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Aner

cityOld TestamentGalilee1 verse
Today Tell Ta’anakhCountry IsraelCoordinates 32.522, 35.219

Aner is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tell Ta’anakh. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.

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Archaeological Data
Occupation Phases
Early Bronze Age I3800 BCE – 3050 BCE
Early Bronze Age II3050 BCE – 2850 BCE
Early Bronze Age III2850 BCE – 2500 BCE
Middle Bronze Age II-III1750 BCE – 1550 BCE
Late Bronze Age I1550 BCE – 1400 BCE
Late Bronze Age II1400 BCE – 1200 BCE
Iron Age I1150 BCE – 980 BCE
Iron Age I-IIb1150 BCE – 720 BCE
Iron Age IIa-b980 BCE – 720 BCE
Iron Age IIa980 BCE – 830 BCE
Iron Age III (Persian)539 BCE – 333 BCE
Hellenistic333 BCE – 63 BCE
Roman63 BCE – 324 CE
Roman-Byzantine63 BCE – 638 CE
Byzantine324 CE – 638 CE
UnitoAssyrianGovernance, Villages to Empires Dataset (CC BY 4.0), doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732Uppsala University, ANE Site Placemarks (CC BY 4.0), doi:10.5281/zenodo.6384044

Biblical History

Aner is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:70 as a Levitical city allocated to the clan of Kohath from within the half-tribe of Manasseh west of the Jordan. It is the Chronicles parallel to Taanach, listed in Joshua 21:25 in the same allotment context. As a Levitical city, Aner served the important function of providing residence and sustenance for the Kohathite Levites, who bore responsibility for the most sacred elements of the tabernacle furniture. Manasseh's western territory encompassed the Jezreel Valley and the Carmel ridge, a strategically central region in Canaan. The assignment of a Levitical city within this territory ensured priestly presence in a region frequently traversed by armies and merchants. Taanach/Aner sits close to the ancient pass through the Carmel ridge that has been a major military crossing since the Bronze Age, made famous by Pharaoh Thutmose III's campaign and later by Deborah's victory over Sisera near the waters of Megiddo (Judges 5:19). The Levitical city in this strategic location would have been a center of worship and instruction for surrounding Israelite communities.

Archaeological & Historical Notes

Aner is identified with Tell Ta'anakh (modern Taanach), a significant Bronze and Iron Age tell located in the western Jezreel Valley, approximately 8 kilometers southeast of Megiddo. Taanach was excavated by Ernst Sellin in 1902–1904 and again by Paul Lapp in the 1960s, with more recent work by Israeli archaeologists. Excavations revealed a rich sequence of occupation from the Early Bronze Age through the Iron Age II, including a Late Bronze Age cultic cache with elaborate ritual vessels and figurines, as well as administrative tablets in Akkadian. The Iron Age I and II strata confirm Israelite settlement. Taanach is mentioned in Egyptian texts, in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:19), and in Solomon's administrative districts (1 Kings 4:12), attesting to its regional importance.

Verse Appearances (1)

References

  1. Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
  2. OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
  3. Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
  4. Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
  5. Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
  6. Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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