Khirbet Qeiyafa

Khirbet Qeiyafa

Khirbet Qeiyafa (or Kiafa) is an archaeological site estimated at 14 hectares located on the northern hills that border the Elah Valley, a key location in the kingdom of Judah along the main road from Philistia and the Coastal Plain to the eastern Hill Country.

The initial excavation of the site by Saar Ganor and Yosef Garfinkel took place from August 12 to 26 in 2007 on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute of Archaeology. They presented a preliminary report at the annual ASOR conference shortly thereafter on November 15th. During this public lecture, they hypothesized that it could be Biblical Azekah, which until then had been exclusively associated with Tell Zakariya.

ite description

The site consists of a lower city of about 10 hectares and an upper city of about 3 hectares surrounded by a massive wall ranging from 2-4 metres tall. At the center of the upper city is a large rectangular enclosure with massive rooms on the south, equivalent to similar enclosures found at royal cities such as Samaria, Lachish, and Ramat Rachel. On the southern slope, outside the city, there are Iron Age rock-cut tombs.

Area "A" extended 5x5 metres & consists of 2 major layers: Hellenistic above, and Iron II below. Area "B" contains 4 squares, about 2.5 metres deep from top-soil to bedrock. Aside from these 2 strata, there were also some small Bronze Age sherds.

The Hellenistic/upper portion of the wall was built with small rocks atop the Iron-II/lower portion consisting of big boulders in a casemate design. Part of a structure identified as a city gate was uncovered, and some of the rocks where the wall meets this gate are estimated at 5 tons.

Controversy

Several peer archaeologists in attendance at the initial presentation of findings from the 2007 season expressed unambiguous disagreement with the possibility that this site could be Azekah, based primarily on the lack of more strata and relatively few artifacts recovered so far.

ee also

Biblical archaeology

External links

* [http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10037&entrynumber=1823 AFOB (Archaeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin) Online Listing for Khirbet Qeiyafa]

* [http://qeiyafa.huji.ac.il Qeiyafa Archaeological Excavations]

* [http://www.antiquities.org.il/about_eng.asp?Modul_id=53 IAA list of Summer 2007 excavations]

* [http://web.bu.edu/asor/AM/abstracts07(final).pdf PDF file containing ASOR 2007 Conference abstracts]

* [http://lmlk.blogspot.com/2007/11/asor-2007-p-6.html Review by an attendee at the ASOR 2007 conference]

* [http://www.elahfortress.com The Elah Fortress website]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Khirbet Qeiyafa — 31° 41′ 47″ N 34° 57′ 26″ E / 31.696442, 34.957156 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Khirbet Qeiyafa — Die Ruinenstätte Khirbet Qeiyafa befand sich während des Altertums im Grenzgebiet zwischen dem antiken Königreich Judäa und dem Land der Philister. In dieser Region, beim Tal Elah, soll nach biblischer Überlieferung David gegen Goliath gekämpft… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ostracon de Khirbet Qeiyafa — L ostracon de Khirbet Qeiyafa, est un ostracon découvert en juillet 2008[1] par l équipe de Yosef Garfinkel[2], sur le site de Khirbet Qeiyafa en Israël. Khirbet Qeiyafa était une ville fortifiée de la Shéphélah ( bas pays ), entre les… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ostraca de Khirbet Qeiyafa — Cet ostraca est un morceau de poterie découverte sur le site de Khirbet Qeiyafa le 8 juillet 2008. Il porte une inscription à l encre en partie effacée. Cependant on peut encore y lire certains mots « אל תעש » (ne fait pas),… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sha'arayim — 31° 41′ 47″ N 34° 57′ 26″ E / 31.696442, 34.957156 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Shaarayim — Sha arayim 31° 41′ 47″ N 34° 57′ 26″ E / 31.696442, 34.957156 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Données archéologiques sur les premiers écrits en hébreu ancien — Pour consulter un article plus général, voir : Israël antique. Il s agit ici de situer l apparition des premiers écrits en hébreu ancien, ainsi que l époque de l alphabétisation de la population du royaume de Juda et du royaume d Israël.… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Large Stone Structure — Part of the large stone structure. The Large Stone Structure is the name given to the remains of a large public building in the City of David neighborhood of central Jerusalem, south of the Old City, tentatively dated to 10th to 9th century BCE.… …   Wikipedia

  • Données archéologiques sur David et Salomon — Les données archéologiques sur l époque de David et de Salomon, qui font l objet de cet article, sont constituées uniquement de ce qui est, à l heure actuelle, attesté[1], à l exclusion des interprétations plus générales que chaque archéologue… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • City of David — City of David, Holyland Model of Jerusalem Tourist inside Hezekiah s tunnel 20 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”