Robert Wright

Tell Gezer. An unexpected and silent interruption at the eastern edge of the coastal plain between Ashdod and Mt. Carmel, Gezer rises 700 feet above sea level and commands almost a 360 degree view. In ancient times, the tell stood along the Via Maris, the major coastal route between Egypt and Mesopotamia, the well-fortified settlement controlled the important crossroads where the road to Jerusalem branched off to the east.

With its own water source and fertile fields nearby, Gezer was occupied continually from 3300 B.C. to about 50 B.C. Today, the fields in the foreground are plowed by Israelis whose agricultural settlement, Kibbutz Gezer, perpetuates the ancient name.