archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

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 ...

Beit She'an Beit She'an ( '), also known as Beisan ( '), or Beth-shean, is a town in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is believed to ...

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

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 ...

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 ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

Mosaic of Rehob The Mosaic of Reḥob (, also known as the Tel Rehov inscription and the Baraita of the Boundaries), is a late 3rd–6th century Common Era, CE mosaic discovered in 1973. The mosaic, written in late Mishnaic Hebrew, describes the geography 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 ...

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definition ...

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' allotment of the Tribe of Asher, and one more northerly.Rehob
at Bible Study Tools Identification of Tell es-Sarem/Tel Rehov with the ancient

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite and

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 ...

city of Rehov was based on the preservation of the name at the nearby

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic holy tomb of esh-Sheikh er-Rihab (one kilometre; 1000 yards to the south of Tel Rehov), and the existence of the ruins of a Byzantine-period Jewish town that preserved the old name in the form of Rohob or Roōb/Roob (one kilometre; 1000 yards northwest of Tel Rehov). Rehov was one of the largest cities in the region during the 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 ...

(1550–1200 BCE) and

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 ...

I–IIA (1200–900 BCE). During the Late Bronze Age, while

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ruled over

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

, Rehov was mentioned in at least three sources dated between the 15th–13th century BCE, and again in the list of conquests of

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

Shoshenq I, whose campaign took place around 925 BCE.

History

Bronze Age

Excavations revealed an eight meter wide mud brick fortification wall (with glacis) around the upper mound which the excavators attributed to the Early Bronze III period though no city of that period was found. The site was clearly occupied during the Late Bronze I and Late Bronze II periods, from 15th century BC to 13th century BC. Actual occupation from this period was found only on a small area (Area D) of the lower mound with possible exposure in probes on the upper mound. Some Egyptian material, including a scarab with the inscription "Scribe of (the) house of (the) overseer of sealed items, Amenemhat" indicates the town may have been under Egyptian control like other towns in the region, after the time of Thutmose III.

Iron Age

The site was occupied in the Iron Age I and Iron Age II periods, from 12 century BC to 9th century BC. At that point it was destroyed and burnt which the excavators ascribe to the Assyrians in the mid-800s BC. During the Iron Age II, it was a city in the northern Kingdom of Israel. It had an estimated population of 2,000 during the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, according to archaeologist

William G. Dever William Gwinn Dever (born November 27, 1933, Louisville, Kentucky) is an American archaeologist, Biblical scholar, historian, semiticist, and theologian. He is an active Biblical scholar, scholar of the Old Testament, and historian, specialized ...

. In the Levant there is a large Iron Age chronology controversy (similar the even more complicated Chronology of the ancient Near East with which there is some overlap). It is all very tangled with a High Chronology and a Low Chronology and some variants thereof. Given the careful stratigraphy and many radiocarbon dates Tel Rehov has been used to support and deny various chronologies. It has also been identified as a Lowland power center in opposition to the

Omrides The Omride dynasty, Omrides or House of Omri (; ) were the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Samaria founded by King Omri (King of Israel), Omri. The dynasty's rule ended with the murder of Jehoram of Israel by Jehu i ...

.

Greek pottery

From the 10th century BC and 9th century BC (Strata VI to IV) Greek pottery was found in stratified context. This is a useful result in addressing the chronology problems of the Levant (High vs Low) and of Greek pottery.

"Elisha" ostracon

In 2013, a pot

sherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

was found holding a partially preserved

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

, which has been reconstructed as to be the rare name of Elisha, best known as the name of biblical Prophet Elisha. Noah Wiener
Tel Rehov House Associated with the Biblical Prophet Elisha
Bible and archaeology news, July 23, 2013, Biblical Archaeology Society, accessed 13 July 2019 The association with the prophet is tenuous, based on the date of the ostracon (the second half of the ninth century), the rarity of the name, and the geographic vicinity of Elisha's biblical hometown, Abel-meholah; but the name reconstruction is disputed, and the presence of

incense Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremonial reasons. It ...

