The round altar. The huge altar—26 feet in diameter and 5 feet high—dates to the Early Bronze Age II–III (c. 2950–2350 B.C.E.). Adjacent to it were three small temples, each rectangular and with its opening within one of its long walls. Raised platforms stood opposite the entrances and columns were placed near the center of each temple. In some respects, the round stone altar probably resembles the later Biblical “high places” described in 1 Samuel 9:12–14, which were condemned by religious reformers in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E.