Tell el-Ḥesi

From ArchaeoWiki

Tell el-Ḥesi is an important archaeological site situated midway along the Wadi Ḥesi (an important east-west transit route) in present-day Israel.

The military importance of the site is clear, representing one of the three most strategically vital positions in controlling access along and between the southern coastal plain and the Shephelah^[1].

Contents 1 Excavation 2 Stratigraphy and Finds 3 Notes 4 Bibliography 4.1 Excavation Reports 4.2 Derivative Treatments 5 External links

Excavation

Stratigraphy and Finds

The discovery during Bliss’s excavations of “a cuneiform tablet of the Amarna Letter type”—now listed as EA 333—in City III of the 14th century BCE [Albright 1942] strongly suggests the presence of an Egyptian commissioner in the town in the late Eighteenth Dynasty period. The tablet was found discarded in a rubbish dump outside an impressive building, and bore a communication between an Egyptian stationed at nearby Lachish to his superior officer stationed (at least temporarily) at Tell el-Ḥesi.

Notes

1. ↑ G.E. Wright, on the basis of discussion with Israeli archaeologists David Alon and Ram Gophna [1966:85], included Tell el-Ḥesi with Tell es-Safi and Tell Shariah as critical to any control and defensive network that might be constructed in the area between the southern Coastal Plain and the Shephelah; Wright's discussion centred on Davidic period considerations, but his observations presumably hold good for any period.

Bibliography

Excavation Reports

• Bennett, W. J. Jr and Blakely, J.A. [1989], Tell el-Hesi, The Persian Period (Stratum V), [The Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi 3], 2 volumes, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1989. ISBN 0931464544

• Bliss, F.J. [1894], A Mound of Many Cities, or, Tell el-Hesy Excavated, London: PEF, 1894.

• Petrie, W.M.F. [1890a], "Explorations in Palestine", PEFQS 22 (1890), pp.159-166.
  • [1890b], "Journals of Mr. W.M. Flinders Petrie", PEFQS 22 (1890), pp.219-246.
  • [1891], Tell el-Hesy (Lachish), London: Palestine Exploration Fund, 1891.

Derivative Treatments

• Anderson, Roger W. [2006], "Southern Palestinian Chronology: Two Radiocarbon Dates for the Early Bronze Age at Tell El-Hesi (Israel)", Radiocarbon 48.1 (2006), pp.101-107.

• Blakely, Jeffrey [2000], "Petrie's Pilaster Building at Tell el-Hesi", in Stager, L.E., Greene, J.A., and Coogan, M.D. (eds), The Archaeology of Jordan and Beyond: Essays in Honor of James A. Sauer, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2000, pp.66-80.

• Blakely, J. and Horton, Jr F.L. [1995], "Tell el-Hesi: What's in a Name?", in O'Brien, J.M. & Horton Jr, F.L. (eds), The Yahweh / Baal Confrontation and Other Studies in Biblical Literature and Archaeology: Essays in Honor of Emmett Willard Hamrick, [Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity 35], Lewiston, NY: Mellen Biblical Press, 1995, pp.94-149.
  • "On Site Identifications Old and New: The Example of Tell el-Hesi", NEA 64.1/2 (2001), pp.24-36.

• Gibson, Sh. and Rajak, T. [1990], "Tell el-Hesi and the Camera: The Photographs of Petrie and Bliss", PEQ 122 (1990), pp.114-132.

• Ross, James F. [1979], "Early Bronze Age Structures at Tell el-Ḥesi", BASOR 236 (1979), pp.11-21.

• Toombs, L.E. [1974], “Tell el-Hesi, 1970-1971”, PEQ 106 (1974), pp.19-32.
  • [1983], "Tell el-Ḥesi", PEQ 115 (1983), pp.25-46.
  • [1990], "The Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi and the Results of the Earlier Excavations", PEQ 122 (1990), pp.101-113.

• Wright, G.E. [1966], “Fresh Evidence for the Philistine Story”, BA 29.3 (1966), pp.69-86.

External links