Biblical Tels Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba

Tels (prehistoric settlement mounds) are characteristic of the flatter lands of the eastern Mediterranean, particularly Lebanon, Syria, Israel and eastern Turkey. Of the more than 200 tels found in Israel, Megiddo, Hazor and Beer Sheba are representative of those that contain substantial remains of cities with biblical connections. The three tels also present some of the best examples in the Levant of the elaborate Iron Age underground water-collection systems created to serve dense urban communities. Surviving traces of their construction over the millennia reflect the existence of a centralized authority, prosperous agricultural activity, and the control of important trade routes

Criterion (ⅱ): The three tels represent an interchange of human values throughout the ancient Near East, forged through extensive trade routes and alliances with other states, and manifest in building styles which merged Egyptian, Syrian and Aegean influences to create a distinctive local style.

Criterion (ⅲ): The three tels are a testimony to a civilization that disappeared long ago - that of the Canaanite cities of the Bronze Age and the biblical cities of the Iron Age – but which continues to manifest itself in their expressions of creativity with regard to town planning, fortifications, palaces, and water collection technologies.

Criterion (ⅳ): The Biblical cities reflect the key stages of urban development in the Levant, which exerted a powerful influence on the later history of the region.

Criterion (ⅵ): The three tels are mentioned in the Bible, and thus constitute a religious and spiritual testimony of Outstanding Universal Value.

Country: Israel
Location: Megiddo, Hazor and Beer Sheba
Coordinates: N 32° 35′ 49.992″, E 35° 10′ 55.992″
Inscription year: 2005
Inscription criteria: ⅱ, ⅲ, ⅳ, ⅵ