Tell es-Safi (, "White hill"; , ''Tel Tzafit'') was an Arab Palestinian village, located in the

Shephelah The Shephelah () or Shfela (), or the Judaean Foothills (), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel stretching over between the Judaean Mountains and the Coastal Plain. The different use of the term "Jud ...

region on the southern banks of Wadi 'Ajjur, northwest of

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

, which had its Arab population expelled during the

1948 Arab–Israeli war The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

. Archaeological excavations show that the site (a tell or archaeological mound) was continuously inhabited since the 5th millennium BCE,Negev and Gibson (2005), p
445
and it is widely identified with the

Philistine Philistines (; Septuagint, LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philist ...

city of Gath. The site appears on the 6th-century

Madaba Map The Madaba Map, also known as the Madaba Mosaic Map, is part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George in Madaba, Jordan. The mosaic map depicts an area from Lebanon in the north to the Nile Delta in the south, and fro ...

as ''Saphitha'', while the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

called it ''Blanche Garde''.Kallai-Kleinmann (1958), p. 155. Tsafrir, Yoram (1994), p. 134. It is mentioned by

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

geographers in the 13th and 16th centuries. Under the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, it was part of the district of

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Mandatory Palestine * Gaza Sub ...

. In modern times, the houses were built of

sun-dried brick Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

. The villagers were Muslim and cultivated cereals and orchards. Today the site, known as Tel Tzafit, is an Israeli national park incorporating archaeological remains which are generally, if not by all, identified as the Philistine city of Gath, mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' 114
The remains of the Crusader fort and the Arab village can also be seen on the tell.

Names

The 6th-century Madaba Map calls it Saphitha. In the 19th century the white chalk cliff at the site was seen as the cause for the Arabic name: Tell es-Safi means 'clear or bright mound'. The name used in the Crusader period was Blanche Garde, 'White Fortress' in French, and Alba Specula ('White Lookout/Watch-tower') or Alba Custodia ('White Guard') in Latin.

Geography

Tell es-Safi sits on a site above the plain of

Philistia Philistia was a confederation of five main cities or pentapolis in the Southwest Levant, made up of principally Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and for a time, Jaffa (part of present-day Tel Aviv-Yafo). Scholars believe the Philist ...

and above sea level, and its white-faced precipices can be seen from the north and west from several hours distant. Tell es-Safi is situated between the Israeli cities of

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

and

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh () is a city council (Israel), city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 170,683 as of 2024. The city is named afte ...

and is one of the country's largest Bronze and Iron Age sites.

Identification with Gath

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...

thought that Tell es-Safi was the "watch-tower" mentioned in , based on its etymological meaning, but the site is now believed to be the site of the

city of ''Gath''. The identification was opposed by Albright, who noted its proximity to another leading city from the Philistine league,

Ekron Ekron (Philistine: 𐤏𐤒𐤓𐤍 ''*ʿAqārān'', , ), in the Hellenistic period known as Accaron () was at first a Canaanite, and later more famously a Philistine city, one of the five cities of the Philistine Pentapolis, located in pr ...

(

Tel Miqne Ekron (Philistine: 𐤏𐤒𐤓𐤍 ''*ʿAqārān'', , ), in the Hellenistic period known as Accaron () was at first a Canaanite, and later more famously a Philistine city, one of the five cities of the Philistine Pentapolis, located in pr ...

), but later excavations turned up more supportive evidence for Tell es-Safi. Schniedewind writes that Gath was important for the Philistines in the eighth century BCE because of its easily defended geographical position. Albright argued that Tell es-Safi was too close to Tel Miqne/Ekron to be Gath. The sites are only 8 km apart. However, both Tell es-Safi and Tel Miqne were major sites in the Middle Bronze through the Iron Age. The agricultural features of this region of the southern coastal plain may be part of the explanation. Additionally, there is no certainty that the two sites flourished simultaneously. Literary sources suggest that Gath flourished in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages until its destruction by the

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

in the late eighth century BCE. The heyday of Ekron was the seventh century BCE, after the site was taken over by the Assyrians as an agricultural administrative center (Dothan and Gitin 1993).

