Tel Arad

It was first identified in modern literature in 1841 by Edward Robinson in his Biblical Researches in Palestine, on account of the similarity of the Arabic place name, Tell 'Arad, with the Arad in the Book of Joshua.*{{cite book|last1=Robinson |first1=Edward |author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar) |last2=Smith |first2=Eli |author-link2=Eli Smith |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine|year=1841|publisher=Crocker & Brewster|page=473|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLZNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA473}} *See also Tell 'Arâd in Robinson's [https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft/page/114/mode/1up name list]{{cite book |last=van de Velde |first=Charles William Meredith |author-link=Charles William Meredith van de Velde |title= Narrative of a Journey Through Syria and Palestine in 1851 and 1852 |year= 1854 |publisher=W. Blackwood and Sons |pages= 84– |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HMklz1nAl0sC&pg=PA84}}

Elitsur observes that although the site remained uninhabited for the last 1,100 years, the name has endured, preserved by nomads.{{Cite book |last=Elitzur |first=Yoel |title=Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land: Preservation and History |publisher=The Hebrew University Magness Press; Eisenbrauns |year=2004 |location=Jerusalem; Winona Lake, Virginia |pages=49}}

The lack of Middle and Late Bronze Age remains seems to invalidate the identification with biblical, i.e. Canaanite Arad.Negev & Gibson (2001), pp. 42-44. On the other hand, the two Hebrew ostraca containing the name Arad confirm the site as being the Iron Age, i.e. Israelite Arad. One theory trying to solve the problem suggests that "the Negev of Arad" was only the name of the surrounding region at the time, with no city in existence. A second theory places Canaanite Arad at {{ill|Tel Malhata|fr|Tel Malhata}}, {{cvt|8|mi|km}} southwest of Tel Arad, where archaeologists found substantial Middle Bronze Age fortifications. An argument in favour of the latter theory is Pharaoh Sheshonk's list of captured cities, with one "Arad the House of YRHM", possibly at Tel Arad and referring to the settling there of Jerahmeelite families, and another "Great Arad" (possibly Tel Malhata) towering over the "Negev of Arad".

Tel Arad is positioned on the northern edge of the southern Israeli Beersheba–Arad Valley,"The Fortress Mound at Tel Arad..." defined by scholars as "the eastern (biblical) Negev", the Hebrew Bible using the term Negev only for the northern part of the region known today by that name.{{cite book |last= Beit-Arieh |first= Itzhaq |chapter= Introduction: Settlement |title= Tel Ira: a stronghold in the biblical Negev in the Eastern Negev |year= 1999 |series= The Emery and Clare Yass Publications in Archaeology: Monograph Series of the Institute of Archaeology |publisher= Tel Aviv University |number= 15 |isbn= 965-440-008-1 |chapter-url=http://mondrian.tau.ac.il/humanities/archaeology/publications/pub_mon15.html |access-date= 11 May 2024}}

This east-west oriented valley was a convenient route for caravans during periods of sustained commercial activity.Herzog (2002), p. 8.

The water supply was first ensured by a system of harvesting rainwater and its runoff built during the Early Bronze Age, and later by a well; archaeologists disagree on whether the well was already dug by the Early Bronze Age settlers or only during the Iron Age.Herzog (2002), p. 3.

Stratum V: The site is divided into a lower section and an upper section on a hill. In the Late Chalcolithic (c. 4000 BCE), the lower section was settled for the first time.Ruth Amiran et al. (1978), Early Arad: the Chalcolithic settlement and Early Bronze city. Volume 1: "First-fifth seasons of excavations, 1962-1966", Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.Ruth Amiran et al. (1996), Early Arad, The Chalcolithic and Early Bronze IB Settlements and the Early Bronze II City: Architecture and Planning, Volume II: "Sixth to Eighteenth Seasons of Excavations, 1971-1978, 1980-1984", Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, {{ISBN|978-9652210319}}. It was an open settlement, i.e., lacking fortifications.

For the subdivisions of the Bronze Age, see here, and for an overview for this region here.

