Archaeological tell in Israel
Tel Zayit (Hebrew: תל זית, Arabic: Tell Zeita, Kirbat Zeita al Kharab[1]) is an archaeological tell in the Shephelah, or lowlands, of Israel, about 30 km east of Ashkelon.
The site had previously been known as the Arab village of Zayta; its population was moved 1.5 km north during the period of Mandatory Palestine, and depopulated by Israel’s Givati Brigade in 1948.[2]
History
The site, roughly 0.8-acre (0.32 ha), shows evidence of human settlement throughout the Late Bronze Age, and Iron Age I and II. The city was destroyed by fire twice, in 1200 BCE and the ninth century BCE. Hazael of Aram may have been the military leader who ordered the destruction of the city in the ninth century BCE.[citation needed] The Arameans' siege tactics are known from the Zakkur stele, which records that Hazael's son, called Ben-Hadad, employed spectacular siege warfare against his enemies. The Hebrew Bible records that Hazael devastated cities in the Shephelah during the ninth century BCE, including the Philistine city of Gath.[3][non-primary source needed] The similar siege and destruction in 9th century BCE of Tell es-Safi, a nearby site usually identified as Gath, has been cited by archaeologists as possible evidence of Hazael's campaign.[4][5]
Work at Tel Zayit began with a preliminary survey in 1998 by a Pittsburgh Theological Seminary team led by Ron Tappy.[6]
During the 2005 season, archaeologists discovered the Zayit Stone among the ruins of a fire dating to the tenth century BC. Alternatively, a 9th-century BC date has been suggested.[7] The stone includes an inscription identified by some scholars as an abecedary, among the oldest ever discovered.[8]
See also
References
- ^ Survey of Palestine, Map 12: Hebron, 1:100,000, 1941–1946
- ^ Walid Khalidi, "All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948," page 227. Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington D.C. 1992. Quote: "The village stood on a hill 1 km north of Wadi Zayta. It was linked by a dirt track to ‘Iraq al-Manshiyya, which was located on a highway that ran from east to west between the city of al-Majdal on the coast and Bayt Jibrin. The old Zayta (Khirbat Zayta al-Kharab, 133115) was located 1.5 km south of this village on the southern bank of the wadi. (Because the wadi's stagnant waters bred insects and diseases, the population was moved during the Mandate to the new site.)"
- ^ 2 Kings 8:12
- ^ Maeir, A., and Ehrlich, C. "Excavating Philistine Gath - Have We Found Goliath's Hometown?" in Biblical Archaeology Review 27(6): 22–31. 2001
- ^ Maeir, A. "The Historical Background and Dating of Amos VI 2: An Archaeological Perspective from Tell es-Safi/Gath," Vetus Testamentum 54(3):319–334. 2004.
- ^ Tappy, Ron E., "The 1998 Preliminary Survey of Khirbet Zeitah el-Kharab (Tel Zayit) in the Shephelah of Judah," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 319, pp. 7–36, 2000
- ^ Finkelstein, Israel; Sass, Benjamin, & Singer-Avitz, Lily. "Writing in Iron IIA Philistia in the Light of the Tẹ̄l Zayit/Zētā Abecedary," Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, Bd. 124, H. 1, pp. 1–14, 2008
- ^ Tappy, Ron E., McCarter, P. Kyle, Lundberg, Marilyn J., & Zuckerman, Bruce. "An Abecedary of the Mid-Tenth Century B.C.E. from the Judaean Shephelah," BASOR 344(November): 5-46. 2006.
Further reading
- Ron E. Tappy and P. Kyle McCarter, Literate Culture and Tenth-century Canaan: The Tel Zayit Abecedary in Context, Eisenbrauns, 2008, ISBN 1-57506-150-3
External links
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Tel Zayit.
