Judean Mountains

The Judaean Mountains, sometimes known as the Judaean Hills, are a mountain range in Israel and the West Bank that is home to Jerusalem, Hebron, and a number of other biblical cities. The peaks rise to a height of 1,026 meters (3,366 ft) is one of the highest mountains in Israel. The Mount Hebron ridge, the Jerusalem ridge, and the Judean slopes are only a few of the subregions that make up the Judean Mountains. The Judaean Mountains were the center of the Kingdom of Judah (930-586 BCE), and it was here that the first Jewish towns arose, from whence Jews descend.

The Judaean Mountains are the surface expression of a series of north-northwest trending monoclinic folds that run through Israel. The folding is the most visible manifestation of the Syrian Arc band of anticline folding, which began in northeast Africa and southwest Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period. The Syrian Arc stretches east-northeast over the Sinai Peninsula, then swings north-northeast across Israel before continuing east-northeast into Syria. The Israeli section runs parallel to the Dead Sea Transform to the east. The mountain was formed by two uplift occurrences, one in the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene and the other in the Early Miocene. Elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, and wild Asian water buffalo, which are no longer seen elsewhere in the Levant, were once prevalent here in prehistoric times.

Location: Israel and the West Bank

Elevation: 1026 m