Edge Rewrite
pun Source code View original
Jump to content

// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Tel Yarmuth say to its friend? You're a mound above the rest.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tel Yarmuth
Tel Yarmouth
Tel Yarmuth is located in Israel
Tel Yarmuth
Location within Israel
31°42′36″N 34°58′48″E / 31.71000°N 34.98000°E / 31.71000; 34.98000
Typesettlement
PeriodsBronze Age
CulturesEarly Dynastic Period
LocationIsrael
Grid position
147/124 PAL
History
Builtcirca 3000 BC
Abandoned3rd millennium BC
Site notes
Area18 ha (44 acres)
Excavation dates1970, 1980-2009, 2016-2017
ArchaeologistsAmnon Ben-Tor, Pierre de Miroschedji, Amir Golani, Omer Shalev
ConditionRuined
OwnerPublic
Public accessYes

Tel Yarmuth (also Tel Yarmouth, Tell Yarmuk, Tell Yarmuth, Tell Yarmouth, and Tel Yarmut; Hebrew name) or Khirbet Yarmuk (Arabic name) is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Israel located 25 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem and near modern Beit Shemesh. It is a large primarily single-period (EB II/III) site and has been suggested as possibly being the city of Jarmuth, being only a tentative identification, as it is based solely on the similarity of the Hebrew name with the Arabic name and its areal location.[1][2]

History

[edit]

Early Bronze Age

[edit]
Early Bronze Age vessel found at Tel Yarmuth

The Early Bronze Age I settlement is known only from pottery and a single basalt spindle whorl. Assumed EB I remains are under meters of occupational overburden and have therefore not been excavated. The entire site including the lower town was heavily occupied in the Early Bronze (EB) II and III periods.[3][4][5] The site was abandoned around 2400 BC, during EB III and only saw sporadic small levels of occupation on the acropolis alone.[6]

The Early Bronze II and III periods monumental construction began including the large "White Building", a plastered masonry broad-room temple with a side altar. In EB II a small palace was constructed (B1), termed a "proto-palace by the excavators, measuring 1750 square meters. In EB IIIA a large palace (B2) was built measuring 6000 square meters was built on top of the first palace. This palace was destroyed in the EB IIIB period.[7] At its peak the city had massive sophisticated fortifications and a large main city gate (Area E). The first city wall (Wall A) was made of stone, was 6 meters deep and is preserved to 4 meters in height and a glacis added to its exterior. A larger wall (Wall B) was later added 20 meters outside of that built of cyclopean construction. The fortifications were subsequently improved even further by filling in the area between the two walls.[4][5] A number of EB III flint Canaanite blades, believed to be used as sickle inserts or in threshing, were found.[6]

Early Bronze period material from Tel Yarmuth has been radiocarbon dated (calibration - IntCal09) and is being used to support the contention that EB III ended around 2500 BC. Samples tested were "3 from Final EB IB, 15 from EB II, and 19 from EB III". Results were Final EB IB to EB II transition between 3030 and 2960 BC, EB II to EB III transition between 2980 and 2910 BC.[8][9][10]

Plant remains from EB II and EB III showed numerous remains from olive cultivation and processing (no plant remains from EB I are yet available for study). In an area of the Lower City an installation with paved floors, pithoi, basins, basalt grinding stones and calcareous mortars was found, thought to have been used for olive processing. Similar installations have been found at Beth Yerah and other contemporary sites.[11] [12][13]

Middle Bronze

[edit]

The acropolis was lightly re-occupied, based on potsherd finds, in the Middle Bronze IIA.

