Horvat Uza () is an archaeological site located in the northeast of the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

desert in

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 ...

. The site is located in the east of the Arad Valley and overlooks Nahal Qinah (Qinah Valley). In ancient times, forts were established there to control the

wadi Wadi ( ; ) is a river valley or a wet (ephemerality, ephemeral) Stream bed, riverbed that contains water only when heavy rain occurs. Wadis are located on gently sloping, nearly flat parts of deserts; commonly they begin on the distal portion ...

road, linking Judea to

Arabah The Arabah/Araba () or Aravah/Arava () is a loosely defined geographic area in the Negev Desert, south of the Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. The old meaning, which was in use ...

and the territory of

Edom Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...

. It was mentioned as ''Qina'' by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

in book 15 of his Antiquities. Several inscribed potsherds with inscriptions in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, dated to the 7th-century BCE, were found in Horvat Uza.

Archaeology

The site was first excavated in the 1950s by Nahman Avigad. The excavations revealed that the site was inhabited from the Iron Age II (9th-6th centuries BCE) until the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period (4th-7th centuries CE). The site was abandoned in the 6th century BCE, possibly due to the destruction of the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

by the Babylonians. The most notable finds from the site are a number of inscribed potsherds with inscriptions in Hebrew. The inscriptions date to the 7th century BCE and mention the name of the site, “Uza”. The inscriptions also mention the names of several people, including a man named “Ahaz” and a woman named “Ataliah”.

References

External links

* Photo of Horvat Uza ostracon, inscribed with the text "Ten: Menahem son of H �� Neryahu son of Semak ahu Neryahu son of Mishk na u Netanyahu son of Hoteb; Uriyahu son of Shelem ahu Gedalyahu son of Uriyah Yadinyahu son of Shephat ahu Hoduyahu son of ��" {{Authority control Ancient sites in Israel Former populated places in West Asia Iron Age sites in Israel Establishments in the Kingdom of Judah