תל ערד | |
 Aerial view of the Israelite fortress | |
 .svg.png.webp){kind=icon} Shown within Israel | |
| Location |  Israel |
|---|---|
| Region | Negev |
| Coordinates | 31°16′52″N 35°7′34″E / 31.28111°N 35.12611°E |
| Site notes | |
| Archaeologists | Yohanan Aharoni, Ruth Amiran |
| Public access | National Park |
Tel Arad (Hebrew: תל ערד), in Arabic Tell 'Arad (تل عراد), is an archaeological tell, or mound, located west of the Dead Sea, about 10 kilometres (6 miles) west of the modern Israeli city of Arad in an area surrounded by mountain ridges which is known as the Arad Plain. The site is divided into a lower city and an upper section on a hill.
Excavation led to discoveries including cultic cannabis use.
The lower Canaanite settlement and the upper Israelite citadel are now part of the Tel Arad National Park, which has begun projects to restore the walls of the upper and lower sites.
Proposed identification
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 Harad in the Book of Joshua.[1][2]
Archaeology
.jpg.webp)
The upper and lower areas of Tel Arad were excavated during 18 seasons by Ruth Amiran and Yohanan Aharoni between 1962 and 1984.[3][4] An additional 8 seasons were done on the Iron Age water system.[5]
History
Chalcolithic
The lower area was first settled during the Chalcolithic period, around 4000 BCE. [6][7]
Early Bronze Age: Canaanite settlements
In the Early Bronze, Tel Arad was occupied in the Early Bronze I–II and took part in the Beersheba Valley copper trade.
The Early Bronze I saw Tel Arad Stratum III.
The Early Bronze II saw rich remains at Tel Arad Stratum II.[8][9]
It was abandoned in the EB III 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.[10]
Iron Age: Israelite settlement
The site was only resettled by Israelites from the 11th century BCE onwards,[11] initially as an unwalled area defined as an official or sacred domain was established on the upper hill, and then later as a garrison-town or citadel.
Israelite fort ostraca
In the 3rd season of excavation, over 100 ostraca (inscribed pottery shards) written in Hebrew, dated to the 7th century BC were found in stratum VI of the fort at Arad.[12][13] Most of these consist of everyday military correspondence between the commanders of the fort and are addressed to Eliashib, thought to be the fort's quartermaster.[14] One ostracon mentions "house of YHWH" which some scholars believe is a reference to the Jerusalem temple.[15] With them was found a partial, hieratic ostracon, similarly dated. The supplies listed included south-Egyptian barley and animal fats (vs the wheat and olive oil in the Hebrew ostraca).[16] Later an ostracon was found with text in both hieratic and Hebrew-Phoenician signary, both not a bilingual text.[17]
Israelite temple and Cannabis Discovery
.JPG.webp)
The temple at Arad was uncovered by archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni in 1962 who spent the rest of his life investigating it, dying there in the mid-1970s.
In the holy of holies of this temple two incense altars and two possible stele or massebot or standing stones were found. Unidentified dark material preserved on their upper surfaces was submitted for organic residue analysis and THC, CBD, and CBN (which derive from cannabis) were detected on the smaller altar. The large one had many chemicals associated with frankincense. While the use of frankincense for cultic purposes is well-known, the presence of marijuana was novel, if not shocking. it represents the "first known evidence of hallucinogenic substance found in the Kingdom of Judah."[18]
Hellenistic and Roman periods
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. The site lasted until the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt 135 CE.
Muslim conquest to Abbasid period
Tel Arad lay in ruins for 500 years until the Early Islamic 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.
See also
References
- ↑ Edward Robinson; Eli Smith (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine. Crocker & Brewster. pp. 473–. See also Tell Arad in Robinson's name list
- ↑ Charles William Meredith van de Velde (1854). Narrative of a Journey Through Syria and Palestine in 1851 and 1852. W. Blackwood and Sons. pp. 84–.
- ↑ 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, 1964
- ↑ Aharoni, Y. "Excavations at Tel Arad: Preliminary Report on the Second Season, 1963." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 17, no. 4, 1967, pp. 233–49
- ↑ Talis, Svetlana. "Tel 'Arad: Final Report." Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 127, 2015
- ↑ Ruth Amiran et al., "Early Arad : the Chalcolithic settlement and Early Bronze city. Volume 1, First-fifth seasons of excavations, 1962-1966", Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1978
- ↑ Ruth Amiran et al., "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, 1996, ISBN 978-9652210319
- ↑ Johanna Regev, Sarit Paz, Raphael Greenberg, Elisabetta Boaretto (2019). "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." Levant 51:1, pages 54–75.
- ↑ Israel Finkelstein, Matthew J. Adams, Zachary C. Dunseth, Ruth Shahack-Gross (2018). "The Archaeology and History of the Negev and Neighbouring Areas in the Third Millennium BCE: A New Paradigm." Tel Aviv 45:1, pp. 63–88, DOI: 10.1080/03344355.2018.1412054.
- ↑ Finkelstein et al. (2018). pp. 63–88.
- ↑ Herzog, Ze'ev; Aharoni, Miriam; Rainey, Anson F.; Moshkovitz, Shmuel (1984). "The Israelite Fortress at Arad". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (254, Spring 1984): 1–34. doi:10.2307/1357030. JSTOR 1357030. S2CID 201427922.
- ↑ Yohanan Aharoni, "Hebrew Ostraca from Tel Arad", Israel Exploration Journal vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1-7, 1966
- ↑ Pike 2020, p. 203.
- ↑ Kershner 2016.
- ↑ Pike 2020, p. 205; King & Stager 2001, p. 314; Dever 2001, p. 212
- ↑ Yeivin, S. (1966). "A Hieratic Ostracon from Tel Arad". Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 153–59.
- ↑ Yeivin, S. (1969). "An Ostracon from Tel Arad Exhibiting a Combination of Two Scripts". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 55, pp. 98–102.
- ↑ Arie, Eran; Rosen, Baruch; Namdar, Dvory (28 May 2020). "Cannabis and Frankincense at the Judahite Shrine of Arad". Tel Aviv. Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. 47: 5–28. doi:10.1080/03344355.2020.1732046. S2CID 219763262.
Sources
- Pike, Dana M. (4 February 2020). "Israelite Inscriptions from the Time of Jeremiah and Lehi". Faculty Publications. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
- Kershner, Isabel (11 April 2016). "New Evidence on When Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
- King, Philip J. (15 April 1993). Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 57–. ISBN 978-0-664-22443-1.
- King, Philip J.; Stager, Lawrence E. (2001). Life in Biblical Israel. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22148-5.
- Dever, William G. (10 May 2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-2126-3.
