Tel Yehud Archaeological Park is a public landscape project developed atop Tel Yehud – a 7,000 year old archaeological mound (c. 5000 BCE) situated at the heart of the city of Yehud, Israel. The mound had never been excavated prior to the project, positioning the park as a rare and sensitive integration of archaeology, landscape architecture, and contemporary urban life.

Rising above its immediate surroundings and adjacent to the municipal building, the tel functions simultaneously as a topographic landmark and a civic connector. The project establishes a platform where layers of human history, urban development, and everyday use converge.
Archaeological findings at an area nearby the site span from the Chalcolithic period (c. 5000–3300 BCE) through successive historical layers including the Bronze and Iron Ages, Hellenistic and Roman periods (c. 300 BCE – 330 CE), Byzantine period (4th–6th centuries CE), Early Islamic period (7th–10th centuries CE), and the Ottoman period (16th–19th centuries CE).

In the 1950s (1950–1959), the tel was also home to Yehud’s first modern settlers. Notably, findings in the surrounding area include what is considered the earliest evidence of opium use in human history.
The project’s design language is derived directly from the archaeological excavation grid, serving as an ordering principle for movement, structure, and form. This grid is translated into paths, terraces, pergolas, and shading systems, allowing archaeological methodology to shape spatial experience.

• All retaining walls are constructed from gabions filled with local ancient stones, reinforcing both structural stability and material continuity with the tel.
• Terraces are formed from locally sourced stones, geometrically adapted to reference the construction logic of early pioneer houses.
• Pergolas and shading elements abstract the excavation grid and incorporate printed imagery of archaeological artifacts discovered in the area, transforming shade into an interpretive surface.
The park spans 17 dunams (17,000 m²) and influences an urban catchment of approximately 50 dunams, surrounding by residential units.
It is accessed through five entrances, two of which are fully accessible, integrating the park seamlessly into the surrounding urban fabric.
Three primary axes structure the landscape:
• Founders’ Way (150 m): a commemorative route featuring photographic mosaic installations honoring Yehud’s founders.
• Community Axis (250 m): connecting residential streets and supporting daily social activity.
• Time Axis (350 m): a north–south narrative spine sequentially unfolding the history of Tel Yehud.
At the park’s center stands a combined café and service building, surrounded by paved surfaces and a wooden deck.

Programmatic elements include:
• A 2,500 m² central lawn, preserving six mature plane trees.
• An olive grove of ~20 veteran trees above a shaded lawn (1,000 m²).
• A reconstructed olive press and a relocated Byzantine winepress (5th–6th centuries CE, 120 m²) enabling full demonstration of traditional wine production, adjacent to a community vineyard.
• Informal recreation areas with timber decks, shaded seating, picnic tables, and approximately 30 newly planted trees.

A 400 m² outdoor learning and excavation classroom is organized around a preserved ancient eucalyptus tree, which serves as both an ecological anchor and a pedagogical focus.
The project was guided by a clear commitment to preserving ancient and sensitive areas across the site, ensuring minimal intervention while allowing public access and learning.
Children’s play areas include shaded toddler playgrounds, excavation inspired sand pits, swing installations, and a 5 meter high slide hill combining play, accessibility, and terrain.
An accessible path near the synagogue winds through a fruit orchard of 30–50 trees, preserving mature cypress trees and integrating poppy planting as a symbolic reference to the site’s opium history.
Event lawns (1,600 m²), community gardens, and a Time Column / sundial plaza frame the park as a place of ceremony, education, and daily use.
Tel Yehud Archaeological Park demonstrates how landscape architecture can operate as a mediator between archaeology and the contemporary city.

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