Photo by Sky Balloon.

The hilltop site of Khirbet Qeiyafa overlooking the Valley of Elah is fortified with a double (casemate) wall composed of more than 200,000 tons of stone. The Iron Age portion of the wall is seen most clearly on the left, inside a later wall. The more prominent circular wall is a later Hellenistic wall that largely sits atop the earlier Iron Age wall. At the bottom of the picture is the beginning of excavations that later revealed the city gate. Two small structures to the left of the gate have also been excavated, and it was here that an important inscription was found, but the excavator is keeping it secret until it has been fully deciphered.