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<< Our Photo Pages >> Ziklag - Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel

Submitted by motist on Monday, 08 July 2019  Page Views: 937

Multi-periodSite Name: Ziklag Alternative Name: Tel Al Rai
Country: Israel
NOTE: This site is 4.875 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Kiriat Gat  Nearest Village: Lachish
Latitude: 31.590708N  Longitude: 34.819855E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Ziklag
Ziklag submitted by motist : Ziklag (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel

Biblical City of Ziklag Where Philistines Gave Refuge to David Found, Researchers Claim .
Finds from the Philistine period and 10th century B.C.E., the time of King David, signal Khirbet al-Rai as the site of Ziklag and place boundaries on the kingdom he ruled
By Ruth Schuster and Nir Hasson Jul 08, 2019
The biblical town of Ziklag may have been found, a team of Israeli and Australian archaeologists announced on Monday. The ruins were found near the southern town of Kiryat Gat in Israel and have been dated to the early 10th century B.C.E. – the time associated with King David. If they're right, it would bolster the theory that David was more than just a local hilltop chieftain as some researchers claim, and support the theory that he indeed ruled over a united kingdom in the area of Judea, say the researchers, from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia. But the kingdom doesn't seem to have been the mighty entity in antiquity that some envision.
Ziklag is mentioned in the Books of Joshua and Samuel as a Philistine town abutting the city of Gath (after which the modern city of Kiryat Gat is named).
this context, the archaeologists point out that the very name Ziklag stands out in the biblical record because it isn’t Semitic or Canaanite, but apparently a Philistine one. Apropos of that, recent genetic studies on skeletons discovered in a Philistine cemetery in Ashkelon, on Israel’s coast, have proved once and for all who these mysterious Philistines were: They originated in Europe.

Storage jars found at Khirbet al-Rai, believed to be the biblical town of Ziklag Excavation expedition to Khirbet a-Ra‘i
The time of King David
According to the Hebrew Bible, when the youthful David fell into disfavor with King Saul, who allegedly tried to spear him, he fled to the Philistines. The Philistine king Achish of Gath allowed David to move to Ziklag, which, according to the biblical narrative, became a base for him to build up his forces.

Some argue that David preferred to live at a distance from the accommodating Achish in order to keep his activities secret and to hide the fact that he wasn’t really beholden to the Philistine monarch. In any event, the future Israelite king's decision to seek sanctuary with the Philistines is one of the stranger episodes in the Bible. The story that before seizing the throne, David and his men allied with the Philistine enemy to fight against their own people, the Israelites, has provoked much argument, with apologists suggesting that the young warrior was actually deceiving Achish and did not truly act against the interests of Israel. This camp cites as evidence David’s apparently brutal forays against other enemies: the Amalekites and the people of Geshur and Gezer.
For his part, David also experienced loss as the Amalekites, nomads from the south, attacked Ziklag in his absence:
"David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines... it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid upon the South, and upon Ziklag ... and had taken captive the women and all that were therein, both small and great." 1 Samuel 29:11-30.2
What seems to be clear from the Bible is that it from Ziklag that David departed for Hebron where he was anointed king.
Science vs. scripture

Storage jars found in Tel al-Rai, identified as Ziklag משלחת חפירות חורב
These days, even the “minimalist camp” of biblical archaeologists, which is not guided by scripture but by their scientific discipline, agree that David did actually exist – along with, by extension, King Saul, David's nemesis, and King Solomon, his son. During turbulent eras such as theirs, it is also possible that David could have taken refuge in Ziklag. Still, we have never known exactly where this town lay.

Excavating, very carefully, at Tel a-Rai Excavating, very carefully, at Tel a-Rai
Over the years archaeologists have suggested no less than 12 potential sites in the south-central regions of Israel as the biblical Ziklag. Now, after seven seasons of excavation, Prof. Joseph Garfinkel of Hebrew University, Saar Ganor of the Antiquities Authority, and Prof. Dr. Kyle Keimer and Dr. Gil Davis of Macquarie University, Australia, believe they’ve found it, at a site called Khirbet al-Rai (or Arai) in the Judean foothills, between Kiryat Gat and Lachish. hirbet al-Rai, the researchers explain, is the only one of the sites where there is evidence of continuous occupation. Moreover, remains of both a Philistine community and of a settlement from the era of King David have been discovered there. Specifically, Carbon 14 tests show Khirbet al-Rai dating to the 10th century B.C.E. – King David's time. The Philistine settlement has been dated to the 12th and 11th centuries B.C.E, and the relevant finds include massive, spacious stone structures, and ceramics unique to the Philistines in foundation deposits ־ such as bowls and an oil lamp, albeit no skeletons of enemies. The archaeologists also report finding stone and metal artifacts similar to finds from the same period in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron and Gath – all major Philistine cities.
Above the Philistine remains at the Khirbet al-Rai dig was the later stratum associated with King David; findings show that there was an intense fire that destroyed many of the structures of that era. Excavations here have yielded dozens of intact vessels looking remarkably like the ones discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafa, identified as biblical Sha’arayim, and also excavated by Garfinkel and Ganor.
ased on the excavations at Lachish and now at Tel Arai, Garfinkel and Ganor argue that David, ruling from Jerusalem, controlled a not-large area between that city, Hebron and Qeiyafa – and these were the only fortified cities in his kingdom, they believe. The kingdom also held sway over a dozen to 20 unfortified villages and a nomadic population, as well.
“That was the composition of the population,” Garfinkel told Haaretz. “I estimate that it had no more than 5,000 residents, about 2,000 in the cities and 2,000 in the villages and another thousand Bedouin, nomads. This is the realistic picture I see of the Kingdom of David. Later King Rehoboam would fortify Lachish and the kingdom would grow a little more.”
So in the early days of King David, Garfinkel and Ganor now suggest, the hilltop cities of Ziklag and Sha’arayim marked the western frontier of the kingdom, controlling trade routes linking the Philistines and Judeans. Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Elah Valley was opposite Gath, and Khirbet Arai sits opposite Ashkelon – a site from which it was possible to keep an eye on the Philistines.
As King David laments, following the deaths of his nemesis King Saul and his beloved son, Jonathan, who were killed by the Philistines: “Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon.”

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Ziklag
Ziklag submitted by motist : Ziklag (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ziklag
Ziklag submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ziklag
Ziklag submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ziklag
Ziklag submitted by motist (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ziklag
Ziklag submitted by motist

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