Tel Beit Yerach (or Not).

This morning early we set out to find Tel Beit Yerach. We failed! Now I know the Tel is there. There was an excavation there during the summer and there are numerous web pages associated with the Tel. Beit Yerach is home to one of the most important Early Bronze Age cities in the area (3150-2200BCE). It was a big city and heavily fortified. The city prospered from trade and commerce and even has a ceramic named for it (Khirbet Kerak Ware). Still we could not find it.

We drove to the edge of the Kinneret, and followed the map and GPS until we hit this locked gate at a parking lot near the beach.
So like all good adventurers, we stopped and made coffee.
We walked around the locked fence, ignoring the "do not enters" and "private property" signs and went looking for the Tel. The closest we could get was a sandstone cliff wall that looked like this. I think those are brick makes in the side of the cliff.
We walked around trying to find a way in but all we could find were tall fences, barbed wire and a deserted Kinneret beach. Oh, and a lot of junk. This is Israel after all.

After walking around and round, we could find no real trace of anything Tel like, although it could have been on the hill overlooking the deserted beach and parking lot. So we walked back to the car and drove home, listening to Malcolm Gladwell's "What The Dog Saw". Not every outing is successful, it seems.

p.s. Go and read blackwifeo's blog immediately. She gets very insecure after each posting. She has the humor in the family.