Prehistory Archaeological excavations at the
prehistoric site have revealed evidence of human habitation in the area, from as early as 750,000 years ago. Archaeologists from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem claim that the site provides evidence of "advanced human behavior" half a million years earlier than has previously been estimated as possible. Their report describes a layer at the site belonging to the
Acheulian (a culture dating to the
Lower Palaeolithic, at the very beginning of the
Stone Age), where numerous stone tools, animal bones and plant remains have been found, including those of the large elephant
Palaeoloxodon recki which is associated with stone tools, including a
handaxe, and shows cut and fracture marks indicating that it was butchered by
archaic humans. According to the archaeologists
Paul Pettitt and Mark White, the site has produced the earliest widely accepted evidence for the
use of fire, dated approximately 790,000 years ago. A
Tel-Aviv University study found remains of a huge
carp fish cooked with the use of fire at the site 780,000 years ago. A 2026 study argued that the plant remains at the site include the oldest known evidence of medicinal plant use by humans, predating previous estimates by more than 700,000 years.
Crusader and Ayyubid period Jacob's Ford was a key river crossing point and major trade route between
Acre and
Damascus. It was utilized by Christian
Palestine and
Seljuk Syria as a major intersection between the two civilizations, making it strategically important. When
Humphrey II of Toron was besieged in the city of
Banyas in 1157, King
Baldwin III of Jerusalem was able to break the siege, only to be ambushed at Jacob's Ford in June of that year. Later in the twelfth century,
Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Saladin continually contested the area around Jacob's Ford. Baldwin allowed the
Templars to build
Chastelet castle overlooking Jacob's Ford known to the Arabs as ''Qasr al-'Ata'' commanding the road from
Quneitra to
Tiberias. On 23 August 1179, Saladin successfully conducted the
siege of Jacob's Ford, destroying the unfinished fortification, known as the castle of Vadum Iacob or Chastellet.
Mamluk and Ottoman bridge 1799 map In the late
Mamluk period,
Sefad became a principal town and
Baibars'
postal road from Cairo to Damascus was extended with a branch that went through the north of Palestine. To accomplish this, the bridge was built over the Crusaders' Vadum Jacob (Jacob's ford). The bridge had the Mamluk characteristic dual-slope pathway like the
Yibna Bridge.
Al-Dimashqi (1256–1327) noted that "the
Jordan traverses the district of
Al Khaitah and comes to the ''Jisr Ya'kub
(lit.'' "Jacob's Bridge"), under ''Kasr Ya'kub
(lit.'' "Jacob's Castle"), and reaching the
Sea of Tiberias, falls into it." Before 1444, a merchant constructed a khan (caravanserai) on the eastern side of the bridge, one of a series of such khans built at the time.
Edward Robinson noted that during the 14th century, travellers crossed the river Jordan below the
Lake of Tiberias, while the first crossing in the area of
Jisr Benat Yakob was noted in 1450 CE. The khan, at the eastern end of the bridge, and the bridge itself, were both probably built before 1450, according to Robinson. For the year 1555−1556
CE (
AH 963) the
toll post at the bridge collected 25,000
akçe, The bridge was maintained through the Ottoman period, with a
caravanserai on one end of the bridge, as shown in the 1799
Jacotin map. During the
Egyptian campaign of 1799,
Napoleon sent his cavalry commander, general
Murat, to defend the bridge, as a measure of preempting reinforcement from Damascus being sent to
Akko during the
siege laid by the French. Murat occupied nearby
Safed and
Tiberias, as well as the bridge and, by relying on the superior quality of French troops, managed to defeat Turkish units far outnumbering him. Jacotin's map marks the west side of the bridge with the name of General Murat and the date of 2 April 1799. In 1881, the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) also noted about
Jisr Benat Yakub: "The bridge itself appears to be of later date than the Crusader period."
20th century The
Battle of Jisr Benat Yakub was fought there on 27 September 1918 during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of
World War I, at the beginning of the pursuit by the
British Army of the retreating remnants of the Ottoman
Yildirim Army Group towards Damascus, who destroyed the central arch of the bridge. The bridge was shortly repaired by
ANZAC sappers, flattening the original dual-slope pathway, making it useful for modern vehicles. In 1934, during the draining of Lake Hula as part of a Zionist
land reclamation project, the old bridge was replaced by a modern one further south. which later became known as the
Sapir Pumping Station at
Tel Kinrot/Tell el-'Oreimeh. During the
Six-Day War, an Israeli
paratrooper brigade captured the area, and after the war, the
Israeli Combat Engineering Corps constructed a
Bailey bridge. In the
Yom Kippur War, Syrian forces approached the vicinity of the bridge. As a precaution, Israeli sappers placed explosives on the bridge but did not detonate them as the Syrians did not attempt to cross it.
21st century In 2007, one of the two Bailey bridges at the site (one for traffic from east to west and the other handling traffic in the opposite direction) was replaced with a modern concrete span, while the other Bailey bridge was left intact for emergency use. ==See also==