[German version]

Place in the eastern Negev (Nm 21,1; 33,40; Jos 12,14; Judges 1,16), mentioned in a source other than the Bible, by the Pharaoh Shoshenk (c. 920 BC) in a list of towns; first settled around 3000-2650 BC. In the 9th cent. BC, a fortress with a sanctuary was built on the tell and repeatedly destroyed. In the 1st cent. BC, a Roman fort belonged to the Herodianic Limes Palaestinae. A. is a site of significant finds for ostraka with inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic.

Liwak, Rüdiger (Berlin)