The Mount Ebal Structure

Nine metres by seven, about four metres high, and no entrance found. Beneath a heap of stones on Mount Ebal, archaeologists uncovered a walled structure with no entrance.

Scripture: Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

The passage sets an altar on Mount Ebal, soon after the fall of Ai, with offerings and a public reading of the law. The site lies on Mount Ebal, northeast of Nablus and north of Tell Balata, biblical Shechem.

In 1980, Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal found the site during the Manasseh Hill Country Survey. On a spur of Mount Ebal, in a natural amphitheatre, he found a heap of stones.

Pottery in the heap dated between 1220 and 1000 BC, the early Iron Age, with nothing else nearby from that time. The University of Haifa and the Israel Exploration Society excavated for eight seasons, from 1982 to 1989.

Under the stones stood thick fieldstone walls, filled with stone, earth and ash. Beside it lay two paved courtyards, divided by a sloping wall that Zertal read as a ramp.

Slowly burnt animal bones were found, from bullocks, goats and fallow deer. Fallow deer bones reportedly made up twenty-eight percent of finds, and were found only in the structure's filling. The Bible lists that deer among the kosher animals.

Many other archaeologists disagree with Zertal's reading of the structure as an altar, according to Wikipedia. Many agree it was a site of early Israelite worship, but linking it to Joshua is disputed. The argument was fierce in the 1980s.

The site lies on Mount Ebal. In 2021, municipal workers of the Palestinian National Authority damaged part of it after zoning changes, and it is not marked on maps as archaeologically significant. Where the finds are kept is not recorded in my research.

A structure, a date range, and a debate still open. That is the honest picture. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. Follow along if you'd like to explore more.