Ḥarasim, Tel - The BAS Library

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INTRODUCTION

Tel Ḥarasim lies between the southern Coastal Plain and the Shephelah, in proximity to two perennial streams, Naḥal Barqai to the south and Naḥal Haruvit to the north. It covers an area of c. 40 a. and consists of a higher mound of c. 11 a. and lower terraces. It was founded on a plain and is thus an entirely man-made topographical feature.

The tell was not mentioned by travelers or surveyors of western Palestine until the Shephelah survey conducted by Y. Dagan in 1980. Located in the fields of Kibbutz Kefar Menaḥem, its low terraces have been utilized for agriculture over the past 50 years by kibbutz members, who have noticed architectural remains and sherds.

The original names of the Canaanite and Israelite settlements at Tel Ḥarasim are not known, nor have finds from the excavation elucidated this question. Proposals for identification, none based upon archaeological or historical evidence, include the biblical Libnah, Eltekeh, or Moresheth-Gath. The Iron Age II settlement at Tel Ḥarasim may be among the list of fortresses constructed by Rehoboam (2 Chr. 11:5–12) or in one of the lists in 2 Chr. associated with the reigns of Uzziah and Ahaz (26:6; 28:18).

EXCAVATIONS

Excavations were conducted at the tell in 11 seasons from 1990 to 2000, under the direction of S. Givon. During the first five seasons, excavations were under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority; from the sixth season, Bar-Ilan University. In areas D and E, buildings dated to the Late Bronze Age II were uncovered. One square in area E reached Late Bronze Age I and Middle Bronze Age IIB strata. In sections G and H, excavated on the western and northern slopes of the high tell, a casemate wall, remains of buildings, and Iron Age II installations were encountered. Also noted in these areas and in area C were remains of Persian and Byzantine period settlements, the latter period represented in material finds only.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

The following stratigraphic sequence was observed in the excavated areas:

Stratum	Period	Major Findings
I	Byzantine	Pottery
II	Roman	Pottery
III	Persian–Hellenistic	Installations and building remains
IV	Iron II	Casemate wall, buildings, and installations
V	Late Bronze II	Buildings and installations in unwalled settlement
VI	Late Bronze I	Buildings and installations in unwalled settlement
VII	Middle Bronze IIB	Buildings and installations in unwalled settlement

THE MIDDLE BRONZE AGE IIB. In one square in area E, walls and installations encountered in a probe were dated on the basis of pottery to the Middle Bronze Age IIB and have thus been assigned to stratum VII. The stone walls were oriented on an east–west axis. With them was found a circular clay installation containing a large quantity of ash, probably a cooking stove. A similar stove was found on the northern side of the square. On the western side of the square was an area demarcated by large stones and paved with small stones, apparently the courtyard of an unexcavated building.

THE LATE BRONZE AGE I. Stratum VI remains also were dated on the basis of pottery sherds. At the northern portion of a plaster floor was a thick plastered installation with a large stone at its center (apparently a maṣṣeba), secured at the base by three medium-sized stones. Sherds of bichrome and chocolate-on-white wares and of the Cypriot white-slipped I group were found in this stratum.

THE LATE BRONZE AGE II. Stratum V settlement remains were uncovered in areas D and E. In area E, building 305 proved to be a house with three long rooms separated by two rows of stone bases, which apparently supported wooden columns. The entrance was located at the center of the northern wall and led to the central room, which had a stove at its southern end. The western room of the house was paved with small and medium-sized stones and the floor of the eastern room was plastered. Based upon the pottery vessels found on the floor of the house, it is dated to the fourteenth century BCE.

A later phase of this house, building 123, made use of the existing outer walls. The entrance in the northern wall was blocked and a new one was placed at the center of the eastern wall. A new floor was laid over the remains of the earlier phase of the house, and column bases oriented east–west were set in place. The remains of this house, near the surface of the tell, were severely damaged by the agricultural activity of Kibbutz Kefar Menaḥem. The house is dated to the first half of the thirteenth century BCE.

