Tonight I decided to share some of the answers for my post Can You Tell the Tel?

I did not receive many responses, so perhaps I started with a set of pictures that were a little bit too difficult.

For a recap, I shared five pictures of archaeological sites and asked if you could identify them.

My friend Luke was able to identify three of the five sites.

The first two were not identified, but I will post them here again with an additional clue.

Here is the first one. The additional clue is that it is in modern day Turkey.

The second one is also in Turkey.

I know that I have readers who were with me when I took the pictures. Feel free to respond 🙂

Now for the answers for tels 3-5. I will start each with what I wrote in the earlier post.

Here is tel number three. Watch out this one may be a bit deceptive.

There is a big clue here as I warned that it may be a bit deceptive. Think about who deceived Joshua and the men of Israel.

This is Tel el-Jib or Gibeon.  You can read more about it in my post The Gibeonite Deception.

I also wrote about Gibeon in The Day the Sun Stood Still.

Here is tel number four. It has a very distinctive shape, but be careful and don’t lose your head on this one.

This one also has a clue in the description. It is a place where someone lost his head and it was thrown over the wall.

This is Abel Bet-Maacah which is where Sheba fled to when he was chased by Joab in 2 Samuel 20.

On my first visit to Abel Bet-Maacah we only took pictures from the road. During my second visit two years ago I was able to visit the dig sites of the team that is excavating there. Someday I should share some pictures from there as you have a great view from the top of the tel.

Here is tel number five. Someday I would like to walk the twisting path to the top as there is a beautiful view from there.

This is Hippos-Sussita which is on the east side of the Sea of Galilee.  During my first trip to Israel we drove by this site. It is very near to the traditional place where the pigs ran into the sea. See my post The Sea of Galilee.

I also shared a few more pictures in my post In the BAR VII.

In a 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeological Review there was a short editorial titled Archaeological High Horse by Hershel Shanks.

The name Hippos (Greek) and Sussita (Aramaic) both mean horse.

Should I try this little game again sometime? I promise to make it easier if I do 🙂

Steven