Late Bronze Age

[edit]

The site saw some occupation on the acropolis in the Late Bronze Age II. It included 13th century BC Mycenaean and Cypriot sherds. The only other epigraphic find was a hoe with a partial hieroglyphic inscription in a hoard of bronze objects, mostly fragmentary. They were dated to the time of the 19th Dynasty (12th century BC) and may not be in their original context.[6]

Iron Age

[edit]

Somewhat more substantial building occurred on the acropolis in Iron I times. Finds from that period included a 2nd-century BC jar handle with a yršlm (Jerusalem) stamp.[14][15] The yršlm stamp was intitially thought to have been in use 257‒221 BC contemporary with Ptolemy III Euergetes and high priest Onias II however later scholarship changed that to the early 2nd century BC, during the early days of the Hasmonean dynasty which was founded in 165 BC. Single yršlm stamps have been found at 16 site, 34 at Ramat Raḥel, and 61 at and near Jerusalem.[16]

Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods

[edit]

No Hellenistic or Roman periods records of Yarmuth have survived, although potsherds from the Roman period have been discerned. Some Early Byzantine era terraces and potsherds were found in the lower town area.[17]

Archaeology

[edit]
Tel Yarmuth

The site is about 18 hectares (44 acres) in extent. The high point, 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres) in area, lies on the eastern side with a lower town extending to the west. The site is roughly 640 by 420 meters.[18]

The mound, then known as Khirbet Yarmuk, was visited by French archaeologist Victor Guérin in 1863.[18] American archaeologist Frederick J. Bliss, who visited the site at the start of the 20th-century, remarked seeing interior walls of a building that were 4 feet and 6 inches thick in diameter, and that early Roman and Arab potsherds could be seen there.[19] A survey of the site was conducted by Adam Druks in 1963.[20] A. Ben-Tor conducted a sounding there in 1970 on behalf of the Hebrew University.[21]

Tel Yarmuth was excavated between 1980 and 2009 by Pierre de Miroschedji under the auspices of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

Beginning in the 1990s the Beit Shemesh area underwent a period of rapid development which endangered the archaeological site, especially in Ramat Beit Shemesh. In order to protect the site it was declared a national park and excavations were conducted by a team led by Amir Golani and Omer Shalev under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority in 2016 and 2017 in preparation for public access. Work focused on a palace are (Palace B1) and a domestic area to the southeast of the palace (Area J). Vandalism, mainly at the EB II monumental gateway (Area E), was repaired. Fifteen squares were also openned in an area that would be destroyed by construction in Neighborhood D of Ramat Bet Shemesh.[29][30][31][32]

Excavators have established an occupational periodization for Tel Yarmuth:[33][34]

  • Early Bronze Age IB - 3300–3100 BC - unfortified village
  • Early Bronze Age II - 3100–2700 BC - urban center with two fortification walls and glacis
  • Early Bronze Age III - 2700–2300 BC - 6,000 square meter palace, are between walls filled
  • Hiatus
  • Middle Bronze Age II - 17th/16th century BC - minor level of occupation
  • Hiatus
  • Late Bronze Age to Byzantine - acropolis only

Jarmuth

[edit]

The only possible record for Jarmuth for this time-period (c. 539–331 BC) is taken from the Hebrew Bible, specifically the account of Nehemiah who returned with the Jewish exiles from the Babylonian captivity, during the reign of Artaxerxes I (r. 465-424 BC). According to Ezra, the acclaimed author of the book, some of these returnees had settled in Jarmuth, as shown in Nehemiah 11:25–29 of the Hebrew Bible. The political entity that was established in Judea at the time was that of a vassal state, as Judea became a province of the Persian Empire, governed by a satrap.[35]

In the Hebrew Bible, Joshua 15:33–36, Jarmuth is mentioned along with the cities Adullam and Socho as occupying a place in the Land of Canaan, in the region geographically known as the Shefelah, or what is a place of transition between the mountainous region and the coastal plains. Also in the Hebrew Bible, Joshua 12:7–11, the king of Jarmuth was slain by Joshua and the Israelites during their conquest of the land of Canaan.

