Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim
A Middle Bronze courtyard building above Shechem, once called 'Joshua's altar'
Found 1931 — Gabriel Welter (German expedition, 1931); re-excavated by Robert G. Boling for the Joint Expedition to Shechem (1968)
Where Tananir, north slope of Mount Gerizim above Shechem (Tell Balata) (West Bank (Palestinian Territories))
Dates from c. 1650–1550 BCE · Middle Bronze IIC · Patriarchal-era Shechem; before the Exodus
Now at Site on the slope of Gerizim, not developed for visitors; finds with the Joint Expedition to Shechem records (ASOR / Palestine Archaeological Museum)
How Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim was found
Welter cleared a square building on the lower northern slope of Gerizim, about 300 m above Tell Balata, and called it a temple. Boling's 1968 season re-examined it, recovering pottery that fixed the date and a plan with a central courtyard and standing stone.
What it is
A roughly square stone building about 18 m on a side, with rooms arranged around a central open court that held a large upright stone and a stone-lined pit or altar base. Its plan closely matches the Late Bronze 'Amman Airport' building in Jordan. Pottery dates its use to the last phase of the Middle Bronze Age.
Why it matters for the Bible
Tananir is an early sanctuary at the foot of the mountain of blessing (Deuteronomy 11:29; 27:12), showing that the Shechem valley was already a sacred landscape when Avraham (Abraham) and Yaakov (Jacob) built altars there (Genesis 12:7; 33:20). Samaritan tradition places Joshua's altar and even the tabernacle on Gerizim, and some early writers linked this ruin to Joshua; but the pottery makes it several centuries too early, so it is a Canaanite (or possibly 'tribal league') shrine, not Joshua's. Its plan has been compared to buildings used for communal covenant rites.
The Hebrew word: ge-ree-ZEEM
גְּרִזִים
גְּרִזִים is pronounced ge-ree-ZEEM and means Gerizim, the mountain of blessing (Strong's H1630).
People this discovery connects to
- Jacob — יַעֲקֹב (yah-ah-KOHV) — heel-holder, supplanter
- Joshua — יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (ye-ho-SHOO-ah) — YHVH is salvation
Places
- Mount Gerizim — הַר גְּרִזִים (hahr ge-ree-ZEEM) — mountain of the Gerizites (uncertain)
- Shechem — שְׁכֶם (she-CHEM) — shoulder, ridge
Events
Abraham's altar at Shechem (Genesis 12:6-7) · Covenant blessing and curse at Gerizim and Ebal (Joshua 8:33)
Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim in Scripture
Genesis 33:20 Jacob builds an altar at Shechem named 'El, the Elohim of Israel' — worship in this same valley in the Middle Bronze Age.
Deuteronomy 11:29 First mention of Gerizim in Scripture.
Deuteronomy 27:12 Six tribes stand on Gerizim to bless; this shrine sits on that mountain's slope, centuries earlier.
Questions people ask
What is Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim?
A roughly square stone building about 18 m on a side, with rooms arranged around a central open court that held a large upright stone and a stone-lined pit or altar base. Its plan closely matches the Late Bronze 'Amman Airport' building in Jordan. Pottery dates its use to the last phase of the Middle Bronze Age.
When was Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim discovered?
It was found in 1931 by Gabriel Welter (German expedition, 1931); re-excavated by Robert G. Boling for the Joint Expedition to Shechem (1968), at Tananir, north slope of Mount Gerizim above Shechem (Tell Balata).
Where is Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim today?
Site on the slope of Gerizim, not developed for visitors; finds with the Joint Expedition to Shechem records (ASOR / Palestine Archaeological Museum).
Which Bible verses does Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim relate to?
Genesis 33:20, Deuteronomy 11:29, Deuteronomy 27:12.
Is Tananir Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim authentic?
The building and its Middle Bronze date are secure; its function (temple, covenant hall or elite residence) and any link to Joshua are disputed, and the 'Joshua's altar' label is a later tradition the pottery rules out.
Related discoveries
- מַצֵּבָהShechem (Tell Balata) Temple-FortressThe great Canaanite temple in the city of Avraham's first altar
- מַיִם חַיִּיםJacob's WellA deep well near Shechem tied by tradition to Yaakov
- לְבֵנָהTel Shimron Corbelled VaultA 3,800-year-old mudbrick passage in the Canaanite city of Shimron (2023)
- בֵּית־אֵלBethel (Beitin)The 'house of El' where Jacob dreamed and Israel later worshiped
- גֹּשֶׁןAvaris (Tell el-Dab'a)A Semitic city in the eastern Delta, in the land the Bible calls Goshen
- בְּכֹרָהAlalakh Tablets and the Statue of IdrimiA Syrian city's archives and a king's story that reads like Genesis
Sources
- R. G. Boling, 'Bronze Age Buildings at the Shechem High Place: ASOR Excavations at Tananir', Biblical Archaeologist 32 (1969)
- E. F. Campbell and G. E. Wright, 'Tribal League Shrines in Amman and Shechem', Biblical Archaeologist 32 (1969)
- Dead Sea Quake site catalogue, 'Shechem' (summary of Welter 1931 and Boling 1968)
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