Dothan is located along the largest and most fertile of the valleys of Samaria. Thus it was no accident that Joseph came here searching for his brothers. Sibling rivalry got the better of them, and the brothers sold Joseph to one of the many caravan traders making their way to Egypt along it's trails. Dothan is mentioned in the Bible as the site where Joseph was thrown into a pit. "So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe and they took him and threw him into the cistern" [Genesis 37:17-224].

Tel Dothan is located on the southern end of the valley, and was already an impressive Canaanite walled city in the time of Abraham. Thousands of years later, during the Six-Day War, it was the site of a bitter battle between Jordanian and Israeli troops. The site has been surveyed, but lacks any substantial excavation to date.