A Near Eastern Tel

A tel (sometimes spelled 'tell'), shown in this picture, is a mound holding ancient ruins. Most towns and cities in ancient times were built on the top of a hill because this location offered a defensive advantage. When all or part of a city was destroyed, builders usually found it easier to fill in and level the city they destroyed (rather than remove the debris), resulting in an increasingly higher mound over hundreds or thousands of years. Archaeologists can excavate through the different layers of destroyed cities that make the tel and gain much information about the specific site and the different periods of history in general.