# Tell Beit Mirsim > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tell_Beit_Mirsim > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tell_Beit_Mirsim.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Beit_Mirsim > Source revision: 1354340097 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Archaeological site in Israel}} [[Image:Astela from Tel Beit Mirsim.jpg|thumb|right|150px|A [stela](/source/stela) from Tell Beit Mirsim]] thumb|250px|Position of Tell Beit Mirsim among other Bronze and Early Iron Age tells in the area '''Tell Beit Mirsim''' is an [archaeological site](/source/archaeological_site) in central [Israel](/source/Israel), on the border between the lowlands of [Shfela](/source/Shfela) and [Mount Hebron](/source/Mount_Hebron). It is located in the eastern region of [Lachish](/source/Tel_Lachish) about 20 kilometers southwest of [Hebron](/source/Hebron) and about 13 kilometers southeast of Lachish. == Excavations == The site was initially excavated for four seasons (1926, 1928, 1930 and 1932) by [William F. Albright](/source/William_F._Albright).W. F. Albright, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1354857?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents ''The Fourth Joint Campaign of Excavation at Tell Beit Mirsim''], ''Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research'', No. 47 (Oct., 1932), pp. 3-17. The excavation revealed 10 or 11 strata dating from the late 3rd millennium BC to around 589 BC. The site is of particular importance for the archeology of Israel, since the ceramics in the individual layers were observed particularly well and published quickly. This pottery corpus has long been considered the standard for archeology in the region. :"The strict separation of earth layers, or archaeological sediments, also allowed the strict separation of ceramic assemblages".Herr, Larry G. (2002), [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270360033 "W.F. Albright and the History of Pottery in Palestine".] ''Near Eastern Archaeology'' 65.1 (2002), 53. [Gustaf Dalman](/source/Gustaf_Dalman) examined the ruin in the early 20th-century and described what he saw there as installations used in the production of [olive oil](/source/olive_oil_extraction), a view later corroborated by Israeli archaeologist David Eitam.{{cite book |last=Frankel |first=Rafael |contribution=Ancient Oil Mills and Presses in the Land of Israel |title=History and Technology of Olive Oil in the Holy Land|editor=Etan Ayalon|translator=Jay C. Jacobson |publisher=Eretz Israel Museum and Oléarus editions |location=Tel Aviv, Israel |year=1994 |pages=37, 39 |language=en |isbn=0-917526-06-6}} The Hebrew University of Jerusalem led further excavations in 2023 and 2024, uncovering a [four-room house](/source/Four-room_house) and an olive oil press.{{Cite journal |last=Kreimerman |first=Igor |last2=Weissbein |first2=Itamar |last3=Broers |first3=Pnina Torn |last4=Naveh |first4=Ofer |date=March 2023 |title=In the Footsteps of Albright: The Renewed Excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/723462 |journal=Near Eastern Archaeology |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=46–57 |doi=10.1086/723462 |issn=1094-2076|url-access=subscription }} == History == thumb|Excavations at Tell Beit Mirsim in 1926. Excavating the house at east gate ===Middle Bronze Age=== Tell Beit Mirsim G-F (MB IIA; c. 1820 BCE).Albright 1964 Tell Beit Mirsim E (MB IIB).Albright 1964 Tell Beit Mirsim D (MB IIC; c. 1590-1550 BCE).Albright 1964 ===Iron Age=== ====Kingdom of Judah==== In the 10th century BCE (Iron IIA) onwards, the site has "a town plan characteristic of the [Kingdom of Judah](/source/Kingdom_of_Judah) that is also known from other sites" including [Beit Shemesh](/source/Beit_Shemesh), [Tell en-Nasbeh](/source/Tell_en-Nasbeh), [Khirbet Qeiyafa](/source/Khirbet_Qeiyafa) and [Beersheba](/source/Beersheba). :"A casemate wall was built at all of these sites and the city’s houses next to it incorporated the casemates as one of the dwelling’s rooms. This model is not known from any Canaanite, Philistine or Kingdom of Israel site."{{cite web |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1989 |title=Israel Antiquities Authority |accessdate=2014-12-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623021750/http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1989 |archivedate=2012-06-23 }} In the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, it was a town of c. 700 people, according to archaeologist [William G. Dever](/source/William_G._Dever).{{Cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |title=Beyond the Texts: an archaeological portrait of ancient Israel and Judah |date=2017 |publisher=SBL Press |isbn=978-0-88414-218-8 |location=Atlanta |pages=393}} == Identification of the site == Albright identified the ruin with the biblical city [Dvir](/source/Dvir_(biblical)) (Debir), or Kiryat Sefer by another name.[Joshua](/source/Book_of_Joshua), {{bibleverse-nb|Joshua|15:15|NIV}} He hoped to find an ancient archive there. This identification is not currently accepted by the archaeological community. [Khirbet Rabud](/source/Rabud) is seen as the more likely location.{{cite book|author=Trevor Bryce|title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QD9GrxiILH8C&pg=PA588|year=2009|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-39485-7|page=588}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|authorlink1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|authorlink2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1883|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=[Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund](/source/Palestine_Exploration_Fund)|volume=3}} (pp. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/279/mode/1up 279], [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/290/mode/1up 290]) *{{cite journal|last1=Ganor|first1= Sa‘ar|last2=Weiss|first2=Shifra|last3= Aladjem|first3= Emil|date= 2019-08-12 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=25641&mag_id=127 |title= Tell Beit Mirsim (South)|publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=131}} *{{cite journal|last1= Gedy|first1=Miki Ein|last2= Golan|first2 =Karni |date= 2007-01-14 |url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=465&mag_id=112 |title= Tell Beit Mirsim |publisher=Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel |number=119}} *{{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|authorlink=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongog02gu|volume=1: Judee, pt. 2|year=1869|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=French}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog02gu#page/349/mode/1up 349]) *{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E. H.|authorlink=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=[Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund](/source/Palestine_Exploration_Fund)}} (p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/379/mode/1up 379]) {{refend}} ==External links== *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 20: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8382 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.20.jpg Wikimedia commons] {{coord|31.455775|N|34.909846|E|type:landmark_region:IL_source:hewiki|display=title}} {{Sites of the Israelite Settlement}} Category:1926 archaeological discoveries Category:Archaeological sites in Israel Category:Ruins in Israel Category:Tells (archaeology) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tell Beit Mirsim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Beit_Mirsim) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Beit_Mirsim?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.