Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
1 Kings 12:26-30
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
What is the interest in the site of Dan? Obviously, the biggest attraction is the Biblical connections that I mentioned last time. Why did the ancient Danites move here? What was built here?
One key thing a city always needs is water. Dan is situated at one of the headwaters of the Jordan River and is the most powerful spring in the Middle East! They had reliable water in abundance! Their move here makes sense from that standpoint. The park encompasses both the ancient ruins and the spring with water flowing.
There’s a mud brick gate from the Middle Bronze Age (roughly the time of Abraham). It’s very rare for mud brick to survive like this. The reason it did is because it was an engineering failure. They likely buried it because it was deteriorating too quickly, instead building another gate elsewhere.
Further to the west are the Iron Age gates (9th – 7th centuries BC). These would have been built by the ancient Israelites. The original street is still present to walk on. Inside the gates are homes of people from the same time period.
Following the old road further inside the ancient city, you come to the cultic area. Dan was a sacred city for centuries (at least since the Danites moved there). King Jeroboam (mentioned above) built a golden calf at Dan. This area has likely been uncovered, including what is probably an altar and steps up to a platform. Side rooms had many animal bones found in them with a bias towards the parts of an animal prescribed for the priests.
