Nachshon Sneh of Kibbutz Gat

Pottery jar handle stamped “Yhd” (Yehud), one of the Persian-period artifacts from Kadesh-Barnea.

“Yehud” designated the satrapy of Judah in the Persian period. This “Yehud” seal impression, the first discovered so far south, suggests that the fortress at Kadesh-Barnea and the three square fortresses at Horvat Mesora, Horvat Ritma and opposite Atar Haro’a may have been Persian strongholds along the southern border of the Persian province of Judah.