In the late 8th-century BC (ca. 700 BC), Jarmuth was in the territorial domain belonging to king Hezekiah of Judah. In the 14th-year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib of Assyria (r. 705-681 BC) embarked on his third military campaign, this time against the cities of the Levant, including against the king of Sidon and against Jerusalem in Judah, where King Hezekiah was besieged, based on 2 Kings 18:137 in the Hebrew Bible. Many of the king's important cities in Judah were at that time taken by Sennacherib and given over to other potentates faithful to Sennacherib. Although Jarmuth is not specifically named in the prism (Sennacherib's Annals) detailing Sennacherib's exploits, it can be assumed by the account that the city did not go unscathed:

"As for Hezekiah, the Jew, who did not submit to my yoke, forty-six of his strong, walled cities, as well as the small cities in their neighborhood, which were without number...I besieged and took. Two-hundred thousand, and one-hundred and fifty people, great and small, male and female, horses, mules, asses, camels, cattle and sheep, without number, I brought away from them and counted as spoil. Himself, like a caged bird, I shut up in Jerusalem his royal city... The cities of his, which I had despoiled, I cut off from his land and to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, [and to] Padi, king of Ekron, [and to] Silli-bel, king of Gaza, I gave. And (thus) I diminished his land."[36]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Aharoni, Y. (1979). The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography (2 ed.). Philadelphia: Westminster Press. p. 437. ISBN 0664242669. OCLC 6250553. (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute, Jerusalem (1962))
  2. ↑ Robinson, Edward (1856). Biblical Researches in Palestine. Vol. II. Boston: Crocker and Brewster. p. 17 (note 2).
  3. ↑ Eliot Braun, Edwin C. M. van den Brink, Ram Gophna, and Yuval Goren, "New Evidence for Egyptian Connections During a Late Phase of Early Bronze Age I from the Soreq Basin in South-Central Israel", Samuel R. Wolff (ed), Studies in the Archaeology of Israel and Neighboring Lands in Memory of Douglas L. Esse, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 59, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, pp. 59-98, 2001 ISBN 1-885923-15-5
  4. 1 2 P. de Miroschedji, "The Early Bronze Age Fortification System at Tel Yarmuth, an Interim Statement", EI 20, pp. 48-61, 1990
  5. 1 2 P. de Miroschedji., "The Early Bronze Age Fortifications at Tel Yarmut – An Update", Publication Name: Eretz-Israel, Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies, vol. 33 (Stager Volume), 2018
  6. 1 2 3 P. de Miroschedji "The Late EB III Palace at Tel Yarmuth: A Descriptive Summary", Eretz-Israel, vol.27, pp.153–170, 2003
  7. ↑ Vieweger, Dieter, "The Early Bronze Age I-III (3600---2300 BC)", Early and Middle Bronze Age. (Strata 25-17), edited by Dieter Vieweger and Jutta Häser, Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, pp. 15-156, 2019
  8. ↑ J. Regev-P. de Miroschedji-E. Boaretto, "Early Bronze Age Chronology. Radiocarbon Chronological Models from Tel Yarmuth (Israel)", Radiocarbon 54, pp. 505-524, 2012
  9. ↑ Regev, J., de Miroscedji, P., Greenberg, R., Braun, E., Greenhut, Z., and Boaretto, E., "Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the South Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology, Radiocarbon", 54(3-4), pp. 525-566, 2012
  10. ↑ Regev, Johanna, et al., "Wiggle-matched 14C chronology of Early Bronze Megiddo and the synchronization of Egyptian and Levantine chronologies", Ägypten Und Levante / Egypt and the Levant, vol. 24, 20, pp. 241–64, 2014
  11. ↑ Salavert, Aurélie, "Olive Cultivation and Oil Production in Palestine during the Early Bronze Age (3500—2000 B.C.): The Case of Tel Yarmouth, Israel.", Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, vol. 17, pp. S53–61, 2008
  12. ↑ Salavert, Aurélie, "Plant Economy at Early Bronze Age Tel Yarmouth (Israel)", 14th Symposium of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, 2007
  13. ↑ D. L. Esse, "Subsistence, Trade, and Social Change in Early Bronze Age Palestine", Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 50, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1991 ISBN 0-918986-66-4