History and archaeology

Excavations at Tell es-Safi since 1996 indicate that the site was settled "virtually continuously from the

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

until the modern periods."

Early Bronze Age

The site was already a significant settlement in the

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

with an estimated area of 24 hectares. Finds from this period include a

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in width, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

, found inside a holemouth jar in a well stratified EB III (c. 2700/2600 – 2350 BCE) context. The motif was that of a crouching male lion.

Late Bronze Age

Stratigraphic evidence attests to settlement in the Late Bronze and Iron Age (I & II) periods. By the Late Bronze Age the site had reached an extent of 34 hectares. A find of a

hieratic Hieratic (; ) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BCE until the rise of Demotic in the mid-first millennium BCE ...

inscribed LBA bowl fragment (19th - 20th Dynasty) reflects the Egyptian contacts common in this region during this period.

Iron Age

Philistine presence

There is stratigraphic evidence for settlement in the Iron Age I & II periods. A large city in the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, the site was "enclosed on three sides by a large man-made siege-

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

."Wigoder (2005), pp. 348–9.

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

published in 2015 showed an early appearance of

material culture Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The fie ...

in the city. According to 2010 reports, Israeli archaeologists uncovered evidence of the first Philistine settlement in Canaan, as well as a

temple and evidence of a major earthquake in biblical times."In the Spotlight"
''Jerusalem Post'', 29 July 2010. The

Tell es-Safi inscription The Tell es-Safi inscription was found in 2005 at the archaeological site at Tell es-Safi, identified with the biblical city of Gath. It was under the destruction layer at the beginning of Iron Age IIA (1000–925 BCE). Seven letters, interpreted ...

, dated to the 10th century BCE, was found at the site in 2005. Archaeologists have discovered a horned altar dating to the 9th century BCE. The stone artefact is over 3 feet (one meter) tall, and is the earliest ever found in Philistia. It features a pair of horns, similar to the ancient

Israelite Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

altars described in the Hebrew Bible (), the Israelite altars however typically have four horns, such as found in

Tel Be'er Sheva Tel Sheva () or Tel Be'er Sheva (), also known as Tell es-Seba (), is an archaeological site in the Southern District of Israel, believed to be the site of the ancient biblical town of Beer-sheba. The site lies east of modern Beersheba and wes ...

, for example, as opposed to two. The 2010 reports mention evidence of destruction by King

Hazael Hazael (; ; Old Aramaic 𐤇𐤆𐤀𐤋 ''Ḥzʔl'') was a king of Aram-Damascus mentioned in the Bible. Under his reign, Aram-Damascus became an empire that ruled over large parts of contemporary Syria and Israel-Samaria. While he was likely ...

of Aram-Damascus around 830 BCE.

Byzantine period

The place appears on the

as Saphitha ().

Crusader and Ayyubid period

During the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, the site was called Blanchegarde ("White guard"), likely referring to the white rock outcrop next to the site.Khalidi (1992), p. 222. In 1142, a fort was built on the site by

King Fulk Fulk of Anjou (, or ''Foulques''; – 13 November 1143), also known as Fulk the Younger, was the king of Jerusalem from 1131 until 1143 as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Melisende. Previously, he was the count of Anjou as Fulk V from 1109 t ...

. After the

Siege of Ascalon The siege of Ascalon took place from 25 January to 22 August 1153, in the time period between the Second Crusade, Second and Third Crusades, and resulted in the capture of the Fatimid Egyptian fortress by the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Ascalon was an i ...

in 1153, the castle was expanded and strengthened. It became a

lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of eco ...

in 1166, when it was given to

Walter III Brisebarre Walter III Brisebarre was a 12th-century Frankish nobleman who ruled successively as the lord of Beirut, lord of Transjordan, and lord of Blanchegarde in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Walter inherited Beirut from his father, Guy Brisebarre, in 1157 ...

