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<< Other Photo Pages >> Khirbet Qeiyafa - Ancient Village or Settlement in Israel

Submitted by Andy B on Tuesday, 15 March 2011  Page Views: 5063

DigsSite Name: Khirbet Qeiyafa Alternative Name: Elah Fortress
Country: Israel Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Bait Shemash  Nearest Village: Elah Valley
Latitude: 31.696300N  Longitude: 34.957500E
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
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data 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.
no data 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
4

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Khirbet Qeiyafa
Khirbet Qeiyafa submitted by motist : Khirbet Qeiyafa The jar following restoration in the Israel Antiquities Authority laboratories. . (photo credit:COURTESY OF TAL ROGOVSKY (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Settlement in Israel

Khirbet Qeiyafa, recently proposed as the biblical Sha'arayim (English:Shaaraim), is a 10th century BCE Israelite royal fortress now an archaeological site overlooking the Elah Valley where, according to the Biblical account, David fought Goliath. It was a key location in the kingdom of Judah along the main road from Philistia and the Coastal Plain to the eastern Hill Country.

The site is understood to have been a Judean city occupied for a period of only about 20 years in the tenth century BCE, before being destroyed. The tenth century is the period ascribed to the kingdoms of David and Solomon. The site is dated by pottery styles and by two burned olive pits tested for carbon-14 at Oxford University and found to date from between 1050 and 970 B.C., the period most scholars consider to be during the reign of King David. The excavations were carried out by archaeologists Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor of the Hebrew University beginning in 2007.

A 15 cm x 16.5 cm trapezoid pottery sherd (ostracon) with five lines of text written in ink was discovered at the site in 2008 during excavations carried out by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel. The inscription cannot be dated directly, but according to the New York Times article noting the discovery, C14 dating tests on two burnt olive pits place the date of the site, and hence by inference the ostracon, to between 1050-970 BCE.

The inscription is written in the Proto-Canaanite alphabet. It is written on the ostracon in ink (not inscribed or scratched into the surface) and the ink had faded to varying degrees, making the letters difficult to read.

Read more at Wikipedia

See also the Khirbet Qeiyafa archaeological project
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Khirbet Qeiyafa
Khirbet Qeiyafa submitted by motist : Khirbet Qeiyafa THE JAR following restoration in the Israel Antiquities Authority laboratories. (Courtesy of Tal Rogovsky) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Khirbet Qeiyafa
Khirbet Qeiyafa submitted by motist : Khirbet Qeiyafa The following letters appear from right to left: aleph, shin, bet, ʽayin, lamed. (Courtesy of Tal Rogovsky) (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Flickr
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Khirbet Qeiyafa" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: Khirbet Qeiyafa by Andy B on Tuesday, 15 March 2011
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Submitted by coldrum ---

Prof. Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa who deciphered the inscription: "It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research."

A breakthrough in the research of the Hebrew scriptures has shed new light on the period in which the Bible was written. Prof. Gershon Galil of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa has deciphered an inscription dating from the 10th century BCE (the period of King David's reign), and has shown that this is a Hebrew inscription. The discovery makes this the earliest known Hebrew writing. The significance of this breakthrough relates to the fact that at least some of the biblical scriptures were composed hundreds of years before the dates presented today in research and that the Kingdom of Israel already existed at that time.

The inscription itself, which was written in ink on a 15 cm X 16.5 cm trapezoid pottery shard, was discovered a year and a half ago at excavations that were carried out by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel at Khirbet Qeiyafa near the Elah valley. The inscription was dated back to the 10th century BCE, which was the period of King David's reign, but the question of the language used in this inscription remained unanswered, making it impossible to prove whether it was in fact Hebrew or another local language.

Prof. Galil's deciphering of the ancient writing testifies to its being Hebrew, based on the use of verbs particular to the Hebrew language, and content specific to Hebrew culture and not adopted by any other cultures in the region. "This text is a social statement, relating to slaves, widows and orphans. The content itself was also unfamiliar to all the cultures in the region besides the Hebrew society: The present inscription provides social elements similar to those found in the biblical prophecies and very different from prophecies written by other cultures postulating glorification of the gods and taking care of their physical needs," Prof. Galil explains. He adds that once this deciphering is received, the inscription will become the earliest Hebrew inscription to be found, testifying to Hebrew writing abilities as early as the 10th century BCE.

Prof. Galil also notes that the inscription was discovered in a provincial town in Judea. It can be assumed that those inhabiting the central region and Jerusalem were even more proficient writers. "It can now be maintained that it was highly reasonable that during the 10th century BCE, during the reign of King David, there were scribes in Israel who were able to write literary texts and complex historiographies such as the books of Judges and Samuel." He adds that the complexity of the text discovered in Khirbet Qeiyafa, along with the impressive fortifications revealed at the site, refute the claims denying the existence of the Kingdom of Israel at that time.

The contents of the text express social sensitivity to the fragile position of weaker members of society. It appeals to care for the widows and orphans and that the king be involved. This inscription is similar in its content to biblical scriptures (Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, Exodus 23:3, and others), but it is clear that it is not copied from any biblical text.

For more, see http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/uoh-mah010710.php and http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Forum&file=viewtopic&forum=1&topic=3766
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