Tell Beit Mirsim

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Coordinates: 31 ° 27 '  N , 34 ° 55'  E

Map: Israel
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Tell Beit Mirsim​
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Israel

Tell Beit Mirsim is an ancient hill of ruins between Rahat and Hebron in the border area between Israel and the West Bank .

William Foxwell Albright carried out extensive excavations on Tell Beit Mirsim from 1926 to 1932. In doing so, he discovered parts of both a bronze and an iron age city. These are perhaps the remains of the Debir known from the Bible , also called Kirjat-Sefer ( Jos 15.15  EU ).

The excavation yielded 10 or 11 layers, which lasted from the late third millennium BC to around 589 BC. To date. The place is of particular importance for the archeology of Palestine , as the ceramics in the individual layers were particularly well observed and quickly published. This ceramic body has long been considered the standard for archeology in the region.

In October / November 2004 rescue excavations were carried out at the foot of Tell Beit Mirsim on the planned route of the Israeli barriers . The joint project between the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ben Gurion University was led by Miki Ein Gedy. Since the barriers were supposed to pass south of Tell Beit Mirsim, areas at the southern end of the tell and on the saddle between Tell and the village of Beit Mirsim were archaeologically examined due to the importance of the site before construction began. Further areas were opened along the hills to the east and west of the tell.

The most important find were the remains of a Byzantine church from the 6th - 7th centuries on the north side at the foot of the valley, where two limestone pillars protruded from the ground before the excavation. Despite severe disturbance from agricultural terracing in the east and military damage in the west, it was possible to largely prove the ground plan of the church. It was built as a basilica with a main and two side aisles. Remnants of mosaic floors and the baptistery were uncovered. Under the church was a small vaulted crypt (1.7 × 3.5 meters; height 2.4 m), which could be reached from the south aisle via a staircase.

literature

  • William Foxwell Albright : The excavation of Tell Beit Mirsim in Palestine. 3 volumes. Yale University Press, New Haven CT 1932-1943;
    • Volume 1: The pottery of the first three campaigns (= The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Vol. 12, ISSN  0066-0035 ). 1932;
    • Volume 2: The Bronze Age (= The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Volume 17). 1938;
    • Volume 3: The Iron Age (= The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Vol. 21/22). 1943.
  • Miki Ein Gedy, Karni Golan: Tell Beit Mirsim . In: Hadashot Arkheologiyot - Excavations and Surveys in Israel (HA-ESI), 119 (2007) online , accessed February 15, 2015.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Miki Ein Gedy, Karni Golan: Tell Beit Mirsim . In: Hadashot Arkheologiyot - Excavations and Surveys in Israel (HA-ESI), 119 (2007)

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