'En Esur

'En Esur, also written En Esur and known in Arabic as Ein Asawir or Tell el-Asawir, is an ancient site on the northern Sharon Plain at the entrance of the Wadi Ara pass, which leads from the Coastal Plain inland. It has an archaeological mound called Tel Esur, a second unnamed mound and two springs, one of which gives the site its name. Excavation showed a large Early Chalcolithic village, founded around 5000 BC, and above it a walled Early Bronze Age city of about 0.65 square kilometres that may have held 5,000 to 6,000 people, the largest settlement of the Southern Levant in its time. The city was planned, with streets, alleys, squares, storage and drainage facilities, a cemetery and a temple with a large stone basin. It was abandoned around 3000 BCE and never revived as a major urban centre, though an Iron Age administrative complex and later Persian, Roman and Byzantine occupation followed. The city was found in 1977, its extent was recognised in 1993, and a major excavation in 2017 to 2019 preceded a highway interchange.