khirbet qeiyafa

8/14/2019 Khirbet Qeiyafa

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Khirbet QeiyafaAn Early Iron IIa Fortified City in Judah

Yosef Garfinkel (Hebrew University) & Saar Ganor (IAA)


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V. Guerin: 1869

C.R. Conder & H.H. Kitchener: 1883

Y. Dagan: 1992

Z. Greenhut: 2001

Yosef Garfinkel & Saar Ganor 2007-2008

History of Research

Thanks

J.B. SilverBerman Center for Biblical Archaeology

Foundation Stone

Curtis and Mary Brenan Foundation


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Azekah

Socoh

Qeiyafa


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View from Qeiyafa to the Elah valley


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The city wall


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Area: 2.3

hectares

City wall:

700 mlong

Sitemap


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Area B


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Schematic plan of Area B (Iron Age)1

2

3

45


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Casemate city wall

200,000 tons of stones


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A fourchamber

gate


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Two buildings (dwellings?)


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Stone Massebah

Upside down in wall


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Steps leading into Building 2


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Ostracon


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1. The longest

Proto-CanaaniteInscription ever

found

2. The earliest

Hebrew inscription

Known to date

3. A letter


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The pottery

A complete absence of

late Philistine bichromepottery, that is known at

Qasile X (see plate) or

Miqne IV.

When the citywas built?


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The

characteristic

pottery of

Khirbet Qeiyafa:

Early Ashdod

Ware


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Complete absence of Late Philistine Decorated Ware (Tell Safi)


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4 samples

&

4 samples

Collecting

olive pits

for C14dating


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C14: Four Calibrated Olive pits (Oxford)

* Please note 2 standard deviations: lower as 969 BC at 77.8%


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Low chronology is now officially

dead and buriedLow chronology is now officially

dead and buried


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The methodological problems of

the Low Chronology

Samplestaken from

Northern

sites. NoSamples from

Judah.

Samples from LateIron I, and from later

phases of the Iron

IIa. No samples fromearly Iron IIa. No

samples from

Megiddo Vb.

2. Stratigraphy1. Geography


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Implications for understanding the 10th

century BC

1. Chronology: Iron IIa started at ca. 1000 BC

2. Settlement pattern: fortified city

3. Political organization: centralized

4. Biblical narrative: Between Socoh and Azekah

5. Paleography: spread of alphabetic writing;

literacy in Judah in early 10th century BC.


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Historical Identification ?

Adataim? (Y. Dagan)

Azekah? (S. Ganor)

Sha'arayim? (D. Adams, A. Rainey)

Efes Damim? (Todd Bolen)

Gov? (N. Naaman)

And the answer is . ????


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Area C

Area C

Two working days

In November 6th

& November 7th


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A second gate in Area C, facing Jerusalem


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Khirbet Qeiyafa: the only known city in

Judah or Israel with two gates


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An Iron Age City with two gates??

1. In the city list of Judah's tribal inheritance Sha'arayim

appears after Socoh and Azekah (Jos 15, 36).

2. After David killed Goliath the Philistines run away

through the way to Sha'arayim " (1 Sam 17:52).

3. In the city list of the tribe of Simeon, Sha'arayim is

mentioned as one of the cities unto the reign of David"(1 Chr 4:31)*.

*A scribal error: Sha'arayim (1 Chr 4:31) =

Shilhim (Jos 15:32) = Sharuhen (Jos 19:6)

Sha'arayim


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A. General Arguments:1. Geographical location in Judah

2. Sha'arayim: mentioned in Judah's city list3. Fortified field cities are known only in Judah

4. Casemate city walls are known only in Judah

5. Main entrance facing Jerusalem

B. Material Culture:6. No pig bones

7. Aren Maier: Gath pottery is different8. Petrographic analysis: local Elah valley pottery

9. Hebrew inscription

Why the city is Judean


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Thank You

khirbet qeiyafa

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