Tel Erani () or Tell esh-Sheikh Ahmed el-ʿAreini () is a multi-period archaeological site on the outskirts of Kiryat Gat in the Southern District of Israel. It is also known by the name ʻIrâq el-Menshiyeh ("vein-like sand ridges of Menshiyeh"), although thought to have borne the original Arabic name of Menshiyet es-Saḥalīn.
Discovery and history of investigations
Tel Erani was first documented by Claude Reignier Conder and Herbert Kitchener in their 1872–1877 survey for the Palestine Exploration Fund. They described the contemporary village of Iraq al-Manshiyya and remarked that the site was "evidently ancient and important, and seems possibly to represent the ancient Libnah." The identification of Tel Erani with the biblical city of
Libnah was based on the
chalk in the hills nearby – the name of the city meaning 'the white' in
Biblical Hebrew.
Remains from the 10th century BCE have been found at the site.
The town, then belonging to the kingdom of Judah, was destroyed in 701 BCE, with 15
LMLK seal discovered among the debris.
In 1921, William F. Albright argued that the site was a poor fit with Libnah, and instead proposed it was the major Philistines city of Gath. He placed Libnah at Tell es-Safi, which most scholars of the time identified with Gath.
New identification
Historical geographer, M.D. Press, concludes that Tel Erani, by way of a transformation of its name, may have been the 1st-century Idumean town of
Sallis (=
Kefar Shihlayim) mentioned by
Josephus (
The Jewish War 3.2.2. ).
A citadel (acropolis) was once built at the site,
[ Tel ʽErani, Hadashot Arkheologiyot, Excavations and Surveys in Israel (vol. 129: 2017), Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)] making it a likely place of refuge for a retreating army
en route from
Ashkelon to
Jerusalem.
Excavations
The site is very large, more than 24 hectares.
Yeivin dig (1950s)
In the late 1950s,
Shmuel Yeivin opened excavations at the site (then known as Tel Gat) to confirm Albright's identification. Although he did find
Iron Age material, the pottery was not consistent with a Philistine city. Albright's theory was therefore rejected.
Instead, Yeivin discovered that the main phase of occupation of the site was earlier, in the Early Bronze Age. He also found what was then the earliest evidence of contact between
Egypt and
Canaan: a potsherd bearing the
serekh of the pharaoh
Narmer.
Jagiellonian University excavations
Polish archaeologists from Jagiellonian University in Krakow have been excavating here since 2013. They found that the oldest artefacts on the site may date to the
Amratian culture (Naqada I) ca 4,000 BC. So the ancient Egyptian trading post at Tel Erani may be much older that previously thought.
[ Egyptian trading post at Tel Erani in Israel older than previously thought. archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com 9/09/2019]
- "Last year’s 2018 research by the Kraków archaeologists proved that the inhabitants of Lower Egypt maintained relations with the southern Levant where Tel Erani lies. “We proved that the were very lively,” said Professor Ciałowicz, adding that both regions were cooperating with one another closely in 4,000 BC. Copper and olive oil flowed into Egypt and animal and fish meat was transported in the opposite direction."
An Early Bronze Age I fortification wall was also discovered in 2018, which may date to over 5,300 years old.
See also
