Tel Beit Shemesh is a small archaeological tell north west of the modern city of Beit Shemesh.
It was identified in the late 1830s as Biblical Beth Shemesh – it then was known as Ain Shams – by Edward Robinson. The tell was excavated in numerous phases during the 20th century.
Etymology Beit Shemesh means "house of the sun" or "temple of the sun" in Hebrew. The Chalcolithic city was originally named after the Canaanite sun goddess, Shapshu, who was worshipped there in antiquity; she is also referred to as "Shamash" after the Mesopotamian god.Beit Shemesh – Biblical city on the border between Judah and Philistia , Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
The name Beth-Shemesh was shared by at least two other places in the Southern Levant, not including Heliopolis ("City of the Sun") in Egypt.BibleHub.com, Beth Shemesh, quoting Strong's Concordance etc.
History The ruins of the ancient biblical city of the Canaanites at Tel Beit Shemesh in Modern Hebrew and Tell er-Rumeileh in Arabic, a tell (archaeological mound) situated immediately west of modern Beit Shemesh, and Moshav Yish'i, right on the west side of Highway 38.
Middle Bronze Age The earliest mention of Beit Shemesh is found in ancient Egyptian execration texts, dating several hundred years earlier than its mention in the Hebrew canon., s.v.
Middle Bronze II Tel Beth-Shemesh (3 ha) Strata V. In the 17th century BCE, it had a massive fortification and southern gate.Bunimovitz, S., & Lederman, Z. (2013). SOLVING A CENTURY-OLD PUZZLE: NEW DISCOVERIES AT THE MIDDLE BRONZE GATE OF TEL BETH-SHEMESH. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 145(1), 24–6. https://doi.org/10.1179/0031032812Z.00000000031 Middle Bronze IIB (c. 1630-1590 BCE). Fortification. Middle Bronze IIC (c. 1590-1550 BCE). Hyksos Period. Destruction layer.
The Southern Gate is a Syrian-style ‘three-entrance’ gate with a direct passageway flanked by two towers with three pairs of piers projecting into the passage.Bunimovitz, S., & Lederman, Z. (2013). SOLVING A CENTURY-OLD PUZZLE: NEW DISCOVERIES AT THE MIDDLE BRONZE GATE OF TEL BETH-SHEMESH. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 145(1), 24–6. https://doi.org/10.1179/0031032812Z.00000000031
Late Bronze Age During the Late Bronze Age (LBA), the settlement was a prosperous city covering the entire tell, with connections to the eastern Mediterranean.Fowler, K. D., Ross, J., Barritt-Cleary, C., Lederman, Z., Bunimovitz, S., & Greenfield, H. J. (2022). Age and sex determination of fingerprints on ceramic objects from the Late Bronze Age Palace at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. Levant, 54(3), 331–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2022.2154067Brandl et al. 2013
Late Bronze IB LB IB Palace. Fowler, K. D., Ross, J., Barritt-Cleary, C., Lederman, Z., Bunimovitz, S., & Greenfield, H. J. (2022). Age and sex determination of fingerprints on ceramic objects from the Late Bronze Age Palace at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. Levant, 54(3), 331–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2022.2154067
Late Bronze IIA LB IIA Palace.Fowler, K. D., Ross, J., Barritt-Cleary, C., Lederman, Z., Bunimovitz, S., & Greenfield, H. J. (2022). Age and sex determination of fingerprints on ceramic objects from the Late Bronze Age Palace at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Israel. Levant, 54(3), 331–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2022.2154067 Palace up to 10 rooms Imported pottery. Cretan LM IIIAI cup (TBS 19-103; cf. time of Amenhotep III); Cypriot Base Ring I juglets Not mentioned directly in the Amarna Archive. Beth-Shemesh was a sovereign city-state, see Amarna letters 273–274.Ziffer, Bunimovitz and Lederman 2009 Destruction layer
At Tel Beth-Shemesh, a scarab belonging to Amenhotep III was found along with two Cretan LM IIIA1 cups.Baruch Brandl, Shlomo Bunimovitz & Zvi Lederman (2013) Beth-Shemesh and Sellopoulo: Two commemorative scarabs of Amenhotep III and their contribution to aegean chronology It was a commemorative scarab in association to the king's first heb sed festival.
Iron Age Iron Age I. A border village. Iron I (c. 1150-950 BCE) Canaanite villages of Levels 7–4.Bunimovitz, S., Manor, D. W., Bubel, S., & Lederman, Z. (2019). Tel Beth-Shemesh: Iron IIA Judahite Pottery Typology and Finger Impressed Jar Handles. Tel Aviv, 46(1), 83–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2019.1586385
Kingdom of Judah Iron IIA Level 3 with Judahite administration.Bunimovitz, S., Manor, D. W., Bubel, S., & Lederman, Z. (2019). Tel Beth-Shemesh: Iron IIA Judahite Pottery Typology and Finger Impressed Jar Handles. Tel Aviv, 46(1), 83–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2019.1586385
Iron Age IIA. During the 10th century BCE, Beit Shemesh emerged from a Judahite village into a fortified settlement and provincial center in the Sorek Valley in the Shepelah. Archaeologists discovered massive public buildings, including a "patrician house" and an elaborate underground water reservoir.
