תֵּל אָבֵל בֵּית מַעֲכָה | |
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  Shown within Israel | |
| Location | Near Metula, Israel |
|---|---|
| Region | Upper Galilee |
| Coordinates | 33°15′25″N 35°34′48″E / 33.257°N 35.580°E |
| Type | tell |
| History | |
| Periods | Bronze Age, Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods |
| Cultures | Canaan, Israelite |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2013– |
| Archaeologists | Nava Panitz-Cohen, Robert A. Mullins, Ruhama Bonfil |
| Condition | in ruins |
| Public access | yes |
| Website | Tel Abel Beth Maacah Excavations website |
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Tel Abel Beth Maacah (Hebrew: תֵּל אָבֵל בֵּית מַעֲכָה; Arabic: تل آبل القامع, romanized: Tell Abil el-Qameḥ) is a large archaeological tell with a small upper northern section and a large lower southern one, connected by a saddle. It is located on the northern border of present-day Israel, about 2 km south of the town of Metula and about 6.5 km west of Tel Dan.[1][2]
The survey and excavations conducted in recent years have shown that the site had been inhabited during the Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as the Persian, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods. Since at least the early 13th century CE[3] the mound was the location of the Arab village of Abil al-Qamh, depopulated in 1948. However, the lower mound was not occupied after the Iron Age I (late 11th/early 10th centuries BCE), when occupation seems to have concentrated on the upper mound.
The site was fortified by walls and a rampart in the Middle Bronze Age II. These fortifications were reused in the Late Bronze Age in the south of the mound, but went out of commission in the Iron Age I. A silver hoard in a jug, dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age, is one of the earliest such hoards found in the country. The Iron Age I sequence is one of the densest in this region and includes strata of cultic, domestic and public nature. Traces of metal-working were found in the latter. The Iron Age II is represented by a very large stone wall in the upper mound that might be part of a citadel. A well-built structure dating to the Persian-early Hellenistic period was built above this wall and other Iron Age remains.
In the later periods, the Palestinian village of Abil al-Qamh was located here until it became depopulated during the Nakba in 1948.