Back in the 1950s, an army gasoline station was built alongside the Bedouin market in Be'er Sheva. In the earth that was extracted from the pits that were dug for the underground storage tanks, pottery and figurines were found dating to the Iron Age, during which time the Judean Kingdom dominated the area. Most of the findings - figurines of the Canaanite goddess Ashtoret (Astarte), clay lamps and storage jugs - were thought to be eighth century BCE, the time of the reign of King Hezekiah. The prevailing wisdom - then and now - is that biblical Be'er Sheva was in fact seven kilometers away, at Tel Be'er Sheva. A fortified settlement was unearthed at the tel, complete with residential buildings, public buildings and a defense system. Peter Fabian, an archaeologist with the Antiquities Authority and Ben-Gurion University, disputes the theory. He argues that the biblical Be'er Sheva was in the area between today's Bedouin market and the northern bank of Nahal Be'er Sheva.

The city was not encompassed by any wall or other fortifications, and occupied an area of 30 dunams (7.5 acres). The city had residential buildings, workshops, granaries and cisterns, and its occupants were farmers, merchants and craftsmen. The settlement was established on the north bank of Nahal Be'er Sheva, on a flat expanse of land that was relatively rich in water, at least in comparison to the surrounding desert environment, and was ringed by small satellite settlements.

In the opinion of Fabian and additional archaeologists, a settlement called Sheva existed at Be'er Sheva. Here were clustered the administration and governmental institutions of Be'er Sheva. The two settlements are listed alongside one another in the book of Joshua, chapter 15. (The location of Sheva has remained unknown to researchers, who believed that biblical Be'er Sheva is on the site of Tel Be'er Sheva.) Relations between the two settlements were apparently similar to those between other settlements with similar names that were not far away from one another, such as Ashdod and Ashdod-Yam, or Yavneh and Yavneh-Yam.


View: Full Article | Source: Haaretz Daily