Lavnin (''Hurvat Libnah'' / ''Tel Lavnin'' / ''Kh. Tell el-Beida'')()(), is a

late 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 ...

archaeological site situated in Israel's Adullam region, rising some above sea level. The site lies northwest of Beit Gubrin, and about 1 kilometer west-north-west of Khirbat Umm Burj, directly south of Nehusha. In April 2019, the

Jerusalem District The Jerusalem District (; ) is one of the six administrative districts of Israel. The district capital is Jerusalem and its total land area is 652 km2. The population of 1,159,900 is 66.3% Jewish and 32.1% Arab. A fifth (21%) of the Arab ...

Planning and Building Committee announced that the site would be incorporated into a new national park in the Judean

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 ...

, called the "Lavnin Ridge Nature Reserve and National Park," an area to span over 1,000 dunams (250

acres The acre ( ) is a unit of land area used in the British imperial and the United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, ...

) within the

Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Mateh Yehuda Regional Council (, ''Mo'atza Azorit Mateh Yehuda'', ) is a Regional council (Israel), regional council in the Jerusalem District of Israel. In 2024 it was home to 51,125 people. The name of the regional council stems from the fact t ...

Etymology and identification

The name ''Lavnin'' is a reflection of popular etymology, the modern Hebrew name being a translation of the Arabic word ''Beida'', meaning "white." Others say that its modern name represents "the hill of bricks," hence: Tell Livnin (''livanim''), based on a different pronunciation of the

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 ...

that is typically written without vowels.Notley, R.S. & Safrai, Z. (2005), p. 19, note 47 Archaeologists are divided as to the site's original name, some holding the view that it may have been the

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

Libnah ( Joshua 15:42; 21:13) based on its Arabic name, while others thought it to have been the Chezib of Judah, or the Azekah (Joshua 10:10–11) mentioned by Epiphanius. Depending on whether the site was the same as ''Lobana'', as described by

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

in his '' Onomasticon'' as "now being a village in Eleutheropolitana" (in the vicinity of Beit Gubrin), the town would have still been settled and occupied as late as the 4th-century CE. Archaeologist Boaz Zissu rejects the notion that the site could have been Chezib of Judah, saying that "since ''Khirbet Tell el-Bēḍā'' / ''Tel Lavnīn'' was clearly occupied during the

Byzantine Period 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 History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, it is questionable whether this site is the same as Eusebius’ ruined ''Chasbi''." Others proposed that Libnah may be the ruin known as '' Tell eṣ-Ṣāfi'', a view now largely rejected. Travellers C.W.M. van de Velde and H.B. Tristram both placed the ancient ruin of Libnah at the ruin called '' ʻIrâq el-Menshiyeh'', where Kiryat Gat now stands; this view is also now largely rejected. Lt. Col. Conder of the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

professed to be uncertain about the site of the biblical Libnah, and was equally unfamiliar with the connection between the Arabic name ''el-Beida'' and Libnah (= "white"), although acknowledging that "it (Libnah) indicates the 'white' chalk of the Southern

, and it was taken by

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

(Joshua 10:30) after Makkedah and before Lachish and Hebron."

Flora and fauna

The Mediterranean plants endemic to the area are the Palestine oak ('' Quercus calliprinos''), terebinth ('' Pistacia atlantica''), lentisk ('' Pistacia lentiscus''), buckthorn ('' Rhamnus lycioides''), and strawberry tree ('' Arbutus andrachne''). Some of these trees have protected status. The area abounds also in fowl such as the partridge ('' Alectoris chukar''), the honey-sucker, the bulbul ('' Pycnonotus xanthopygos''), the black-headed bunting, and the titmouse. The species of agamid lizard, Laudakia stellio, and hares ('' Lepus'') are also common to this region. More rarely, the mongoose (''

Herpestes ichneumon The Egyptian mongoose (''Herpestes ichneumon''), also known as ichneumon (), is a mongoose species native to the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands of Africa and around the Mediterranean Basin in North Africa, the Mi ...

'') and the honey-badger ('' Mellivora capensis'') may be seen.

Archaeology

Lieut. H. H. Kitchener of the

visited the site between the years 1874–75 and noted many caves, in one of which there were 120 niches in the wall, apparently used for urns. The site is similar to many of those in the region, having a network of underground hiding complexes, thought to date back to the

Bar Kokhba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD) was a major uprising by the Jews of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea against the Roman Empire, marking the final and most devastating of the Jewish–Roman wars. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels succeeded ...

. During an archaeological survey of the site in 1998, Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Boaz Zissu described what appeared to be a "lion's den" at ''Tel Lavnin'' (having a side-entrance and an observation point from above), a

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

ritual bath (''

mikveh A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...

''), burial tombs from the same period, fortifications, and

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 ...

era graffiti on the walls. In 2001, , on behalf of the IAA, conducted a second survey of the site,IAA Report on ''Tel Lavnin'' – 2001
/ref> which abounds with burial caves, and contains a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

, along with water cisterns carved into the bedrock. A decorated lintel rests at the top of the hill. A small area containing two pits and a room with an arched vault built of

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stones was exposed in the northeastern part.

Gallery

File:Cistern at Lavnin.jpg, Deep cistern at the Lavnin ruin File:חורבת לבנין 1.JPG, Cave entrance at Lavnin File:Lavnin Ruins - Kh. Tell el-Beida.jpg, Open pit at the Lavnin ruins File:Pit at Lavnin.jpg, Gaping hole of pit File:Ruins at Lavnin.jpg, General ruins at Lavnin (Kh. Tell el-Beida) File:Stone structures at Lavnin.jpg, Stone relics at Lavnin ruin File:View from Lavnin.jpg, View of valley below Kh. Tell el-Beida File:Wall at Lavnin.jpg, Wall structure at Lavnin File:Hilltop ruin of Khurbet el Beida.jpg, Hilltop ruin of Tell el-Beida (Lavnin) File:Burial cave entrance.jpg, Jewish burial cave and blocking stone

References

Bibliography

* *, s.v. ''Lebna'' * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21:
IAAWikimedia commons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavnin Mateh Yehuda Regional Council Ancient sites in Israel Former populated places in Israel District of Jerusalem Archaeological sites in Israel Canaanite cities Biblical geography Bronze Age sites in Israel Ancient Israel and Judah Hebrew Bible cities Tells (archaeology) Bar Kokhba hiding complexes