Tell es-Sakan

Tell es-Sakan

Tell es-Sakan in September 2017
Shown within State of Palestine
Location	Palestine
Region	Gaza Strip
Coordinates	31°28′33″N 34°24′17″E / 31.47583°N 34.40472°E / 31.47583; 34.40472
Type	Settlement
Area	8–9 ha (20–22 acres)
History
Material	Mud brick
Founded	c. 3300 BCE
Abandoned	c. 2400–2350 BCE
Periods	Bronze Age
Associated with	Egyptians, Canaanites
Site notes
Excavation dates	1999–2000[1]
Archaeologists	Pierre de Miroschedji Moain Sadeq
Condition	Damaged

Tell es-Sakan (Arabic: تل السكن, lit. 'Hill of Ash') is a tell (archaeological mound) about 5 km south of Gaza City in what is today the Gaza Strip, on the northern bank of Wadi Ghazzeh.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3] 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,^[4] and Arabia. As of 2000, the early Egyptian settlement was the oldest fortified site known to researchers in both Egypt and Palestine.^[2]

The tell covered an estimated area of 8–9 hectares (20–22 acres), of which 1,400 square metres (15,000 sq ft) has undergone archaeological excavation.