In the Early Bronze Age (EBA), Tel Arad (Strata IV-I) was occupied in the EBA I–II and took part in the Beersheba Valley copper trade. In general Tel Arad lies in a drier region where frequencies of human activity depended upon oscillations toward wetter climate conditions.

The Early Bronze IB (EB IB, c. 3300/3200–3050/3000 BCE) saw the Stratum IV city flourishing. There was an amount of Egyptian pottery found indicating trade.

Climate. The Southern Levant during the EB IB was dominated by very humid climate conditions.Langgut et al. In the northern part of the Southern Levant there were higher levels of arboreal Mediterranean tree pollen and olive pollen. This was a proto-urban period where settlements spread and population grew, also spreading human activity into the Negev region.{{cite journal |last1=Regev |first1=J. |last2=de Miroschedji |first2=P. |last3=Greenberg |first3=R. |last4=Braun |first4=E. |last5=Greenhut |first5=Z. |first6=Elisabetta |last6=Boaretto |year=2012 |title=Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology |journal=Radiocarbon |volume=54 |issue=3-4 |doi=10.1017/S003382220004724X}}

File:The Arad House 1.JPG "Arad house" type, Tel Arad, c. 3,000–2,650 BCE. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.]]

The Early Bronze II (c. 3050/3000–2750/2700 BCE) saw a large fortified city, with rich remains contained in Stratum III (EB IIA) and II (EB IIB).{{cite journal |last1= Regev |first1= Johanna |last2= Paz |first2= Sarit |last3= Greenberg |first3= Raphael |author-link3= Raphael Greenberg |last4= Boaretto |first4= Elisabetta |year= 2019 |title= Radiocarbon chronology of the EB I–II and II–III transitions at Tel Bet Yerah, and its implications for the nature of social change in the southern Levant |journal= Levant |volume= 51 |issue= 1 |pages= 54–75 |doi= 10.1080/00758914.2020.1727238}}{{cite journal |last1= Finkelstein |first1= Israel |author-link1= Israel Finkelstein |last2= Adams |first2= Matthew J. |last3= Dunseth |first3= Zachary C. |last4= Shahack-Gross |first4= Ruth |year= 2018 |title= The Archaeology and History of the Negev and Neighbouring Areas in the Third Millennium BCE: A New Paradigm |journal= Tel Aviv |volume= 45 |issue= 1 |pages= 63–88 |doi= 10.1080/03344355.2018.1412054}}

• Stratum III (EB IIA) was an urban town with city wall, palace, sacred precinct, public buildings, and reservoir. It was destroyed around 2800 BCE.
• Stratum II (EB IIB) saw Tel Arad quickly rebuilt. The material culture was the same as Stratum III.

The Early Bronze III (c. 2750–2350 BCE) saw Arad abandoned. This may have been associated with the rise of central trading sites in the Negev Highlands related to the copper industry in the Arabah and trade towards Egypt in the Old Kingdom.Finkelstein et al. (2018), pp. 63–88.

• Stratum I: a sparse settlement in the ruins of the city of Stratum II. Abandoned by around 2650 BCE.

Herzog's 2002 interim report adopts the now better accepted "low chronology", lowering by a century most of the dates previously proposed for the Iron Age by adherents of the "biblical archaeology" approach:Herzog (2002), p. 10. this is also the base chosen here for this section.

With the Late Bronze Age collapse, the fall of the Egyptian New Kingdom during the 20th Dynasty saw its control over polities in the Southern Levant decline.

After a 1,500-years-long period of abandonement, the northeastern hill, the highest elevation on the margin of the destroyed Bronze Age city, was settled again during the 10th-9th centuries BCE (Iron Age IIA).Herzog (2002), pp. 4, 11, 14. The village there made use of broadroom Bronze Age house remains, while also buiding new dwellings.

In the 9th century BCE, after the apparent evacuation of the villagers, a fortress was built on the mound. It went through a cycle of destruction and - as it seems - immediate recontruction totalling six phases over a timeframe of 260 years, until the early 6th century BCE, until the time when Judah was crushed by the Babylonians.

