ABSTRACT
The ancient city of Shechem (“shoulder”), located between Mount Gerizim on the south, and Mount Ebal on the north, was an important political and religious center both to the Canaanites and the Israelites. While there is evidence (mostly pottery) of human activity here as early as the Chalcolithic period (fourth millennium BCE), the first Canaanite city dates from the beginning of the second millennium BCE. The city survived, with many destructions and reconstructions, until the second century BCE, when it was destroyed for the last time by John Hyrcanus.
