Tel Dan Nature Reserve: The Jordan's Source and the House of David

Segments

1. 
   Paradise Springs & the head of the Dan 0.4 km Map

   Reserve entrance → Paradise Springs

   Shaded gravel path

   Start where the Dan Stream is born — cold springs welling up under a dense canopy of Syrian ash and fig, fed by snowmelt from Mount Hermon. The Dan is the largest of the three headwaters of the Jordan River (about 240 million cubic meters a year), and it runs cold and full every month of the year. About 30 minutes.

   About this place

   The Jordan River or River Jordan, also known as Nahr Al-Sharieat, is a 251-kilometre-long (156 mi) endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead Sea. The river passes by or through Jordan, Syria, Israel, and Palestine.

   Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Jean Housen · CC BY-SA 3.0
2. 
   The wading trail 0.5 km Map

   Paradise Springs → The flour mill pool

   Stream bed and boardwalk

   Step down into the streambed and wade a stretch of the Dan itself, the water clear and ankle-to-shin deep over pale gravel. This is the reserve's signature stretch — bracingly cold on the hottest day, which is exactly why it is a joy in summer. About 30 minutes.

   About this place

   The Jordan River or River Jordan, also known as Nahr Al-Sharieat, is a 251-kilometre-long (156 mi) endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead Sea. The river passes by or through Jordan, Syria, Israel, and Palestine.

   Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Jean Housen · CC BY-SA 3.0
3. The Canaanite arched gate 0.4 km Map

   The flour mill pool → Abraham's Gate

   Dirt path up the tel

   Climb onto the tel to a mud-brick gate built about 1750 BCE, in the Middle Bronze Age, when the city was still the Canaanite Laish. Its three true arches, standing on massive basalt blocks, are among the oldest complete free-standing mud-brick arches known anywhere; local tradition ties it to Abraham, so it is often called Abraham's Gate. About 30 minutes.

4. 
   The Israelite gate & the 'House of David' 0.4 km Map

   Abraham's Gate → The Iron Age city gate

   Exposed archaeological mound

   Reach the great Iron Age Israelite gate complex, with its paved courtyard and the low stone platform thought to have held the king's seat for judgment. It was here, in 1993, that a basalt slab carved in Old Aramaic came to light — the Tel Dan Stele, whose 'bytdwd' is read by most scholars as 'House of David', one of the earliest references to David's dynasty outside the Bible. About 30 minutes.

   About this place

   The Tel Dan Stele is a fragmentary stele with an Old Aramaic inscription written in the Phoenician script. It is generally dated to the 9th-century BCE, though some scholars have proposed later dates; it is one of the earliest, extra-biblical references to a Davidic dynasty. In 1993, it was discovered by Gila Cook, a member of an archaeological team led by Avraham Biran, among the rubble of a wall that had survived to modern times in Tel-Dan. Currently, it is on display at the Israel Museum.

   Read more on Wikipedia Photo: Oren Rozen · CC BY-SA 4.0
5. The high place 0.3 km Map

   The Iron Age city gate → The sacred precinct

   Open mound

   Finish at the sacred compound at the top of the tel, where excavators uncovered a large four-horned altar and a raised platform. This is the high place the Book of Kings connects with Jeroboam I, who — after the kingdom split — is said to have set up one of his two golden calves at Dan. A quiet, panoramic end to the walk. About 20 minutes.