Aharoni, thoroughly updated by Herzog, distinguished 13 occupation strata on the "fortress mound":

• Stratum XIII (mid-3rd millennium BCE): poorly preserved Early Bronze Age city remains
• Stratum XII (Iron Age IIA-IIB, 10th-9th centuries BCE): probably a site used by pastoral nomads, turning into a small village of the permanent "enclosed settlement" typeHerzog (2002), p. 17.
• Strata XI-VI (Iron Age IIB-IIC, 9th-6th centuries BCE), during the Kingdom of Judah): a fortress going through six (re)construction phases
• Strata V–III: forts from the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman periods, preserving the military purpose of the siteHerzog (2002), p. 11.

The ancient settlement period was again interrupted, with two more strata to follow much later:

• Stratum II (Early Muslim period): a waystation, which continues the defensive tradition of the earlier fortresses
• Stratum I: Bedouin burial site used during the Late Arab period of the last millennium

The site was resettled in the second half of the 10th - first half of 9th century BCE by a small number of people, c. 80-100, the Stratum XII village eventually taking the shape of an oval "enclosed settlement" with 20 to 25 dwellings set wall to wall around a courtyard probably serving as a sheep pen.Herzog (2002), pp. 19-21. The enclosure only had one exit on the east, toward the depression in the earlier "Lower City" which again served for collecting water. Herzog, writing in 2002, categorically distances himself from earlier interpretations which were motivated by a literal acceptance of the biblical narrative down to its details, typical for the "biblical archaeology" approach practiced until the 1980s, and refutes with thorough arguments the existence of any ritual site at this early date.Compare to following publication from 1984, in which he had participated: {{cite journal |last= Herzog |first= Ze'ev |author-link1=Ze'ev Herzog |last2= Aharoni |first2= Miriam |last3=Rainey |first3=Anson F. |author-link3=Anson Rainey |last4= Moshkovitz |first4= Shmuel |title= The Israelite Fortress at Arad |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |pages=1–34 |number= 254, Spring 1984 |jstor= 1357030 |year= 1984 |doi= 10.2307/1357030 |s2cid= 201427922 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/1357030 |url-access= subscription }}

File:Tel Arad DSC03799 (9).JPG

Tel Arad became a fortified stronghold of the Kingdom of Judah.

• Stratum XI: A Judahite casemate fortress is built (2nd half of 9th century BCE), the first in a series of six.Aharoni, Yohanan (1966). "Hebrew Ostraca from Tel Arad", Israel Exploration Journal vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1–7. Dates adapted according to Herzog (2002) p. 12, to "low chronology".
• Stratum X: The fortress sees improvements with solid walls and a towering gate (mid-8th century BCE).
• Stratum IX: 2nd half of 8th century BCE.
• Stratum VIII (2nd half of 8th c.): A short-lived stratum ending with the destruction caused by Sennacherib in 701 BCE.
• Stratum VII: At the end of the 7th century BCE, Edomites might have destroyed the fortress.
• Stratum VI (late 7th - early 6th c. BCE): The last Judahite fortress destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