North of the three-room house was found a large courtyard with a cooking stove, animal bones, flint implements (mainly sickle blades), stones for grinding and crushing, and a plaque figurine depicting a naked woman standing upon an animal, probably a lion. Northeast of the house stood an architectural complex that included two large circular silos, each 1.5 m in diameter. One was constructed of stone, the other of clay; both were plastered. South of these was a surface paved with small and medium-sized stones, upon which were numerous jar fragments.

Excavations in area D revealed remains of building 452, a large structure of which only a southern section remained. Along the c. 20 m-long southern wall of this building were found several small cells, some paved with stone, others plastered. The central area of the building lay to the north of these cells and was entirely plastered. The western wall was c. 7 m long and the eastern c. 2 m long. Sherds found upon the floor of the building are dated to the fourteenth century BCE. Judging by its size, the structure appears to have had some public function, perhaps related to the “Egyptian governors’ residence” type of building known at Tell el-Ḥesi and Tell Jemmeh.

Signs of destruction were evident in the Late Bronze Age settlement remains in areas D and E. The destruction level included considerable ash, collapsed mud bricks, sherds, stone artifacts, flint tools, and fragments of metal artifacts. This destruction is dated to the mid-thirteenth century BCE.

THE IRON AGE II. Following a 250-year gap, settlement was renewed at Tel Ḥarasim. At the center of the tell, the Israelite settlement, stratum V, was established over a c. 11-a. area. Its initial phase remains unclear. Only scattered remains of an unfortified settlement, apparently dating to the end of the tenth century BCE, were found in area D, where the high tell meets the terrace below. By the ninth century BCE, the central part of the tell was settled and surrounded by a casemate wall; remains of the wall were uncovered in areas G and H, its casemates containing only sherds. Installations and houses were found in the areas adjacent to the wall, the only excavated areas in which this stratum was encountered. The installations include cooking stoves, silos, and a plastered installation of brick with a clay pipe in one corner, perhaps a winepress. The floors of the rooms bore evidence of destruction and conflagration. Samples obtained from the remains of wooden beams found above the floors yielded ¹⁴C dates in the 900–810 BCE range. The destruction of the ninth-century settlement at Tel Ḥarasim may thus be dated to around the end of that century.

Eighth-century BCE settlement remains were not uncovered, perhaps because only limited areas of the Iron Age settlement were excavated. In area C, settlement remains of the seventh and beginning of the sixth century BCE were found. Remains of walls, floors, and a silo in that area are too fragmentary to point to any coherent building plan. Several later cisterns, probably Byzantine, cut into this area, damaging the Iron Age strata.

THE PERSIAN PERIOD. Persian period settlement remains were found in areas G and D. Area D contained characteristic pottery as well as a stamp seal impression upon a jar handle with the Aramaic inscription lḥnwnh yhwd. In area G, remains of a workshop area included three ovens, a rectangular smelting furnace, and two silos. A jar handle bearing a stamp seal impression with the Aramaic inscription yhwd yhw‘zr pḥw’ was found in that area. The presence of such seal impressions in the Persian period settlement at Tel Ḥarasim indicates that it belonged to the province of Yehud during that period.

THE LATER PERIODS. In areas B and G, later periods are represented by a few Hellenistic and Roman sherds, and numerous Byzantine sherds. Settlement remains from these periods were not found and probably lie at the center of the tell, in areas not yet excavated.

SHMUEL GIVON

Main publications: E. Karon, Scarabs from Kh. Abu-el-Quhuf (Tel Ḥarasim) from the Collection of the Shephela Museum, Kefar-Menaḥem 1985; S. Givon, Preliminary Reports of The 1st–11th Seasons of Excavations at “Tel Ḥarasim” (Naḥal Barkai) 1990–2001, Tel Aviv 1991–2002.

Studies: S. Givon, ESI 10 (1991), 145–146; 13 (1993), 97–99; 14 (1994), 108–109; 15 (1996), 88–90; 18 (1998), 96–97; 19 (1999), 74*; 110 (1999), 67*–68*; id., Levant 31 (1999), 173–177; id., JSRS 10 (2001), x; id., Beer-Sheva 15 (2002), 24*–37*; D. Ilan, Northeastern Israel in the Iron Age I: Cultural, Socioeconomic and Political Perspectives, 1–2 (Ph.D. diss.), Tel Aviv 1999; Y. Levin, PEQ 134 (2002), 28–36.