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

s in the house of the find and throughout Tel Rehov is considered contrary to the teachings of biblical prophets.

Inscriptions

In and near Tel Rehov, inscriptions containing references to the family of Nimshi have been found. King

Jehu Jehu (; , meaning "Jah, Yah is He"; ''Ya'úa'' 'ia-ú-a'' ) was the tenth king of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), northern Kingdom of Israel since Jeroboam I, noted for exterminating the house of Ahab. He was the son of Jehoshaphat (father ...

of Israel, anointed by a disciple of Elisha, is the son, grandson, or otherwise descendant of a certain Nimshi.

Iron Age beehives

The oldest known archaeological finds relating to

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are ...

were discovered at Rehov. In September 2007, it was reported that 30 intact

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure which houses honey bees, subgenus '' Apis.'' Honey bees live in the beehive, raising their young and producing honey as part of their seasonal cycle. Though the word ''beehive'' is used to describe the nest of ...

s and the remains of 100–200 more dated to the mid-10th century BCE to the early 9th century BCE were found (Strata V, Area C) by archaeologists in the ruins of Rehov. The hives had been destroyed by fire. The beehives were evidence of an advanced

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

-producing

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are ...

(apiculture) industry almost 3000 years ago in the city, thought to have had a population of about 2000 residents at that time, both

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 ...

and Canaanite. The beehives, made of

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry wikt:stalk, stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the crop yield, yield by weight of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, ry ...

and unbaked

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, were found in orderly rows of 100 hives each. Each individual beehive was shaped as a hollow cylinder measuring ca. 80 cm in length and 40 cm in diameter, with ca. 4 cm. thick walls. One end of the cylinder was sealed, with only a small hole in its center that allowed the bees to enter and exit the hive. Previously, references to honey in ancient texts of the region (such as the phrase "land of milk and honey" in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' "honey" produced from dates and figs; the discoveries show evidence of commercial production of bee honey and

beeswax Bee hive wax complex Beeswax (also known as cera alba) is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in o ...

. In addition to beehives, the remains of bees and bee larvae and pupae were also found. In 2010, using

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

from the remains of bees found at the site, researchers identified the bees as a subspecies, similar to the Anatolian bee, found now only in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It is possible that the bees' range has changed, but more likely that the inhabitants of Tel Rehov imported bees because they were less aggressive than the local bees and provided a better honey yield (three to eight times higher than Israel's native bees). Supporting archaeological knowledge include evidence of other imports in Rehov from eastern Mediterranean lands; later Egyptian documentation of transferring bees in large pottery vases or portable beehives; and an

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n stele from the 8th century BCE that evidences that bees had been brought from the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...

of southern Turkey to the land of Suhu—about the same distance as between the Taurus and Rehov (). The beehives were dated by

carbon-14 Carbon-14, C-14, C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

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 ...

at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, using organic material (

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 ...

found next to the beehives). Ezra Marcus of the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

, said the finding was a glimpse of ancient beekeeping seen in

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

ern texts and

ancient art Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the Advanced culture, advanced cultures of History of society, ancient societies with different Writing system, forms of writing, such as those of Ancient China, China, Ancient India, India ...

. Religious practice was evidenced by an

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

decorated with

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

s found alongside the hives.

Archaeology

The site of Tel Rehov consists of an upper and lower mound with a total area, including mound slopes, of 11 hectares (27 acres). The total area of the mound tops is 7 hectares (17 acres). The site was inspected by W.F. Albright in the 1920s, identifying the main occupation period as being the 13th to 10th century BC. In the 1940s Avraham Bergman and Ruth Brandstater inspected Tel Rehov. While there they found a

Proto-Canaanite Proto-Canaanite is the name given to: # The Proto-Sinaitic script when found in Canaan, dating to about the 17th century BC and later. # A hypothetical ancestor of the Phoenician script before some cut-off date, typically 1050 BC, with an undefin ...

