Located near the source of the Jordan River and the foothills of Mt. Hermon, Tel Dan towers some 60 feet above the surrounding plain. Author Avraham Biran has been digging at Dan since 1966—the longest-running excavation in Israel. His efforts have yielded a large array of Israelite cultic sites and ritual artifacts.
After the death of King Solomon, Jeroboam, the newly proclaimed king of Israel, set up a shrine at Dan that housed a golden calf; the king announced to his people: “This is your god, O Israel” (1 Kings 12:28). Biran has found, not one, but several open-air shrines at Dan, including a large stone platform identified as a bamah, or high place—where, Biran believes, Jeroboam set up the golden calf.