Tell es-Sakan was an important ancient Egyptian maritime settlement during the early Bronze Age, situated at the mouth of wadi Ghazzeh. Its geographical situation endowed it with a position of importance at the crossroads on the land based trade routes to Arabia, the Egyptian empire to the south and the Canaan region to the north. The site (dated between 3500-2350 BCE) appears to be the predecessor to the Tell al-'Ajjul settlement, where geomorphological dynamics of the estuary caused settlement trans-location or abandonment. The site dates from a period prior to the Egyptian military domination of the Levant. The pottery finds at Tell es-Sakan along with Tell al-'Ajjul shows a strong ancient Egyptian link to the area, while the Bronze Age settlement at Taur Ikhbeineh has revealed a more localised pottery production with Egyptian-Canaanite interaction.

The Bronze Age port was contemporary with En Besor

Ein HaBesor

Ein HaBesor is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the Hevel Eshkol area of the north-western Negev desert near the border with the Gaza Strip and around a kilometre from Magen, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 684...

, an Egyptian First Dynasty Staging Post along the "ways of Horus

Horus

Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...

" trade route in the Northern Negev. Although Tell es-Sakan was larger and surrounded by a city-wall, the earliest Egyptian town wall datable with any certainty. There were three consecutive building-phases, correlating with 3 strata of occupation.

The site was discovered by chance in 1998 during construction of a new housing complex, and construction work was temporarily suspended to allow an archaeological investigation to be conducted.