, lord of Beirut. It was dismantled after being taken by

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

in 1191, but reconstructed by

Richard the Lionheart Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

in 1192. Richard was nearly captured while inspecting his troops next to the site. In 1253, Gilles' son Raoul (died after 1265) was documented as lord of Blanchegard. In 1265, the Baron Amalric Barlais, who was loyal to the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

, took over the rule of Blanchegard. Shortly thereafter Blanchegard was retaken by Muslim forces. The remnants of the square castle and its four towers served as a place of some importance in the village well into the 19th century.

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

, writing in the 1220s, described the place as a fort near

Bayt Jibrin Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin ( lit. 'House of the Powerful') was an Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict of British Mandatory Palestine, in what is today the State of Israel, which was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. It was ...

in the

Ramleh Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph Sul ...

area.

Mamluk period

The Arab geographer

Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali Mujīr al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī (; 1456–1522), often simply Mujir al-Din, was a Jerusalemite ''qadi'' and historian whose principal work chronicled the history of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Middle Ages.Little, 1995, p. 237.van Donzel, 1994, p. 29 ...

noted around 1495 that a village by this name was within the administrative jurisdiction of Gaza.

Ottoman period

The village was incorporated into the

in 1517 with all of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers being in the ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' (subdistrict) of

under

Gaza Sanjak Gaza Sanjak (), known in Arabic as Bilād Ghazza (the Land of Gaza), was a sanjak of the Damascus Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered in Gaza, and spread northwards up to the Yarkon River. In the 16th century it was divided into ''nawahi'' ...

, with a population of 88

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

households; an estimated 484 persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on a number of crops, including

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and sesame, and fruits, as well as goats and beehives; a total of 13,300

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

. In 1838 Edward Robinson described Tell es-Safieh as a

village in the Gaza district.Robinson and Smith (1841), vol 3, Appendix 2, p
119
It was "an isolated oblong hill or ridge, lying from N.to S. in the plain, the highest part being towards the South. The village lies near the middle; lower down." The

Sheikh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

, Muhammed Sellim, belonged to the 'Azzeh family of

. After his family took part in the Peasants' Revolt of 1834, his father and uncle were beheaded and the remaining family was ordered to take up residence at Tell es-Safi. When

visited in 1863, he saw two small

''walīs''. An Ottoman village list drawn up around 1870 counted 34 houses and a population of 165 men. In 1883, the PEF's ''

Survey of Western Palestine The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the completed Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The ...

'' described Tell al-Safi as a village built of

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

brick with a well in the valley to the north. James Hastings notes that the village contained a sacred ''wely''. In 1896, the population was around 495 persons.

British Mandate

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Tal al-Safi had a population of 644 inhabitants, all Muslims,Barron (1923), Table V, Sub-district of Hebron, p
10
increasing in the 1931 census to 925, still all Muslim, in a total of 208 inhabited houses.Mills (1932), p
34
The villagers of Tall al-Safi had a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

, a marketplace, and a shrine for a local sage called Shaykh Mohammad. In the 1945 statistics, the total population was 1,290, all Muslims, and the land area was 27,794 dunams of land. Of this, a total of 19,716 dunums of land were used for

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

s, 696 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945''. Quoted in Hadawi (1970), p
94
Quoted in Khalidi (1992), 222. while 68 dunams were classified as built-up (urban) areas. Idhnibba 1945

Israel

1948 war

In 1948, Tell es-Safi was the destination for the women and children of

Qastina Qastina () was a Palestinian village, located 38 kilometers northeast of Gaza City. It was ethnically cleansed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Location Qastina was situated on an elevated spot in a generally flat area on the coastal plain, on ...

, sent away by the menfolk of Qastina at this time, but they returned after discovering there was insufficient water in the host village to meet the newcomers' needs.Morris (2004), p
176
On 7 July, Givati commander

Shimon Avidan Shimon Avidan (; February 7, 1911 – September 11, 1994), born Siegbert Koch (), was a Palmach soldier and IDF military leader. He was the commander of the Givati Brigade during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Biography Early life Shimon Avidan ...

issued orders to the 51st Battalion to take the Tall al-Safi area and "to destroy, to kill and to expel 'lehashmid, leharog, u´legaresh''refugees encamped in the area, in order to prevent enemy infiltration from the east to this important position."Givati,

Operation An-Far Operation An-Far (short for Anti- Farouk) was a military operation launched by Israel's Givati Brigade on the night of July 8–9 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Its objectives were to gain control of approaches in southern Judea and block t ...

