Gezer (Hebrew: גֶּזֶר) was a Canaanite city-state in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region. Tel Gezer (also Tell el-Jezer), an archaeological site midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is now an Israeli national park. In the Hebrew Bible, Gezer is associated with Joshua and Solomon.It became a major fortified city in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. It was later destroyed by fire and rebuilt. The Amarna letters mention kings of Gezer swearing loyalty to the Egyptian Pharaoh. Its importance was in part because of the strategic position it held at the crossroads of the Via Maris (the "Way of the Sea") and the road to Jerusalem and Jericho, both important trade routes.Discoveries related to biblical archaeology are eight monumental megaliths (up-ended stones, each of which is called a matseva and are found elsewhere in Israel); a double cave beneath the high place, probably used for divinatory purposes; 13 inscribed boundary stones, making it the first positively identified Biblical city; a six-chambered gate similar to those found at Hazor and Megiddo; and a large water system comprising a tunnel going down to a spring, similar to that found in Jerusalem.