Past Watch Site

Located near the West Bank town of Nablus, Tell Balatah has long been associated with the ancient city of Shechem, mentioned throughout the Bible and in numerous Egyptian documents. An influential commercial center, the city prospered from trade in locally produced grapes, olives, wheat, and livestock from the Middle Bronze Age to the Late Hellenistic Period (ca. 1900–100 b.c.). Among the city’s visible remains are a series of defensive walls and gates, a palace or governor’s house, a residential quarter, as well as a fortified Canaanite temple and a portion of a temple to Zeus commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the second century a.d.

In addition to continued political unrest in the West Bank, the site suffers from a lack of maintenance as well as vandalism and encroachment of agricultural fields and urban development, while heavy rains have taken their toll on the site’s mudbrick architecture.

UPDATE

November 2010: In 2002 the World Heritage Committee launched an effort for the protection of Palestine's cultural heritage. The effort included the compilation of an Inventory of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites of Potential Outstanding Universal Value in Palestine, which includes Tell Balatah. In 2009 UNESCO renewed its commitment to this effort, and several projects have been ongoing since then. A 3-year conservation project for Tell Balatah is also underway. The project is funded by the government of the Netherlands and is managed in partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and Leiden University.

Last update: December 2010