Tel Arad

Tel Arad (Template:Langx) or Tell 'Arad (Template:Langx) is an archaeological tell, or mound, located west of the Dead Sea, about Template:Convert west of the Israeli city of Arad in an area surrounded by mountain ridges which is known as the Arad Plain. The site is about 10.1 ha (25 acres).

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.<ref name=Robinson>Template:Cite book See also Tell Arad in Robinson's name list</ref><ref name=Velde>Template:Cite book</ref>

Elitsur observes that although the site remained uninhabited for 1,100 years, the name has endured, preserved by nomads.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

Chalcolithic

Stratum V: The site is divided into a lower city and an upper section on a hill. In the Late Chalcolithic (c. 4000 BCE), the lower city was settled for the first time.<ref>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</ref><ref>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</ref>

Early Bronze Age

For the subdivisions of the Bronze Age, see Bronze Age#Near East Bronze Age divisions.

In the Early Bronze Age, Tel Arad (Strata IV-I) was occupied in the Early Bronze 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.

Early Bronze IB

The Early Bronze IB (c. 3300/3200–3050/3000 BCE) the city of Tel Arad Stratum IV flourished. 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.<ref>Langgut et al.</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Early Bronze II

File:The Arad House 1.JPG

Ceramic model of a house of the "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 rich remains at Tel Arad Stratum III (EB IIA) and II (EB IIB).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

• 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.

Early Bronze 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.<ref>Finkelstein et al. (2018). pp. 63–88.</ref>

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

Iron Age

File:Arad Debir 2.jpg

Holy of holies of temple, with two incense pillars and two stele, one dedicated to Yahweh, and one most likely to Asherah

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

Iron Age IB

Stratum XII: The site was resettled from the 11th century BCE onwards,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.Template:Citation needed

Iron Age II

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

• Stratum XI: In Iron IIA (10th century BCE) a Judahite casemate fortress was built. This fortress would be rebuilt six times.
• Stratum X: The fortress saw improvements with solid walls and a towering gate in the 9th century BCE.
• Stratum IX: 8th century BCE.
• Stratum VIII: 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: The last Judahite fortress destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. In the 3rd season of excavation, over 100 ostraca (inscribed pottery shards) written in Hebrew, dated to the 7th century BCE were found in stratum VI of the fort at Arad.<ref>Yohanan Aharoni, "Hebrew Ostraca from Tel Arad", Israel Exploration Journal vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1–7, 1966</ref>Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn One ostracon mentions "house of YHWH", which some scholars believe is a reference to the Jerusalem temple.<ref>Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref> 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).<ref>Yeivin, S. (1966). "A Hieratic Ostracon from Tel Arad". Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 153–59.</ref> Later an ostracon was found with text in both hieratic and Hebrew-Phoenician signary, both not a bilingual text.<ref>Yeivin, S. (1969). "An Ostracon from Tel Arad Exhibiting a Combination of Two Scripts". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 55, pp. 98–102.</ref>

Temple and Cannabis use

File:Tel Arad DSC03799 (9).JPG

Stratum X gate of Arad Fortress

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 cannabis was novel, if not shocking. It represents the "first known evidence of hallucinogenic substance found in the Kingdom of Judah."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Cannabis has been found at another religious archaeological site, Deir Alla, as hemp fibre.<ref name="Steiner 2019 p. 145">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Persian period

Stratum V: The settlement belonging to the Persian period.

Hellenistic and Roman periods

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.{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }} 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.

Excavations

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

Tell Arad in the PEF Survey of Western Palestine, 1880

The upper and lower areas of Tel Arad were excavated during 18 seasons by Ruth Amiran and Yohanan Aharoni between 1962 and 1984.<ref>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</ref><ref>Aharoni, Y. "Excavations at Tel Arad: Preliminary Report on the Second Season, 1963." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 17, no. 4, 1967, pp. 233–49</ref> An additional 8 seasons were done on the Iron Age water system.<ref>Talis, Svetlana. "Tel 'Arad: Final Report." Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 127, 2015</ref>

See also

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

References

Sources

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External links

• Tel Arad National Park official wrbsite. Accessed 27 May 2025.
• Tel Arad Temple, detailed illustrated article at Madain Project. Re-accessed 27 May 2025.
• Photos of Tel Arad Template:Dead link