  14. ↑ Lipschits, Oded, Gadot, Yuval, Arubas, Benjamin and Oeming, Manfred, "Third Building Phase (Late 6th or 5th Century BC)", What Are the Stones Whispering?: Ramat Raḥel: 3,000 Years of Forgotten History, edited by Oded Lipschits, Yuval Gadot, Benjamin Arubas and Manfred Oeming, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 98-116, 2017
  15. ↑ Richardson, H.N., "A Stamped Handle from Khirbet Yarmuk", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 192.1, pp. 12–16, 1968
  16. ↑ Bocher, Efrat, and Oded Lipschits, "The yršlm stamp impressions on jar handles: Distribution, chronology, iconography and function", Tel Aviv 40.1, pp. 99-116, 2013
  17. ↑ P. de Miroschedji, "Yarmuth: The Dawn of City-States in Southern Canaan", Near Eastern Archaeology, 62(1):2, March 1999 DOI : https://doi.org/10.2307/3210719
  18. 1 2 Guérin, V., "Description géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine. Premiere partie.", Judée. 3 volumes. Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1869
  19. ↑ Bliss, F.J. (1900). "First Report on the Excavations at Tell ej-Judeideh" (PDF). Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement. 32 (2). London: Palestine Exploration Fund: 98., (s.v. Tell Yarmûk)
  20. ↑ Druks, A., "Survey of Tel Yarmut", Hadashot Arkheologiyot 5:20-21, 1963 (Hebrew)
  21. ↑ Ben-Tor A., "Two Burial Caves of the Proto-Urban Period at Azor, 1971; The First Season of Excavations at Tell-Yarmuth", 1970 (Qedem 1). Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1975
  22. ↑ P. de Miroschedji, "Yarmouth 1. Rapports sur les trois premières campagnes de fouilles à Tel Yarmouth (Israël) (1980-1982)", Syria, 67-2 pp. 523-524, 1990
  23. ↑ P. de Miroschedji, "Tel Yarmut, (1992)", Excavations and Surveys in Israel 14, pp. 105-108, 1994
  24. ↑ P. de Miroscheddji, "Tel Yarmut, 1992", IEJ42, pp. 265–72, 1992
  25. ↑ P. de Miroschedji, "Fouilles de Tel Yarmouth: résultats des 11e, 12e et 13e campagnes de fouilles (1996-1999)", Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 144.2, pp. 679-710, 2000
  26. ↑ P. de Miroschedji,"Tel Yarmut, 1997", IEJ, vol. 48, pp. 136–144", 1998
  27. ↑ P. de Miroschedji, "Fouilles de Tel Yarmouth: Résultats des travaux de 2003 à 2009 (14th-18th campagnes)", Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 157e année, N. 2, pp. 759-796, 2013
  28. ↑ Jasmin, Michaël, and Pierre de Miroschedji, "Fouilles de Tel Yarmouth (1980-2009). Rapport final. Volume 1: Les fouilles sur l’acropole.", (Peeters: Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement 56, 2020) ISBN 9789042939967
  29. ↑ Sivan Mizrahi et al., "Tel Yarmut, Site 203A: Preliminary Report.", Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 129, 2017"
  30. ↑ Shalev, Omer, and Amir Golani, "Tel Yarmut: Preliminary Report.” Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 130, 2018. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26691759
  31. ↑ Shadman, Amit, "Ramat Bet Shemesh—Statutory Intervention in the Service of Archaeology in an Urban Environment", 'Along the Road to Bet Shemesh' (I Samuel 6:12): Archaeological Studies of the Ramat Bet Shemesh Region, edited by Ofer Sion et al., Israel Antiquities Authority, pp. 1–16, 2023
  32. ↑ Shalev, Omer, "Bet Shemesh, Ramat Bet Shemesh D2: Final Report", Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israelל, vol. 129, 2017
  33. ↑ Sebag D, "Les habitats au Bronze Ancien au Levant sud", Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem 16, pp.20–44, 2005
  34. ↑ Shalev, Omer, et al., "Telling the Story of the Early Bronze Age—Developing the Archaeological Park at Tel Yarmut", “Along the Road to Bet Shemesh” (I Samuel 6:12): Archaeological Studies of the Ramat Bet Shemesh Region, edited by Omer Shalev et al., Israel Antiquities Authority, pp. 87–108, 2023
  35. ↑ Lester L. Grabbe, "A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period – Vol 1: A History of the Persian Province of Judah", 2004 ISBN 978-0-567-08998-4
  36. ↑ Luckenbill, D.D. (1924). James Henry Breasted (ed.). The Annals of Sennacherib. Vol. 2. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 32–33. OCLC 610530695. (Reprint 2005)

