The Destruction of the Iron Age I Site of el-'Unuq

The Iron Age I site of el-'Unuq, discovered by the Manasseh Hill Country Survey, is a large enclosure on a hilltop in Eastern Samaria that is isolated by ravines. It has been suggested that this may be one of the locations termed ‘foot-shaped enclosures’ and identified as the biblical Gilgal sites by Adam Zertal. A recent satellite viewing of various sites in Samaria in a region classified as Area B by the Oslo Accords revealed that this site had been almost completely destroyed. No signs of salvage excavations were witnessed or reported prior to or during the destruction of the site by modern construction activity. This situation is representative of a major obstacle for those interested in salvaging archaeological sites in the region: There is no direct coordination, or even the faintest connection, between the Palestinian archaeological authorities and the Israeli Staff Officer of Archaeology of Judea and Samaria.