ABSTRACT
The oldest traces of settlement there come from the Chalcolithic period. Shechem was settled again in the Middle Bronze Age. It is believed that biblical Shechem should be located in Tell Balatah, situated some 65 km north of Jerusalem. The temple built in the middle of the second millennium has been described by archaeologists as a "massive fortress-temple". according to the Bible there are two important hills close to Shechem, Gerizim and Ebal. Joshua built on Mt Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. Otto Eissfeldt drew attention to the discrepancy in the location of the oak of Moreh. One time the story says that it grows near to Shechem, another time that it is opposite Gilgal. The stories about the patriarchs with aetiological references to the holy place in Shechem show certain similarities.