Further reading

[edit]
  • Connan, Jacques, et al., "Bitumens from Tell Yarmuth (Israel) from 2800 BCE to 1100 BCE: A unique case history for the study of degradation effects on the Dead Sea bitumen.", Organic Geochemistry 168, 2022
  • Greenfeld, Haskel J., Annie Brown, and Pierre de Miroschedji, "Origins of metallurgy in the southern Levant: Microscopic examination of butchering marks on animal bones at Tel Yarmuth, Israel", Themes in old world zooarchaeology: From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, pp. 95-107, 2021
  • Jasmin, M., "L’étude de la transition du Bronze récent II au Fer I en Palestine méridionale", Oxford: BAR Publishing, 2006
  • Jasmin, M., "The Political Organization of the City-States in Southwestern Palestine in the Late Bronze Age IIB (13th Century bc)", in “I Will Speak the Riddles of AncientTimes”: Archaeological and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday, eds. A. M. Maeir, and P. D. Miroschedji, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pp. 161–91, 2006
  • Kermorvant, Alain, and Pierre de Miroschedji, "Tell Yarmuk (Tel Yarmuth): Pospection Géophysique", Revue biblique 92.3: 403-404, 1985
  • Levy-Reifer, Ayelet and Paz, Itzhak, "Tel Yarmouth, its Environs and their Reflection on the Urban Landscape of the Shephelah in the Early Bronze Age III", Tell it in Gath. Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel. Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday, hrsg. v. Itzhaq Shai (Ägypten und Altes Testament 90)., pp. 77–99, 2018
  • Manclossi Francesca, Rosen Steve A., De Miroschedji Pierre, "The Canaanean Blades from Tel Yarmuth, Israel: A technological analysis", Paléorient, vol. 42, n°1. pp. 49–74, 2016 DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.2016.5693
  • Miroschedji P. de, "Yarmouth 1: Rapport sur les trois Premières campagnes de fouilles à Tel Yarmouth (Israël) (1980–1982)", Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, Mémoire 76, Paris, 1988
  • Miroschedji, P. de., "Tell Yarmuk (T. Yarmuth), 1981-1984", Revue Biblique Jérusalem 92.3, pp. 394-404, 1985
  • Miroschedji, Pierre de, "Fouilles récentes à Tel Yarmouth, Israël (1989-1993)", Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 137.4, pp. 823-847, 1993
  • Miroschedji, Pierre de, "Données nouvelles sur le Bronze ancien de Palestine: les fouilles de Tel Yarmouth", Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 132.1, pp. 186-211, 1988
  • de Miroschedji, Pierre, "Tell Yarmouth, un site du Bronze ancien en Israel", Paléorient, vol. 6, pp. 281–86, 1980 doi:10.3406/PALEO.1980.4282
  • Paz, Y., Mizrahi, S., and Grossman, L., "Ancient Fields: An EB III Case Study from Tel Yarmuth", New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region, 9, pp. 91–98, 2015
  • Paz, Yitzhak, et al., "An early bronze age fertilized agricultural plot discovered near Tel Yarmouth, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15, pp. 226-234, 2017
  • Roux, Valentine, "Wheel fashioned ceramic production during the third millennium BCE in the southern Levant: a perspective from Tel Yarmuth", Techniques and people: anthropological perspectives on technology in the archaeology of the proto-historic and early historic periods in the Southern Levant, pp. 195-212, 2009
[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tel_Yarmuth&oldid=1368720650"