;Ostraca

{{main|Arad ostraca}}

Between 1962 and 1964, some 200 ostraca (inscribed pottery sherds) were excavated.{{harvnb|Pike|2020|p=203|ps=: About two hundred inscriptions were discovered at Arad in excavations carried out from 1962 to 1964, most of them ostraca.}}; {{harvnb|Aharoni|1968|p=9|ps=: over 200 ostraca were found}} 107 of them are in ancient Hebrew, written using the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet and dated to circa 600 BCE (Stratum VI). Of the ostraca dated to later periods, the bulk are written in Aramaic and a few in Greek and Arabic.{{harvnb|Pike|2020|p=203|ps=: One hundred and seven of the inscriptions from Arad are written in Hebrew, ... The bulk of the re-maining Arad inscriptions are ostraca written in Aramaic (fifth to fourth century B.C.), with a few later inscriptions in Greek and Arabic.}};{{harvnb|Kershner|2016|ps=: composed in ancient Hebrew using the paleo-Hebrew alphabet}} Most of the Hebrew ostraca consist of everyday military correspondence between the commanders of the fort and are addressed to Eliashib, thought to be the fort's quartermaster.{{sfn|Kershner|2016}} One ostracon mentions a "house of YHWH", which some scholars believe is a reference to the Jerusalem temple.{{harvnb|Pike|2020|p=205}}; {{harvnb|King|Stager|2001|p=314}}; {{harvnb|Dever|2001|p=212}} With them was found a partial ostracon inscribed in hieratic Egyptian script, similarly dated. The supplies listed included south-Egyptian barley and animal fats (vs the wheat and olive oil in the Hebrew ostraca).Yeivin, S. (1966). "A Hieratic Ostracon from Tel Arad". Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 153–59. In 1967 an ostracon was found with text written in a combination of intermingled hieratic and Hebrew-Phoenician signary, without being a bilingual text .Yeivin, S. (1969). "An Ostracon from Tel Arad Exhibiting a Combination of Two Scripts". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 55, pp. 98–102. Page 98 accessible w/o restrictions [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030751336905500112 here] (June 2025).

;Temple

File:Arad Debir 2.jpg of temple, with two incense pillars and two stele, one dedicated to Yahweh, and one most likely to Asherah]]

The Tel Arad temple was uncovered by archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni during the first excavation season in 1962. He spent the rest of his life investigating it, and died prematurely in 1976 before publishing the excavation results.

In the holy of holies of this temple two incense altars and two possible stele or massebot or standing stones were found.{{cite journal |last1=Arie |first1=Eran |last2=Rosen |first2=Baruch |last3=Namdar |first3=Dvory |date=28 May 2020 |title=Cannabis and Frankincense at the Judahite Shrine of Arad |journal=Tel Aviv |volume=47 |pages=5–28 |publisher=Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University |doi= 10.1080/03344355.2020.1732046 |s2cid= 219763262 |url-access= subscription |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03344355.2020.1732046}}

Unidentified dark material preserved on the upper surface of the two altars was submitted for organic residue analysis, with several cannabis derivates being detected on the smaller altar: THC, CBD, and CBN. The residue on the large altar contained many chemicals associated with frankincense. While the use of frankincense for cultic purposes is well-known, the presence of cannabis was novel, if not shocking. It represents the "first known evidence of hallucinogenic substance found in the Kingdom of Judah." It has also been noted that hemp cloth is extremely rare in the Iron Age Levant, the only occurrence in an archaeological context being a piece of very fine hemp textile found on a loom at a site further up north in the Jordan Valley, in a probably cultic complex containing the Deir Alla inscription, where it is thought to have been woven for the goddess Shagar. The complex most likely dates to the 2nd half of the 9th century BCE, being destroyed by an earthquake around 800 BCE.{{cite web |last= Boertien |first= Jeannette H. |title= Asherah and textiles |website= academia.edu |year= 2007 |page= 4 |url=https://www.academia.edu/8580086/Asherah_and_Textiles |access-date= 7 June 2025}}{{cite journal |last=Steiner |first=Margreet |title=Iron Age Cultic Sites in Transjordan |journal=Religions |publisher=MDPI AG |volume=10 |issue=3 |date=2019-02-27 |page=145 |issn=2077-1444 |doi=10.3390/rel10030145 |doi-access=free}}

Stratum V: The settlement belonging to the Persian period.

Stratum IV (Hellenistic): It is believed that several citadels were built one upon the other and existed in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Herod even reconstructed the lower city for the purpose of making bread.{{dubious|... or actually ridiculous. Agricultural...?|date=July 2019}} The site lasted until the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt 135 CE.

Tel Arad lay in ruins for 500 years until the Early Muslim period, when the former Roman citadel was rebuilt and remodeled by some prosperous clan in the area and functioned for 200 years until around 861, when there was a breakdown of central authority and a period of widespread rebellion and unrest. The citadel was destroyed and no more structures were built on the site.

