Tell en-Nasbeh

Tell en-Nasbeh

תל א-נצבא
Shown within the West Bank
Alternate name	Mizpeh
Location	West Bank
Region	Judaean Mountains
Coordinates	31°53′06″N 35°12′59″E / 31.885136°N 35.216417°E / 31.885136; 35.216417
History
Periods	Iron Age II - Byzantine period
Site notes
Archaeologists	William Badè

Tell en-Nasbeh, likely the biblical city of Mizpah in Benjamin, is a 3.2 hectare (8 acre) tell located on a low plateau 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) northwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank. The site lies adjacent to an ancient roadway connecting Jerusalem with the northern hill country, which is how Tell en-Nasbeh gained importance as Judah's northern border fortress during its prime phase of occupation in the Iron Age (Strata 3A-C; 1000-586 BCE). There are also archaeological remains at the site and in surrounding cave tombs that have been dated to the Early Bronze I (Stratum 5; 3500-3300 BCE), Iron I (Stratum 4; 1200-1000 BCE), Babylonian and Persian (Stratum 2; 586-323 BCE), Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Periods (Stratum 1; 323 BCE-630 CE).

The site was excavated over 5 seasons between 1926 and 1935 by William Frederic Badè of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. The project was jointly sponsored by the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), and represents one of the earliest scientific excavations in region. After Badè's untimely death in 1936, his colleagues compiled and published a 2-volume final report for the excavation.

The original dig records, specifically the stratigraphic evidence, were later re-analyzed and published by Jeffrey R. Zorn of Cornell University. Research of the Tell en-Nasbeh collection continues today, both by staff of the Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion (formerly the Palestine Institute, then Badè Institute of Biblical Archaeology) and by outside scholars from around the world.