# Tell Ali Muntar > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tell_Ali_Muntar > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tell_Ali_Muntar.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Ali_Muntar > Source revision: 1355052776 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Bronze Age archaeological site in Palestine Tell Ali Muntar Location of Tell Ali Muntar in Gaza City Show map of Gaza City Tell Ali Muntar (Gaza Strip) Show map of Gaza Strip Tell Ali Muntar (State of Palestine) Show map of State of Palestine 31°29′25″N 34°28′28″E / 31.4903°N 34.4744°E / 31.4903; 34.4744 Periods Bronze Age Location Palestine Site notes Area c. 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft) **Tell Ali Muntar**, also known as **Tell al-Muntar**, is a [tell](/source/Tell_(archaeology)) (a mound created by accumulation of remains) at an elevation of 270 feet (82 m) [above sea level](/source/Above_mean_sea_level), the highest elevation is the area, some 2 kilometres (1 mi) south-east of [Gaza City](/source/Gaza_City) in [Palestine](/source/Palestine). The ancient site is thought to have been occupied in the [Middle Bronze Age](/source/Middle_Bronze_Age), about the 2nd millennium BCE,[2] covering an estimated area of 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft). Tradition holds it as the place where [Samson](/source/Samson) brought down the city gates of the [Philistines](/source/Philistines). The hill is crowned by a Muslim [shrine](/source/Shrine) (*[maqam](/source/Maqam_(shrine))*) dedicated to Ali al-Muntar. There are old Muslim graves around the surrounding trees,[3] and the lintel of the doorway of the *maqam* has two medieval Arabic scriptures.[4] Tell Ali Muntar was surveyed in 1998 as part of the Gaza Research Project, but it has not been excavated. The archaeologists discovered mud bricks from buildings and pottery that ranged from the Middle Bronze Age to the [Ottoman period](/source/Ottoman_Palestine).[2] It is likely that Tell Ali Muntar was occupied at the same time as the Bronze Age settlement of Tell Gaza; archaeologists Joanna Clarke and [Louise Steel](/source/Louise_Steel_(archaeologist)) suggest that settlement may have shifted from Tell Muntar to Tell Gaza.[5] [UNESCO](/source/UNESCO) has verified that more than 150 [heritage sites have been damaged](/source/Destruction_of_cultural_heritage_during_the_Israeli_invasion_of_the_Gaza_Strip) as a result of the [Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip](/source/Israeli_invasion_of_the_Gaza_Strip) starting in 2023, including Tell Ali Muntar.[6] ## Bronze Age sites near Gaza - [Al-Moghraqa](/source/Al-Moghraqa) - Tell Gaza - [Tell el-Ajjul](/source/Tell_el-Ajjul) - [Tell es-Sakan](/source/Tell_es-Sakan) - [Deir al-Balah](/source/Deir_al-Balah) - Tall Rīdān - [Tell es-Sanam](/source/Tell_es-Sanam) ## See also - [Palestine portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Palestine) - [List of archaeological sites in the Gaza Strip](/source/List_of_archaeological_sites_in_the_Gaza_Strip) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGreenHenry2021175_1-0)** [Green & Henry 2021](#CITEREFGreenHenry2021), p. 175. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEClarkeSadeq200435–36_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEClarkeSadeq200435–36_2-1) [Clarke & Sadeq 2004](#CITEREFClarkeSadeq2004), pp. 35–36. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBriggs1918258_3-0)** [Briggs 1918](#CITEREFBriggs1918), p. 258. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-STF-J_4-0)** ["Gaza – (Gaza, al -'Azzah)"](http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/123discuss.html). Studium Biblicum Franciscanum – Jerusalem. 19 December 2000. Retrieved 16 February 2009.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEClarkeSteel1999222,_226_5-0)** [Clarke & Steel 1999](#CITEREFClarkeSteel1999), pp. 222, 226. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Listed as "Tell Al-Muntar". [UNESCO 2026](#CITEREFUNESCO2026) ## Bibliography - Briggs, Martin Shaw (1918). [*Through Egypt in War-time*](https://archive.org/details/throughegyptinw00briggoog/page/n326/mode/2up). London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd. - Clarke, Joanna; Sadeq, Moain (2004), "Gaza Research Project: 1998 Survey of the Old City of Gaza", *Levant*, **36**: 31–36, [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1179/lev.2004.36.1.31](https://doi.org/10.1179%2Flev.2004.36.1.31) - Clarke, Joanna; Steel, Louise (1999), ["Demographic patterns and differential settlement in the Bronze Age landscape of Palestine"](https://fada.birzeit.edu/bitstream/20.500.11889/4685/1/The%20landscape%20of%20Palestine%20%20equivocal%20poetry.pdf) (PDF), *The landscape of Palestine: equivocal poetry*, pp. 211–231, [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[20.500.11889/4685](https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11889%2F4685) - Green, John D.M.; Henry, Ros, eds. (2021). [*Olga Tufnell’s 'Perfect Journey': Letters and photographs of an archaeologist in the Levant and Mediterranean*](http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctv18msqnb). UCL Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/j.ctv18msqnb.14](https://doi.org/10.2307%2Fj.ctv18msqnb.14). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-78735-906-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78735-906-2). - UNESCO (25 March 2026), ["Gaza Strip: Damage assessment"](https://www.unesco.org/en/gaza/assessment), *UNESCO*, retrieved 24 March 2026 ## External links - [Photograph of Tell Ali Muntar](https://web.archive.org/web/20250728081659/https://palarchive.org/index.php/Detail/objects/305839/view/pdf/export_format/_pdf_ca_objects_summary/lang/en_US), 1987 – via the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) Authority control databases Kulturenvanteri monument v t e Gaza Governorate Cities Gaza Old City Zaytun Quarter Daraj Quarter Tuffah Shuja'iyya Al-Jadida Turukman Nasser Rimal Sabra al-Shati Camp Al-Awda Sheikh Ijlin Sheikh Radwan Tel al-Hawa Municipalities al-Mughraqa al-Zahra Villages Juhor ad-Dik Refugee camps al-Shati Archaeological sites al-Moghraqa Ard-al-Moharbeen necropolis Blakhiya Byzantine cemetery Taur Ikhbeineh Tell Ali Muntar Tell el-Ajjul Tell es-Sakan --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tell Ali Muntar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Ali_Muntar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Ali_Muntar?action=history)). 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