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Abstract

Mount Dov (in Arabic: Jebel Ross, i.e., ‘Mountain of Heads’) is part of the western Si’on shoulder, rising in height to 1529 m asl. The mountain ridge was namesd after Captain Dov Rodberg, who died in 1970 in a battle against terrorists on the mountain. The ridge is divided by several subpeaks, from northeast to southwest: Jebel Ross (1531 m asl), Mount Agas (c. 1330 m asl), Mount Batyr (c. 1310 m asl), Miẓpe Ramta and Miẓpor in the Security Zone (1188 m asl). Settlements on the mountain were recorded just below the snow line, at about 2000 m asl. These were small villages and farms that cultivated small plots of land in the valleys or on the mountain spurs. Due to its forested nature of the villages, the potential of land exploitation and the harsh climate conditions, the mountain was inhabited only during periods of intensive settlement. The settlements in the area were first established at the beginning of the Hellenistic period and abandoned at the beginning of the Byzantine period. After a gap of hundreds of years, several of the ruins were resettled at the end of the nineteenth/beginning of the twentieth century, mainly in the form of seasonal settlements and farms belonging to the neighboring villages. In the 1980s, S. Dar conducted a survey of the mountain, later publishing his finds in a book, titled “The Hermon and Its Foothills.” M. Hartel also surveyed the northern Golan and his finds are marked on the map of the Israel Survey website. In 2019–2022, an archeological survey of the mountain area was conducted by the author, as part of an extensive survey that included geological, geomorphological, flora, fauna and heritage aspects. The survey is still underway. As of now, well-known sites were re-documented and new information was added, including new buildings and sites. This article presents some of the archaeological sites on the mountain and discusses various characteristics of human settlement on the mountain throughout history.

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