The "Province/District of Beit Shemesh" was bordered in the West by the Philistines, and the neighboring city of Ekron (Tel Miqne). The border followed the natural transition where the Sorek Valley widens into the coastal plain. Here a heavily fortified line of Judean outposts included Beit Shemesh and Batash/Timnah. In the North, the province bordered the Kingdom of Israel. In the East, was the foothills of the Judean Mountains with the Sorek Valley pass going directly to the Jerusalem hinterland, making the Sorek Valley a military shield for Jerusalem against invasion by the Philistines or Egyptians. In the South, was the Elah Valley - a district contested between Judah city of Khirbet Qeiyafa and the Philistine city-state of Gath.
The economic role of the Sorek Valley was its high capacity for olive oil and grain production, functioning as a "breadbasket" for the Judean kingdom.
Animal bones show a distinct lack of pig bones in Iron Age strata. This contrasts sharply with contemporary Philistine sites (like nearby Ekron), where pork consumption was common, suggesting the inhabitants adhered to the dietary practices typical of the Israelite/Judean hill country.
An archaeomagnetic study has dated a destruction layer at the site to the first half of the 8th century BCE, correlating with the time when King Jehoash of Israel is recorded as having defeated King Amaziah of Judah in a battle fought there ().
Assyrian period After the destruction of much of the Southern Levant by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 701 BCE, Beth Shemesh was abandoned. Judahites resettled Beth Shemesh, as evidenced by the refurbishment of the water reservoir in the 7th century.
Babylonian period However, after the Neo-Babylonian Empire's conquest of Judah in the early 580s BCE, either the new Babylonian rulers, or the nearby Philistine metropolis of Ekron favoured by them, sealed and covered over the vital water reservoir,Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman, Beth-Shemesh: A Biblical Border City between Judah and Philistia, Tel Aviv University, 2000 , retrieved 1 September 2016 which was not uncovered until 2004. During the first return from the Babylonian captivity, the beginning of the Second Temple period, there was no lasting revival of the city.
Roman period In the rescue excavations at the site, a rectangular gas-fired structure was discovered, which was identified by the excavators as a synagogue from the Second Temple period. The synagogue is supposed to be moved to another location to clear the area for Israel Highway 38, which is planned to be paved in the area. Boaz Gross, the head of the excavation expedition at the tel on behalf of the Israel Institute of Archaeology, believed that the structure is not Hasmonean but probably from the Herodian. The village around him, he believes, was abandoned during the Bar Kokhba revolt. According to him, purification bowls found near the building, its architectural design, as well as a bench identified inside, strengthen the assumption that it is a synagogue.
Byzantine period
A monastery and other remains from the Byzantine period have been found in the area.
Ottoman period
The small Arab towns of Dayr Aban and Dayr Rafat used rocks for building from Tell er-Rumeileh (Tel Beit Shemesh).
In the late 19th century the area was known as 'Ain Shems or Khirbet 'Ain Shems and was used as a temporary harvest-time residence by local Arabs. The small mosque of Abu Mizar stood there.
State of Israel During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Egyptian Army occupied the area and set up a fortified post, called "Mishlat" in Hebrew, on a hill overlooking Beit Shemesh, within the Arab village Dayr Aban. The post changed hands several times during fighting. The Harel Brigade invaded part of the post for several months, giving rise to the name "the joint post" or the "Mishlat HaMeshutaf", with 60 meters dividing them and the enemy forces. The Mishlat was taken by the Harel force in the Ha-Har offensive, during the night of 19–20 October 1948, as part of an IDF campaign that captured Dayr Aban and surrounding villages southwest of Jerusalem.
Beit Shemesh is the point from which the so-called Convoy of 35 set out to bring provisions to besieged Gush Etzion. On 15 January 1948, a group of 38 Palmach volunteers left Hartuv near Beit Shemesh. After one member of the group sprained his ankle and returned, accompanied by two others, the group, now numbering 35, continued on its way. Their presence was discovered by two Arab women who encountered two scouts of the group near Surif. (An earlier version, that the soldiers were discovered by an Arab shepherd who they graciously let go, was based on a eulogy written by Ben-Gurion and is apparently apocryphal). The Convoy of 35 was subsequently killed in fighting with Arab villagers and militiamen.
Hebrew Bible Beit Shemesh is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Joshua (), as a city in the territory of the tribe of Judah on the border with the tribe of Dan. In , this city was set aside as one of the 13 Kohanic cities for the priests of the tribe of Levi, the Kohanim.
Another city by the same name, Beit Shemesh, is later mentioned in Joshua 19:38 as situated in the territory of the tribe of Naphtali.
The city located in the territorial bounds of the tribe of Judah is mentioned in 1 Samuel 6 as being the first city encountered by the Ark of the Covenant on its way back from Philistia after having been captured by the Philistines in battle (1 Samuel 6:12–21). According to the chapter, God struck the many people of Beth Shemesh who looked into the Ark and they died (). The stone on which the Ark was placed is recorded as still being located there at the time of writing the Books of Samuel. In the King James Version, this stone is described as "the great stone of Abel" in 6:18.
In 2 Kings 14, Beth Shemesh is again mentioned as being the site of the battle between King Amaziah of Judah and King Jehoash of Israel.
Archaeology
From 1911 to 1913 the site was excavated by a Palestine Exploration Fund team led by Duncan Mackenzie.Mackenzie, D., "Excavations at Ain Shems (Beth-Shemesh)", Palestine Exploration Fund Annual 1, pp. 41–94, 1911Mackenzie, D., "Excavations at Ain Shems (Beth-Shemesh)" Palestine Exploration Fund Annual 2, 1912–1913
The site was excavated from 1928 to 1933 by a Haverford College, Pennsylvania team led by Elihu Grant.Grant, E., "Beth Shemesh (Palestine). Progress of the