Walled up to heaven! Early and middle bronze age fortifications at Tell es -Sâfi / Gath

Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Joe Uziel, Eric L. Welch, Aren M. Maeir

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Early Bronze Age city at Tell es -Sâfi/Gath was among the largest urban centers in Canaan, or whatever they called their land at that time (Maeir 2012b: 13; Shai et al. 2016). The city and its people are still mostly a mystery to us. We do not know what they called themselves, or their city (but it was almost surely not "Gath"). They did not write, and we are not sure what language they spoke-perhaps an early Canaanite dialect. We do not know the names of any of their kings, as we do in most other periods at the site. But our excavations have taught us some things about them, their architecture, their pot-tery, and their diet. And we also know a good deal about the massive and extensive fortification wall that they built around their city, and that it must have taken a remarkable amount of organization and resources to accomplish it.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)285-291
Number of pages7
JournalNear Eastern Archaeology
Volume80
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2017

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