A Pilgrimage to Iron Age II Tel Dan

Abstract

Pilgrimage—a journey to a shrine or other sacred place undertaken to gain divine aid, as an act of thanksgiving or penance, or to demonstrate devotion within a particular religious system—has been the subject of archaeological investigation in recent years. The site of Tel Dan (Tell el-Qadi), Israel, provides a unique opportunity to explore pilgrimage because its remains have been exposed over a wide expanse and it has produced a great deal of archaeological data. Dan is also remembered in the Hebrew Bible as an Israelite pilgrimage destination. In this paper, we attempt to recreate the experience of a pilgrim moving through the stations of the pilgrimage itinerary of Holy Dan. We end by providing a synthetic analysis of pilgrimage at the site invoking biblical, archaeological, iconographic, and ancient Near Eastern textual data, viewed through a phenomenological lens.