On the radio, you can often hear: "In the Dan area today is so many degrees of heat …" Where is the name? This refers to the former settlement of the tribe of Dan. It, due to its small number, received a relatively small territory, and the "Dana area" is located approximately within the current Greater Tel Aviv. By the way, the expression “from Dan to Beer Sheva” quite accurately describes the territory that the kings of Judah could control.
But Tel Dan is located on the distant spurs of Hermon - that is, quite far from the habitat of the real tribe of Dan. And the Hermon mountain system has long been of interest to the Israeli "Cosmopoisk" - a group of enthusiasts trying to investigate the historical and archaeological mysteries that the Land of Israel is fraught with. Shortly before the ban on excursions, the group went on an expedition to explore Tel Dan.
Andrey Lifshits, a member of the group, spoke about the reasons for such interest to "Details".
- The story of how the angels descended to Earth has long been known - a large group led by Aza and Azazel. By the way, I do not exclude that this is the same character. The book of Hanoch gives the exact number of angels - two hundred, and also names the landing site - Mount Hermon. However, Hermon is not a single peak, but a whole mountain range. In the legends, a very specific place of the landing of the angels is called - this is the peak of Ardis. Today it is located in Lebanon, practically on the border with Israel. By the way, the highest ancient temple in the world is located on Ardis. There you can also see huge megalithic stones.
We have repeatedly wanted to arrange an expedition there - but the elbow is close, and you will not bite. "Cosmopoisk" suggests that the capital of the giants' civilization was once on Mount Ardis.
- Did such a civilization exist?
- Of course, she is also mentioned in the Torah! When the Jews left Egypt, Moshe Rabbeinu sent scouts, and they were greatly afraid of the giants, several of whose clans lived in Hebron. And in the Golan there was a whole state of giants - the so-called "kingdom of Bashan", headed by the legendary Og. By the way, the so-called "stone of the Og" was in the Golan even in the time of the Talmud, and at the sight of it, the Jews were supposed to say the blessing "Who worked miracles for our fathers in this place."
- What is this stone?
Promotional video:
- Legend says that when the Jews, led by Moshe Rabbeinu, approached the Golan, Og took a stone and was going to throw it at the Jewish camp. But the Almighty sent ants, they undermined the stone, and it fell right on the head of Og, like a yoke. Og tried to take it off, but all of a sudden, giant teeth - like tusks - grew and got stuck in the stone. Then Moshe Rabbein came up (and Og was 10 cubits tall, that is, about 5 meters), jumped up and cut Og under the knee. So the king of giants perished …
- But what was it really?
- I think, a megalith with some kind of round protrusions, which were perceived by the ancient Jews as "Og's teeth." It can be assumed that he was lying somewhere in the "Oga gorge" in the Golan, but it was not possible to find him. Perhaps the "tusks" over time simply fell victim to weathering processes.
- Let's go back to the story about the expedition. What did you see in Tel Dan?
- Several very important things for which we cannot find an explanation yet. For example, we have repeatedly noted that in Israel, construction was often carried out in the following way: on a layer of ancient, giant stones, after some time, they built from stone blocks of a smaller size. As we saw in Tel Gezer, sometimes it came to the point that brick was built on top of small stone blocks. That is, the technology of working with a stone was lost. By the way, quite recently, the results of excavations in the biblical Ghat showed the same picture - the city was built from megalithic blocks (about the 11th century BC), on top of them smaller buildings were already erected (10-9 centuries BC, just the era King David). In Ghat, by the way, supposedly giants also lived, and the most famous of them was Goliath … So, in Tel Dan we found a completely different picture!There, large, well-worked stone blocks were already laid on top of small masonry.
- It seems that it should be so?
- Yes, but in fact, nothing like this happens. Everywhere we observe the degradation of construction, not its development. That is, everywhere - with the exception of Tel Dan.
- What else surprised you from what you found?
- The blocks that we managed to unearth are structurally similar to those that make up the Western Wall. That is, these are not ordinary rectangles, their center protrudes (this can be clearly seen in the photographs).
Photo: Andrey Lifshits.
- So, perhaps, the walls were erected by the same builders and stone-cutters?
- At the time of Herod the Great? What for? There was enough work for them. Rather, I will allow myself to suggest that the Western Wall was built much earlier than we are used to thinking. And I want to remind you that by the time of Herod, Dan had long outlived the time of its glory - the earliest shards and ruins of houses found here date back to 2700 BC. The famous Knanean Gate is the 18th century BC, and the city reached its peak in the era of the Kingdom of Israel, under Yorovam ben Nevat and Ahab - that is, in the 10th - 9th centuries BC.
- Then how to explain the presence of megalithic stones in Tel Dan, and even outwardly similar to the stones of the Western Wall?
- Here we are already entering the realm of speculation. It can be assumed that the civilization of the giants was in some way connected with the Neolithic revolution: they taught people to bake bread, spin fabrics, and helped to domesticate livestock. All these are not the things and technologies that can be invented by chance. Perhaps the giants also taught people to build from stone. However, people built objects proportionate to themselves. Simply put, the stone block should be such that it can be lifted simultaneously by two people, no more. Whereas to move megaliths, a fundamentally different level of engineering thinking and organization is needed.
- Where, in your opinion, could the capital of the civilization of giants be located?
- Most likely, on Mount Ardis in the Hermon mountain range. The megalithic ruins still lie there. It is difficult to assume that someone other than a highly developed civilization was able to drag them to such a height - over two and a half kilometers above sea level. By the way, the height of Mount Ardis is 2800 meters … Perhaps some representatives of civilization decided to create a "suburb" and settle in Tel Dan - this is relatively close to Ardis. And they have already begun to build on top of small human structures that served as their foundation.
- How far did their civilization spread?
- No further than Jerusalem. At least nowhere south of the latitude of Jerusalem do we see megalithic structures.
- But why, then, scientists do not find the bones of the giants? Okay, even on Ardis, where there was no serious research - but excavations have been underway in Tel Dan since 1963! And at least one giant bone?
- Somewhere all over the world, giant bones are found. But - yes, I must admit that they were never found in Israel - despite the stories from the TANAKH. Perhaps this is due to the poor preservation of bone material - not so many human remains have survived to us, although at least hundreds of thousands of people have lived in the Holy Land during its history. It is also possible that the giants buried their dead in a special way - perhaps cremated?
In addition, based on the results of my inspection of Tel Dan, I will allow myself to make a hypothesis: perhaps, under a layer of small processed stones, you can find a large megalithic layer. This city is very close to the legendary Mount Ardis …
Author: Alexander Rybalka