Editing Gibeah (section)

==== Archaeology ====
Tell el-Ful was first excavated in 1868 by [[Charles Warren]], while C.R. Conder described the remains in 1874. [[William F. Albright]] led his first excavation from 1922 to 1923, and returned for a second season in 1923. His work was published in 1960. P.W. Lapp conducted a six-week [[rescue archaeology|salvage excavation]] in 1964. According to Kenneth Kitchen, "Upon this strategic point was found an [[Iron Age|Iron I]] occupation replaced (at an interval) by a fortress ("I"), subsequently refurbished ("II"), and then later in disuse. The oldest level may reflect the Gibeah of {{Bibleverse|Judges|19-20|HE}}. The excavations by Albright, checked by Lapp, would favor the view that it was Saul who built the first fortress, later repaired by him or David. The first fort (quadrangular) had at least one rectangular corner-tower at its southwest angle; it may have had others at the other corners, but no traces were detected."<ref>Kenneth Kitchen, ''On the Reliability of the Old Testament'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), p. 97.</ref>

The site was once more inhabited around the start of the [[Hellenistic period]], and its wall was once more in service. The citadel underwent repairs as well in the second century BCE. At the end of the second century BCE, the site was abandoned.<ref>{{Citation |last=Halpern-Zylberstein |first=Marie-Christine |title=The Archeology of Hellenistic Palestine |date=1990-03-22 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/CBO9781139055123A005/type/book_part |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism |pages= |editor-last=Davies |editor-first=W. D. |access-date=2023-03-19 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/chol9780521219297.002 |isbn=978-0-521-21929-7 |editor2-last=Finkelstein |editor2-first=Louis|url-access=subscription }}</ref>