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A labyrinthine gate complex confronted the ancient visitor who wished to enter the Israelite city of Dan in the First Temple period, as shown in this isometric construction. After entering via the recently discovered outer outer gate and paved plaza, the visitor would pass through the outer gate into a small plaza containing five standing stones constituting a shrine and a low platform of hewn limestone blocks covered by a canopy, which may have served as a throne or held a cult statue.

Next the visitor would pass through the four-chambered inner gate, which measures almost 100 feet wide and 60 feet through its passage and dates to the ninth century B.C.E. The two rooms on each side of the entryway probably housed the guards.

Continuing to follow the pavement, the visitor would come at last to the 55-by-40-foot upper gate, beyond which lay the city itself.