Gibeon

Gibeon, ancient town, notable as a site mentioned multiple times in the Bible, located northwest of Jerusalem. Gibeon’s inhabitants submitted voluntarily to Joshua at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan (as described in chapter 9 of the Book of Joshua). Excavations undertaken in 1956 by a U.S. expedition revealed that the site had been occupied during parts of the Early and most of the Middle Bronze Age (c. 3000–1550 bce) and in the latter part of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1200 bc), just before Joshua’s conquest of Canaan. Gibeon was at that time a dependency of the city-state of Jerusalem and probably not fortified.

Gibeon does not appear to have been destroyed by the Babylonians, who invaded the area in the early 6th century bce, and it continued to be occupied during the exile. Remains of this period included a large number of inscribed wine-jar handles, of which more than 30 contained the name Gibeon in Hebrew characters of that period. The site of ancient Gibeon is today in the village of al-Jīb, located in the West Bank.