03:32Israel: Excavation sheds light on unprecedented ancient city
Israeli archaeologists confirmed the discovery of a 5,000-year-old city in En Esur north of Tel Aviv on Sunday.
It is the largest Bronze Age urban area found in the region to date, providing a new insight into when sophisticated urbanisation took place in the region.
"During the early bronze age this site reached a size of 650 dunams, the largest by far in the southern Levant," explained Izthak Paliss, Head of Excavation in the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA).
"What we find here is a city, a Canaanite city already during the late 4th millennium in which we have a planned city."
The settlement was believed to be home to around 6,000 people and contained a network of streets, squares, public buildings, fortification walls and drainage systems.
Another archaeologist at the Israeli Antiquities Authority Itay Elad highlighted the discovery of a ritual temple, with burnt animal bones likely used for sacrificial offerings.
The site was discovered during roadworks and researchers are now conducting a salvage operation.
It was previously thought that low-density villages in rural settings were the predominant living unit in the region's early Bronze Age, which lasted from roughly 3,200 BC to 1,200 BC.
03:32Israeli archaeologists confirmed the discovery of a 5,000-year-old city in En Esur north of Tel Aviv on Sunday.
It is the largest Bronze Age urban area found in the region to date, providing a new insight into when sophisticated urbanisation took place in the region.
"During the early bronze age this site reached a size of 650 dunams, the largest by far in the southern Levant," explained Izthak Paliss, Head of Excavation in the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA).
"What we find here is a city, a Canaanite city already during the late 4th millennium in which we have a planned city."
The settlement was believed to be home to around 6,000 people and contained a network of streets, squares, public buildings, fortification walls and drainage systems.
Another archaeologist at the Israeli Antiquities Authority Itay Elad highlighted the discovery of a ritual temple, with burnt animal bones likely used for sacrificial offerings.
The site was discovered during roadworks and researchers are now conducting a salvage operation.
It was previously thought that low-density villages in rural settings were the predominant living unit in the region's early Bronze Age, which lasted from roughly 3,200 BC to 1,200 BC.