Editing Tel Dothan (section)

===Modern discovery===
[[Charles William Meredith van de Velde]] visited the site in 1851, and was considered the first modern traveller to visit it.<ref name="Bonar1858">{{cite book|last=Bonar|first=Horatius|title=The Land of Promise: Notes of a Spring-journey from Beersheba to Sidon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hAhIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA384|year=1858|publisher=James Nisbet & Company|pages=384|quote= See Van de Velde's Syria and Palestine vol. i. p. 364. That traveller may claim the discovery of the site. He visited the spot, whereas E Robinson, like ourselves, only had it pointed out at a distance}}</ref> He described the discovery in his 1854 book:<ref name=VDV>{{cite book|last=Velde, van de |first=Charles William Meredith|author-link=Charles William Meredith van de Velde |title=Narrative of a journey through Syria and Palestine in 1851 and 1852|url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeajourn00veldgoog  |volume=1 |year=1854|publisher=William Blackwood and son|page=[https://archive.org/details/narrativeajourn00veldgoog/page/n391 364]}}</ref>
<blockquote>...I saw a huge tell at the distance of only a few hundred yards from our way, covered over with ruins, and the fragment of an ancient aqueduct, that had been supported on arches. I asked Abu Monsur the name of the tell, and the answer was, "Haida Dothan" (that is, Dothan). "Dothan," I asked, "Dothan?" "Nahm; Dothan, Dothan, Dothan!" exclaimed the testy old shech, as if hurt at my not believing him at the instant. My object in reiterating the question was to get him to repeat the name; for the discovery of Dothan was a very special circumstance, with respect to which I was anxious to assure myself, by having the name properly pronounced.</blockquote>

Van de Velde's visit had taken place a few days before Edward Robinson's;<ref name=Robinson/> Robinson credited van ve Velde with the discovery.<ref name="MasterLarsen2005">{{cite book|last1=Master|first1=Daniel M.|last2=Larsen|first2=Timothy|last3=Monson|first3=John |author4=Egon H. E. Lass |author5=George A. Pierce|title=Dothan: Remains from the Tell (1953-1964)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=teYKqG08BRwC|year=2005|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1-57506-115-3|page=7}}</ref>