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<< Text Pages >> Tel Gath - Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel

Submitted by motist on Wednesday, 19 January 2011  Page Views: 9961

DigsSite Name: Tel Gath Alternative Name: Tell es-Safi, Tel Zafit
Country: Israel Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Kiryat Malakhi  Nearest Village: luzit
Latitude: 31.700717N  Longitude: 34.847355E
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.
 2 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.
 2 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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Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel.
Gath, Gat, or Geth (Hebrew: גַּת‎, Winepress; Latin: Geth) 'Gath of the Philistines' was one of the five Philistine city-states, established in northwestern Philistia.

According to the Bible, the king of the city was Achish, in the times of both David and Solomon. It is not certain whether this refers to two kings of this name or not. Gath was also the home city of Goliath, as well as of Itai and his 600 soldiers who aided David in his exile from Absalom. David, while running from Saul, escaped to Gath, and served under its king Achish. During Solomon's reign, Shemei goes to Gath to return his escaped slave (I Kings 2:39–2:40). In II Kings 12:18, the city of Gath is mentioned as being captured by Hazael of Aram Damascus. Recent excavations at the site have produced dramatic evidence of a siege and subsequent destruction of the site in the late 9th century BC, most probably related to this event.
Gath is also mentioned in the El-Amarna letters as "Gimti/Gintu", ruled by a king Shuwardata, and possibly by Abdi-Ashirti as well.
Tell es-Safi or Tel Zafit (Arabic: تل الصافي‎, Tall aṣ-Ṣāfī; Hebrew: תל צפית‎, Tel Tzafit) are the Arabic and Hebrew names for the ancient mound now identified as Gath, one of the five cities in the ancient Canaanite and Philistine Pentapolis (along with Gaza, Ekron, Ashkelon, and Ashdod). It is a large multi-period site that is located in central Israel, approximately half way between Jerusalem and Ashkelon, on the border between the southern Coastal Plain of Israel and the Judean foothills
More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gath_(city)

http://www.bibleplaces.com/gath.htm
And latest news and Discovery: Philistine Temple Ruins Uncovered in Goliath's Hometown Bar Ilan University archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a Philistine temple in the ancient city of Gath, home of the Biblical Goliath, buried in one of the largest tels (ancient ruin mounds) in Israel. The temple and a number of ritual items dating back to the 10th century BCE were discovered at Tel Tsafit (Tell es-Safit/Gath) by Professor Aren Maeir of BIU's Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology and his international team. The tel is located about halfway between Ashkelon and Jerusalem, near Kiryat Gat along the southern coastal plain. “Interestingly, the architectural design of this temple, with its two central pillars, is reminiscent of the architectural image that is described in the well-known Biblical story of Samson and the Philistines,” Maeir said. He added that the discovery could indicate that the story of Samson reflects a type of temple that was in use in Philistia at the time. More: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138843

Note: New Archeological Device to Determine Origin of Ancient Samples - Used at Goliath's Hometown.
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 8.2km SSE 163° Tel Burna* Ancient Village or Settlement
 8.3km SSE 163° Tel Burna* Ancient Village or Settlement
 8.4km E 91° Tel Azeqa Ancient Village or Settlement
 8.5km N 3° Tel 'Ekron Ancient Village or Settlement
 10.0km SE 139° Tel Goded Ancient Village or Settlement
 10.4km E 93° Khirbet Qeiyafa* Ancient Village or Settlement
 11.9km SSE 157° Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park* Ancient Village or Settlement
 12.5km SSW 192° Ziklag* Ancient Village or Settlement
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 13.7km ESE 122° Tel Burgin* Ancient Village or Settlement
 13.8km E 92° Ramat Beit Shemesh ritual baths* Ancient Village or Settlement
 14.6km E 96° 2,000-year-old ‘Emperor’s Road’ near Beit Shemesh* Ancient Trackway
 14.8km ENE 71° Tel Beth-Shemesh* Artificial Mound
 15.1km S 179° Tel Lachish* Artificial Mound
 18.8km NNE 21° Tel Gezer* Ancient Village or Settlement
 18.9km WNW 289° Tel Ashdod Ancient Village or Settlement
 19.8km SSE 160° Amatzia* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 19.9km WNW 292° Hill of Jonah* Hillfort
 20.3km SSW 213° Tel El-Hesi Ancient Village or Settlement
 20.4km NE 41° Emmaus Ancient Village or Settlement
 28.7km NNW 330° Yavne Yam Ancient Village or Settlement
 28.8km W 262° Tel Ashkelon* Ancient Village or Settlement
 28.8km N 11° Lod Mosaic Ancient Palace
 30.1km ENE 69° Motza Neolithic City* Ancient Village or Settlement
 31.7km SE 128° Cave of the Patriarchs Rock Cut Tomb
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"Tel Gath" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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New Archeological Device to Determine Origin of Ancient Samples by bat400 on Wednesday, 19 January 2011
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The ability to tell the difference between crystals that formed naturally and those formed by human activity can be important to archaeologists in the field. This can be a crucial bit of information in determining the ancient activities that took place at a site, yet archaeologists often wait for months for the results of laboratory tests.

Now, however, an international team of physicists, archaeologists and materials scientists has developed a process that can tell in a matter of minutes the origin of samples thousands of years old. The new device is easily portable and works by "lifting off" the spectral fingerprint of a material with infrared light.

The first material tested was the mineral calcite, commonly found in rocks such as limestone, which forms over millions years in sediments. These rocks can also contain the mineralized shells of sea creatures. Archaeological sites may also feature calcite that was a part of ash, plaster, or other building materials.

In the latest issue of the journal Advanced Materials, on-line today, Stefano Curtarolo, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials sciences and physics at Duke University, and Kristin Poduska, associate professor of physics at Memorial University in Newfoundland, and their colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, describe the new approach, which has already been successfully tested in archeological sites in Israel.

"The key to determining a sample's origin lay in figuring out how well the crystal structure is organized," Curtarolo said. "Naturally occurring calcite crystals are tightly organized, while a material created by humans from calcite is usually far less organized."

However, interpreting the information obtained using traditional methods is time-consuming and tricky, since such factors as particle size and the alignment of the atoms within the crystals can send out conflicting information.

"For this reason, getting useful and reliable information about the sample usually requires careful and time-intensive sample preparation with highly specialized equipment," Poduska said.

The researchers used infrared spectroscopy to take advantage of the fact that different molecular units absorb light differently, yielding distinct spectral peaks, or molecular fingerprints. They put a sample through a series of grindings – sometimes as many as a dozen – while taking detailed infrared spectroscopy readings after each one. By analyzing the absorption peaks at different points in the grinding process, as the particles got smaller and smaller, they could tease out the effects of size and organization.

For example, Curtarolo said, an archaeologist finds a sample and knows that it is calcite, but what cannot be determined at the site is whether it is a naturally occurring mineral, or a building material made of calcite. Plaster is made by heating limestone, grinding it up and mixing it with water.

Last summer, a team of archaeologists and scientists from the Weizmann Institute successfully tested the new approach at an ancient site in central Israel at Tel Safit, close to where David is thought to have slain Goliath.

"Whenever they found something white, they would call us over to do tests," Poduska said. "We were able to confirm whether the sample was rock or plaster, which helps us decide how to proceed at the excavation site."

Thanks to coldrum for the link: For more, see http://www.azom.com.
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Re: Tel Gath by motist on Sunday, 01 August 2010
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More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gath_(city)

http://www.bibleplaces.com/gath.htm

And latest news and Discovery: Philistine Temple Ruins Uncovered in Goliath's Hometown

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/138843

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