Tel Afek and Mekorot HaYarkon parks in Yarkon National Park

Tel Afek and the Rosh Ha’ayin Springs

 

The fortress you see on top of the tel is Ottoman and was built between 1572 and 1574 CE. Its name Antipatris Fortress is the name of the city built here by Herod.

 

There have been fortresses on Tel Afek since the Canaanite period, since the tel is very strategically located. The main highway or Via Maris connecting Egypt to the northern regions of the ancient Near East, including the Levant and parts of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), made a right turn inland at Jaffa. This was because the Yarkon River obstructed passage. Moreover, the multiple springs feeding the Yarkon River led to marshland, and the Via Maris continued past this marshland almost up to the mountains of Samaria. Almost, but not quite. There was a 2-km wide critical pass, called the Afek Pass, between the mountains on the east and the Rosh Ha’ayin Springs on the west. The fortresses on Tel Afek controlled this crucial pass.

 

Afek first became a Canaanite walled city in the Early Bronze Age, in about 3,00 BCE. It came under Egyptian control during the Middle Bronze Age, but the Canaanites reestablished their autonomy during the Late Bronze Age.

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Thus, within the courtyard of the fortress are the ruins of a Canaanite palace that has been dated to the 15th to 13th centuries BCE, Late Bronze Age. Next to this is the partially reconstructed ruins of an Egyptian governor’s house/ administrative buildings. These structures date primarily to the 13th century BCE, especially during the reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II of the Nineteenth Dynasty. During this time, Aphek was an important Egyptian administrative center that oversaw southern Canaan. The palace complex was violently destroyed around about 1180–1150 BCE, coinciding with the collapse of Egyptian power in Canaan during the upheavals associated with the end of the Bronze Age and the arrival of the Sea Peoples.

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Afek is mentioned in the book of Joshua as being captured by the Israelites (Joshua 12:18), but it came under the control of the Philistines during the Iron Age. The Bible describes the Battle of Afek during which the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant was captured (I Samuel 4:1).

 

The city subsequently became an Israelite settlement. A Greek city was established during the Hellenistic period. Herod the Great expanded the city in the early Roman period and named it after his father Antipatris. The city flourished during the Late Roman period (132 to 324 CE). The remains of the Cardo from this period can be seen outside the fortress and also the remains of a small theater, although no significant archeology has been carried out.

 

The Crusaders built a fortress at Migdal Tsedek on the other side of the Migdal Pass, and this fortress can be viewed from the fortress tower on Tel Afek. A telescope (without glass) is even provided so you can find its location.

 

The Rosh Ha’ayin Springs is the where a major aquifer emerges at the foot of Tel Afek. This aquifer is from rainwater from Judea and Samaria and which emerges here because the mountains have a westward incline. It was once a major source of water for the Yarkon River. This river is 27 Km long and is joined by other tributaries before it reaches the Mediterranean in Tel Aviv. As mentioned, the springs also created swamps around both banks of the river.

 

The Rosh Ha’ayin Springs were the main source of water for Jerusalem during the British Mandate. Beginning in 1936, water was pumped to Sha’ar HaGai, and then via additional pumps into the city of Jerusalem. The British-built buildings in the park once contained a pump, filtration and settling pools and a chlorination system. There were also buildings for the British soldiers who guarded this.

 

In the 1950s, Ben Gurion ordered the establishment of Yarkon-Negev water pipelines from the Rosh Ha’ayin Springs to provide water to the Negev region, and in 1964 this water was linked into the national water carrier. The net result of this was that only a small fraction of its water now entered the Yarkon River. As a result of a fall in the water level of the aquifer the swamps around the springs also dried up. However, the swamps have been recreated by pumping water from the aquifer and into the Einat Channel.