a joint American expedition of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Graduate School of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, directed by P. W. Lapp. In three major seasons, totaling almost six months altogether in 1963, 1966, and 1968, four areas in the southwest quadrant of the mound were excavated. The aim of the excavations was to clarify the fortifications, domestic and industrial installations, public buildings, and cultic practices.
- Tel Taanach in Google Earth
Tel Taanach
click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth - Tel Taanach on govmap.gov.il
Tel Taanach
click on image to explore this site on a new tab in govmap.gov.il
- Tel Taanach Site Plan
from Stern et al. (1993 v.4)
Plan of the mound and principal remains
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Stern et al. (1993 v.4)
- Tel Taanach Site Plan
from Stern et al. (1993 v.4)
Plan of the mound and principal remains
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Stern et al. (1993 v.4)
- from Meehl (1995)
Fig. 49
Tell Ta'annek Periodization
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Meehl (1995)
- from Meehl (1995)
Fig. 51
Comparitive Stratigraphy of Tell Ta'annek and Related Sites
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Meehl (1995)
| Stratum | Period | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Late Bronze Age | 15th–14th c. BCE | Includes the cuneiform archives, the archive building, and subterranean structures, followed by construction of the West Building. |
| II | Late Bronze–Iron Age | 13th–9th c. BCE | Includes the east fortress, associated outbuildings, and most of the burials identified in Sellin’s excavation. |
| III | Iron Age | 8th–6th c. BCE | Destruction of Stratum II buildings; installation of the cult stand; period marked by Greek influence. |
| IV | Medieval (Arab) | 11th–12th c. CE | Arab fortress-palace constructed on the central plateau of the mound. |
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