inscription in the topsoil. In the following decades some local residents collected items from the site, including a cylinder seal from the Old Babylonian period. After full surface surveys and a geophysical study of the lower mound in 1995–1996 modern archaeological excavations were conducted for 11 seasons between 1997 and 2012 under the directorship of Amihai Mazar, Professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and with the primary sponsorship of writer John Camp. Seven occupation strata were established with the uppermost (Strata I) representing scattered Islamic finds and the rest (Strata II to VII) being Iron Age. The lower mound was abandoned after Strata IV. No strata were established for the Bronze Age as results in this period were scanty and primarily on a small part of the lower mound. Among the finds, recovered in the 2003 season, was a 10th century BC jar with 2 identical three letter Proto-Canaanite inscriptions. In 2002 a small rescue excavation occurred after ditching damaged several Bronze Age shaft tombs on the fringes of the site. Besides human remains, pottery fragments, ostrich egg-shell fragments, and two complete bronze daggers were found.

Nearby sites

Ancient synagogue

Remains of a mainly

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

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

built in three successive phases between the fourth and the seventh century CE were found at the site of Tulul Farwana ("mounds of Farwana"), now part of the agricultural lands of

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Ein HaNetziv. Among the remains of the synagogue archaeologists found a relatively well-preserved mosaic pavement, the narthex part of which includes a very long sixth-century inscription in

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

; the so-called

Mosaic of Rehob The Mosaic of Reḥob (, also known as the Tel Rehov inscription and the Baraita of the Boundaries), is a late 3rd–6th century Common Era, CE mosaic discovered in 1973. The mosaic, written in late Mishnaic Hebrew, describes the geography and ...

, Tel Rehov inscription or Baraita of the Boundaries with details of Jewish religious laws concerning "the Borders of the Land of Israel" (''Baraitha di-Tehumin''),

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

s and the Sabbatical Year.Rachel Hachlili, "Ancient Synagogues - Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research", p
254
BRILL, 2013. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East, . Accessed 15 July 2019. During an archaeological survey of the abandoned structures standing at Farwana, there was found a marble-

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

with a relief of a seven-branched menorah, believed to have once enclosed the raised rostrum of the synagogue. Today, the marble-parapet with its menorah relief is on display at the synagogue in Kibbutz Ein HaNetziv. Later, children from the kibbutz discovered nearby one of the abandoned structures a cache of gold coins, which discovery prompted a more thorough investigation of the site, under the tutelage of archaeologist Fanny Vitto. An excavation of the site by her team led to the discovery of the aforementioned mosaic.

Byzantine era town

During 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 ...

era, a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

town that preserved the old name in the form of Rohob or Roob, stood one kilometre (1000 yards) northwest of Tel Rehov, at Khirbet

Farwana Farwana (), was a Palestinian people, Palestinian village, located south of Bet Shean, Bisan, depopulated in 1948. History and archaeology Identification and periods of settlement The Tell (archaeology), tell, or archaeological mound, of Tell ...

/Horbat Parva and was mentioned by Eusebius as being on the fourth mile from Scythopolis, modern-day Beit She'an/Bisan. Archaeological work at Farwana has also exposed pottery and other finds from 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 Persian,

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

, Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods.Yardenna Alexandre, 2017
Horbat Parva: Final Report
Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel (HA-ESI), volume 129, year 2017, Israel Antiquities Authority, accessed 15 July 2019

References

External links

Tel Rehov Excavations
- page includes volunteer information, preliminary reports and an image gallery.

- A two-minute video clip concerning the discovery of a beehive industry at Tel Rehov, produced by an independent documentary film group, and includes a brief interview with Dr. Amihai Mazar, director of the Tel Rehov excavations. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehov Archaeological sites in Israel Ancient Jewish settlements of Samaria Moshavim Beekeeping 2007 archaeological discoveries Geography of Northern District (Israel) Tells (archaeology) Elisha

Identification

History

Bronze Age

Iron Age

Greek pottery

"Elisha" ostracon

Inscriptions

Iron Age beehives

Archaeology

Nearby sites

Ancient synagogue

Byzantine era town

See also

References

External links