University of Haifa

About 30 kilometres directly south of Haifa, Israel, lies a very large tel (an earth mound containing ancient architectural and artefact remains) that tells a story crossing at least eight civilizations. It is there - at Tel Dor - that a rare and surprising archaeological discovery has been made: an engraved gemstone carrying a portrait of Alexander the Great was uncovered at an excavation area in the southwestern part of Tel Dor. It is surprising that a work of art such as this would be found in Israel, on the periphery of the Hellenistic world. It is generally assumed that the master artists - such as the one who engraved the image of Alexander on this particular gemstone - were mainly employed by the leading Hellenistic courts in the capital cities, such as those in Alexandria in Egypt and Seleucia in Syria.

The excavations in the City of David, Jerusalem, which uncovered a third-century AD Roman villa just weeks ago, have now found something much older. Israeli archaeologists have found what they believe to be the region's earliest fort: a wall dating back 3,700 years.

Thought to have been built by the Canaanites, its original purpose was to protect the city's water supply and shows that they had considerable engineering skill and were able to construct major buildings – the wall is eight metres high.

The dig director, Ronny Reich, an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa, told the BBC: "The wall is enormous, and that it survived 3,700 years - this is, even for us, a long time.”