Tel Gerisa, Archaeological site on a hill in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Tel Gerisa is an archaeological hill on the southern bank of the Yarkon River where soil layers stack on top of each other, revealing traces from different ancient periods. The site contains remains of dwellings, tools, and everyday objects that tell us how people lived in this region.
A small settlement appeared on the hill around 2700 BCE and peaked in the 18th–17th centuries BCE, when it was ringed by a sloping wall of kurkar, mudbrick and rammed earth about three metres thick, in the style of Hyksos fortifications. It was destroyed in the mid-16th century BCE, then rebuilt and fortified in the Late Bronze Age with a palace, a square market and evidence of metalworking and trade with Cyprus and Mycenaean cities. A Philistine settlement on the hill was destroyed in the early 10th century BCE.
The tell's names come from the Arab village Jerisha, which stood near the Seven Mills, and from Napoleon's army, which camped on and beside the hill during the 1799 siege of Jaffa. The site was the main filming location of the Israeli children's series "The Kids from Napoleon Hill", broadcast 2001–2004.
The tell lies in the southern part of Yarkon Park, next to Ramat Gan's northern neighbourhoods, and rises 38 m above sea level; its saddle shape gives views in all directions. There is no entrance gate, opening hours or visitor facilities: the 2005 plan for an open archaeological garden was never carried out, and the mound is unkempt. Approach on foot through the park and expect rough, uneven ground.
The name Tel Napoleon comes from when Napoleon Bonaparte's army camped here in 1799 during their military campaign against the nearby port city. This moment briefly connected a European military leader to an ancient archaeological site.
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