, 7 July 1948, IDFA 7011\49\\1. Cited in Morris (2004), p
436
Also see note#127, p
456
According to Morris, Avraham Ayalon (1963): ''The Givati Brigade Opposite the Egyptian Invader'', pp. 227-28, "gives a laundered version of the order, – which I (unfortunately) used in the original edition of ''The Birth''." The "laundered" version does not contain the words: "to destroy, to kill". According to

Benny Morris Benny Morris (; born 8 December 1948) is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. Morris was initially associated with the ...

, the nature of the written order and, presumably, accompanying oral explanations, probably left little doubt in the battalion OC's minds that Avidan wanted the area cleared of inhabitants.

Arab village remains

In 1992,

Walid Khalidi Walid Khalidi (; born in Jerusalem on July 16, 1925) is a Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an inde ...

wrote that the site was overgrown with wild vegetation, mainly foxtail and thorny plants, interspersed with cactuses, date-palm and olive trees. He noted the remains of a well and the crumbling stone walls of a pool. The surrounding land was planted by

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i farmers with citrus trees, sunflowers, and grain. A few tents belonging to Bedouin were occasionally pitched nearby.

National park

The site is now an

i national park and the site of ongoing archaeological excavations.

Archaeological exploration

The site was visited in 1875 by

Claude Reignier Conder Claude Reignier Conder (29 December 1848, Cheltenham – 16 February 1910, Cheltenham) was an English soldier, explorer and antiquarian. He was a great-great-grandson of Louis-François Roubiliac and grandson of editor and author Josiah Conder ...

who was impressed with its height and position in the landscape but not impressed by the "insolent peasants". The only visible remains were those of the Crusader era fortress. The first excavations at the site began in 1899 when Frederick J. Bliss and R. A. Stewart Macalister worked for three seasons on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. While in the early days of archaeology the methods of Bliss were reasonably advanced for those days. The excavation failed in its primary goal of firmly identifying the site as Gath but did properly work out the stratigraphy. In the 1950 and 1960s,

Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan (; May 20, 1915 – October 16, 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defe ...

conducted illegal digs at Tell es-Safi and other sites. Some of the robber holes can still be seen at the site today. Many of the objects from these digs ended up at the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

in Jerusalem. Since 1996, the site has been excavated by the Tell es-Safi/Gath Project led by

Aren Maeir Aren Maeir (; born 1958) is an American-born Israeli archaeologist and professor in the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University. He is director of the Tell es-Safi/ Gath Archaeological Project. Biography Aren ...

, still ongoing as of 2024.Aren Maeir (May 1, 2024)
"2nd day of short season"
at ''Archaeological Projects and Discussions with Aren Maeir''. Accessed 2025-2-14.

References

Bibliography

* * *
p.440
) * * * * * * * * * * * (pp
515659124189275
* * * * * (pp.&nbs
291–292
* * * * * * * *
p.158p.161
)

External links

The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project Official (and Unofficial) Weblog
Palestine Remembered
Tall al-Safi

Zochrot Zochrot (; "Remembering"; ; "Memories") is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Nakba, including the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. The group was co-founded by Eitan ...

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 16
IAA Wikimedia commons
at

Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center () is a leading Palestinian arts and culture organization that aims to create a pluralistic, critical liberating culture through research, query, and participation, and that provides an open space for the communit ...

New Technology Interprets Archaeological Findings from Biblical Times - Tel Aviv University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tell Es-Safi 1899 archaeological discoveries Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Castles and fortifications of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Castles in Israel District of Hebron Hebrew Bible cities Philistine cities National parks of Israel Gath (city)