File:Tell Arad in the Survey of Western Palestine 1880.25 (cropped).jpg , 1880]]

Tel Arad was excavated during 18 seasons, first between 1962 and 1967, with further excavations lasting until 1984, the lower area by Ruth Amiran and the mound by Yohanan Aharoni.Yohanan Aharoni and Ruth Amiran, "Excavations at Tel Arad: Preliminary Report on the First Season, 1962", Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 131-147, 1964Aharoni, Y. "Excavations at Tel Arad: Preliminary Report on the Second Season, 1963." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 17, no. 4, 1967, pp. 233–49

Due to Y. Aharoni's premature death, the final report for that excavation was still in progress as of 2022. An additional 8 seasons were done on the Iron Age water system.{{cite journal |last= Talis |first= Svetlana |title= Tel 'Arad: Final Report |journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel |year= 2015 |volume= 127 |via= HA-ESI website, posted 27/08/2015 |isbn= 0826413161 |url=https://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=22788 |access-date= 9 June 2025}}

• Archaeology of Israel
• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Tourism in Israel
• Tel Arad, Israel, unrecognized Bedouin village near the ancient site

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin|2}}

• {{cite journal

| last = Aharoni | first = Yohanan

| url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/3211023

| title= Arad: Its Inscriptions and Temple

| date = February 1968

| journal = The Biblical Archaeologist

| publisher = University of Chicago Press

| pages = 2–32

| volume = 31

| issue = 1

| doi= 10.2307/3211023

| jstor= 3211023

| s2cid= 166155618

| url-access = subscription

}}

• {{cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel |date=10 May 2001 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-2126-3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC}}
• {{cite journal |last= Herzog |first= Ze'ev |author-link= Ze'ev Herzog |journal=Tel Aviv |title= The Fortress Mound at Tel Arad: An Interim Report |year= 2002 |publisher=Tel Aviv University |volume= 29 |number= 1 |pages= 3-109 |via=academia.edu |url=https://www.academia.edu/resource/work/23190918 |access-date= 8 June 2025}}
• {{cite web |last=Kershner |first=Isabel |title=New Evidence on When Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists |website=The New York Times |date=11 April 2016 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/world/middleeast/new-evidence-onwhen-bible-was-written-ancient-shopping-lists.html |access-date=9 December 2020}}
• {{cite book |last=King |first=Philip J. |title=Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion |pages=57– |date=15 April 1993 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-22443-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7xZ-HUcAEP8C&pg=PA57}}
• {{Cite book

|last1=King

|first1=Philip J.

|last2=Stager

|first2=Lawrence E.

|title=Life in Biblical Israel

|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press

|year=2001

|isbn=978-0-664-22148-5

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtOhypZz_pEC&pg=PAxxiii

}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |last= Negev |first= Avraham |author-link= Avraham Negev |last2= Gibson |first2= Shimon |author-link2= Shimon Gibson |title= Arad (Tel) |encyclopedia= Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land |year= 2001 |location= New York and London |publisher= Continuum |pages= 42-44 |isbn= 0826413161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l3JtAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Arad |access-date= 8 June 2025}}
• {{cite journal |last=Pike |first=Dana M. |title=Israelite Inscriptions from the Time of Jeremiah and Lehi |journal=Faculty Publications |date=4 February 2020 |url= https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/3697 |access-date=2 December 2020}}
• {{cite web |title= The Fortress Mound at Tel Arad: Excavated by Yohanan Aharoni from 1962 to 1967 |year= 2022 |publisher= The Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications, Harvard University, The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East |place= Cambridge, MA |url=https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/fortress-mound-tel-arad-excavated-yohanan-aharoni-1962-1967 |access-date= 8 June 2025}}

{{refend}}

• [https://en.parks.org.il/reserve-park/tel-arad-national-park/ Tel Arad National Park] official wrbsite. Accessed 27 May 2025.
• [https://madainproject.com/tel_arad_temple Tel Arad Temple], detailed illustrated article at Madain Project. Re-accessed 27 May 2025.
• [http://holyland-pictures.com/tag/negev/arad/ Photos of Tel Arad] {{dead link|date= May 2025}}

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