Tel Arad

We visited Tel Arad this morning. The site is actually two separate cities. The ancient Canaanite City (a reconstructed house can be seen in the foreground of the picture above) was populated in the Early Bronze Age (2950-2650 BCE) when civilization began in this area. The site then lay abandoned for around 1500 years, until in the Israelite period (10th-6th centuries BCE) a series of citadels were built on the hill visible in the background of the picture above.

The story of Arad is long and complex. The site has been under constant archaeological excavation since 1962. In the citadel over a 100 ostraca (clay shards inscribed with ink or engraved) written in biblical Hebrew were uncovered. They mostly date from the last decades of the kingdom of Judah (6th century BCE) and cover topics from strategic threats to food distribution.

Tel Arad is strategically placed on the trade route between the Sinai and Jordan. It seems that in the "old" days rainfall in the area was double today's and the ancient Canaanite city used it's vast catchment area to direct runoff into the large reservoir.
As usual we arrived a half hour early and once again used the gaziah to make coffee. Jordeana (Jordy+Adena) our Canadian guests braved the early morning and came along. They claim to not have hated it.
As usual we were the very first visitors and as we walked into the citadel on the hill, we disturbed a family of foxes. A mother and baby. They shot off and I just managed to snap this shot as they disappeared into the desert. Very cool.
This is the entrance to the citadel. It has been nicely restored. There is a dig going on at the moment, they seem to be digging down, possibly to examine the lower levels of the tel.
The citadel itself has a large part of it's area devoted to a temple complete with stone altar above. I like the step in front, possibly for short priests?
This is a view of the ancient Canaanite city. It's quite large and is believed to have supported about 2500 inhabitants. We're talking 4th millennium BCE (6K years back) here. This was quite an organized place, with a surrounding wall, water system, palace and temples.
Some of the houses had these strange stones in the middle of the rooms. What were they for? The boy thought they were built to stand large jugs of oil or wine. I thought they looked like smallish toilets. I will research this and get back to you.
This is a typical house in the lower city. It's called an "Aradian House" and the style is typical of houses from the Early Bronze Age in this area. The house has stone benches along the walls and a stone pedestal (that has collapsed) in the middle that was where the wooden post that supported the ceiling stood. The entrance is set in one of the longitudinal walls with a step down into the house's interior.
This well was constructed during the time of the Judean Kingdom at the center of the Canaanite water reservoir to a depth of 52 feet. The water was transported up the hill to the citadel using man power and pack animals. It sucked to be a slave back then.

All in all a very nice place - worth the 12NIS entrance fee and the terrible migraine I got driving back.