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COURTESY OF THE TEL HADID EXPEDITION

HADID’S HILLTOP. With the hills of Samaria in the background, Tel Hadid rises above its surroundings. A wide platform with large walls covers about a quarter of the mound’s crest (see left side). The platform likely dates to the late Hellenistic period (second-first centuries B.C.E.). However, Tel Hadid had strategic importance long before the Hellenistic period. From its hilltop, one could see ancient Jaffa (modern Tel Aviv) to the northwest, the Via Maris (the main ancient trade route through the southern Levant) to the west, the Lydda Valley to the southwest, the al-Jib Plateau to the east, and the hills of Samaria to the northeast.