Overview
Tel Arad sits isolated in Israel’s northeastern Negev desert, about 30 km east-northeast of Beersheba. The 25-acre site was home to two distinct settlements. The earlier settlement was a Canaanite city of the Early Bronze Age. The second settlement was established some 1500 years later. This Judahite city dates to the IA II period. Its fortress occupies a high mound on the southeastern ridge that surrounds the ancient city.
The Early Bronze age (EB) city has five principal strata, with a duration from ca. 4000 BCE (Strata V) to 2650 BCE (Strata I). A total of eighteen excavation seasons have been carried out at the Canaanite city under the direction of Ruth Amiran (1962-1966, 1971-1978, and 1980-1984), all of which revealed the urban center in the Negev to have maintained a significant trade relationship with Egypt. Its importance was due to the copper industry and its ability to exploit the copper mines of the Arabah.
Stratum V (ca. 4000–3400 BCE) belongs to the Chalcolithic period. Stratum IV (3200–3000 BCE) yielded a significant amount of Egyptian pottery, indicating robust trade between Egypt and Canaan. During Stratum III, a city wall, palace, sacred precinct, public buildings, and reservoir were built, making Stratum III the earliest urban habitation at Tel Arad. Stratum III was destroyed around 2800 BCE and quickly rebuilt in Stratum II. The material culture and architectural style of Stratum II are identical to Stratum III. Stratum I was a sparse settlement, primarily comprised of squatters in the ruined Stratum II city. Arad was finally abandoned around 2650 BCE and remained uninhabited until the Judahite IA settlement was established some 1500 years later.
Twelve occupation layers (strata) were uncovered at Tel Arad during five excavation seasons by Yohanan Aharoni (1962-1965, 1967; with Ruth Amiran in 1962). Ze’ev Herzog conducted limited excavations after 1977 and has reinterpreted some of Aharoni’s original findings. The chronology presented here is based on Herzog’s new interpretation of the site. Perhaps the two most interesting finds at the Judahite settlement are the Arad Inscriptions and the Judahite temple.
The first Judahite settlement was an unfortified IA village (Stratum XII) established on the eastern hill of the Canaanite city (Stratum XII). A Judahite fortress was constructed in Stratum XI and would be rebuilt six times over the next 260 years. The Stratum XI structure was a casemate fortress, while Stratum X saw a strategic improvement with the erection of a solid wall fortress with a towering gate. A Judahite temple was also built during the Stratum X building campaign, along with a cistern-type water system. The temple appears to have been used only during Strata X and IX, and then was carefully dismantled and buried. Stratum VIII was very short lived, with its destruction being attributed to Sennacherib’s campaign in 701 BCE. Stratum VII was destroyed at the end of the seventh century BCE, possibly due to Edomite encroachment. Stratum VI, the last of the Judahite fortresses, was destroyed by the Babylonians in ca. 586 BCE. Fragmentary remains of the Persian period are found at Stratum V. During the Hellenistic period (Stratum IV), Arad received a new fortress with a large tower and casemate wall. Stratum III, dated to the first century BCE, represents the Roman period. It included a new fort that existed for nearly two hundred years. After that, Arad was left abandoned for several centuries, until resettlement by Arabs in the seventh and eighth centuries (Stratum II). Finally, Arad’s Stratum I, which spans the thirteenth through nineteenth centuries, represents a Bedouin cemetery.
The archaeological strata uncovered at the site, as illustrated in the site plan, date to the following periods:
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Strata IV–III, Hellenistic through Roman Periods |
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Stratum VI, Iron Age II |
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Strata VIII–VII, Iron Age II |
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Strata X–IX, Iron Age II |
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Stratum XI, Iron Age II |
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Stratum XII, Iron Age I |
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Stratum III, Early Bronze IIB |
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Stratum II, Early Bronze IIA |