12th-Century BC Fortress Restored and Opened to the Public

The Gal’on Fortress in the Guvrin Forest, located 23 miles (37 km) southwest of Jerusalem, was recently restored and is now open to the public. According to Saar Ganor and Itamar Weissbein, the archaeologists who excavated the site,

The Gal’on Fortress provides a glimpse into the geopolitical reality described in the Book of Judges, in which the Canaanites, Israelites, and Philistines fought each other. At the onset of the 12th century BCE, the Land of Canaan was still ruled by the Egyptians, and its inhabitants were their subjects. At this juncture two additional major players appeared in the region: the Israelites and the Philistines, which led to a series of bloody territorial struggles. It seems that the Gal’on Fortress was built in a strategic location, overlooking the main road connecting the coastal plain to the Judean Lowlands; part of either a Canaanite or Egyptian attempt to deal with the new geopolitical situation.

Source: https://www.gov.il/en/pages/fortress-from-the-mid-12th-century-bce-restored-and-renovated-by-kkl-jnf-and-the-iaa-19-oct-2026

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