Archaeologists found a 3,000-year-old fortress in the Israeli-annexed part of the Golan Heights on Wednesday. – CHINA NEW / SIPA
Israeli archaeologists lifted the veil on Wednesday on a fortress dating back about 3,000 years, discovered in the occupied Golan Heights, and believed to have been erected by allies of former King David. Composed of basalt stone, it was unearthed near the Jewish settlement of Hispin, on the part of the Syrian plateau occupied by Israel since 1967, as part of excavations carried out before the construction on site of a new residential district.
In #Israel, archaeologists lifted the veil on Wednesday on a fortress dating back about 3,000 years, discovered on the plateau of #Golan occupied, and which would have been erected by allies of former King David. https://t.co/NqLSNqgM1r pic.twitter.com/6kgqxGBkJM
– Ghassan Basile (@gnbasile) November 12, 2020
According to Barak Tzin, who led the excavations for the Israel Antiquities Authority, the structure spans around 1,000 square meters. At the site, archaeologists also found a stone carved with horned figures stretching out their arms, and the statuette of a woman holding a musical instrument that appears to be a drum.
Rediscovering the Golan Heights
This find is related to artefacts found at the site of Bethsaida, “linked to the capital of the kingdom of Geshur”. It was established near Lake Tiberias, on what is now the Golan Heights, in the time of King David, a biblical figure considered to be one of the founders of the former Israelite state.
It is the “first” fortress of this period discovered in the area, according to Israeli Antiquities and a “new piece to the puzzle” allowing to decipher the relations between the kingdom of King David and its local allies of Geshur. “We are only beginning to rediscover the Golan,” Tzin said on the spot, according to whom future research will perhaps provide a representation of the borders of the kingdom of Geshur.
” We think [que ce royaume] extended to Syria, ”he added. Archaeological research remains a sensitive subject in Israel and the Palestinian Territories where the results of work are sometimes used by associations or political parties to base their claims on places of memory or disputed lands.