Search

[German Version] Plans of excavated settlements show that urban life was an intermittent cyclical phenomenon. The peasant population of ancient Palestine preferred to live in villages close to their ¶ fields. City life and the related long distances for transport conflicted with essential interests of the peasant population, and must be seen as a strategy of adaptation to social and environmental constraints. As a cultural phenomenon towns are centers with functionally important institutions for the community, providing poli…

[German Version] ʿʿ(1 hectare) lies at the mouth of Nahal Hebron, where it joins Nahal Beer-Sheba. The earliest settlement dates from Iron I (strata IX–VIII, pit dwellings and storage pits, late 11th to early 10th cent. bce). Stratum VII (part of a wave of settlement in the Beer-Sheba Valley and Negeb plateau, early Iron IIA, late 10th cent.) is a ring of houses surrounding an open area. Following an interphase (stratum VI), the first fortified city was built (stratum V, with a solid wall, glacis, double gate, water system, all re…

[German Version] Located on the northern edge of the Beer-Sheba, Arad was a fortified city with far-reaching trade connections during Early Bronze II; after a gap of 1400 years it was resettled in the 11th century as a small enclosed settlement (stratum XII). In the 10th century (or later?) a fortress (approx. 50 × 50m) was erected but destroyed and rebuilt six times in Iron Age …