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Zev Radovan

High Places, or bamot, with horned stone altars—such as a newly discovered altar on a hillside near Shiloh in the Judean hills—continued to be sites of family and tribal sacrifices throughout Israel for several centuries after David consolidated the state religion in Jerusalem. Burnt stones near the Shiloh altar show that it was used for its intended purpose—animal sacrifice.

It was after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E. that worship became fully centralized at the Temple in Jerusalem. At that point, local high places like the ones at Shiloh and Beer-Sheva ceased to be used.