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Historic Sites

Tel Shikmona
At the southern end of a curve in the coast leading north toward modern Haifa, adjacent to where the Oceanographic and Limnological Institute is located today, long ago there existed a splendid harbor city that from the 1st century BCE appears in the sources by the name Shikmona. Excavations have revealed continuous settlement from the 16th century BCE to the return of the Jews from Babylonian exile in 537 BCE. The advent of the Persian Kingdom at this time led to development along the entire Carmel coast in service to the economic interests of the Phoenicians and Persians. From the 4th century BCE up until at least the 7th century CE Arab-Muslim conquest, Shikmona emerged as the chief city of the Haifa and Carmel territory. Tel Shikmona has yielded an Egyptian tomb; luxury items from the Canaanite era (the Bronze Age); a 6th century BCE Persian citadel; and oil presses, colored mosaic floors and other artifacts from a prosperous Talmudic-era Jewish town. Many of the ancient artifacts unearthed at Tel Shikmona are now on display in Haifa museums.