Talk:Tel Be'er Sheva

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I found this intriging...'The name is derived from the Hebrew Be'er, meaning a well, and Sheva, meaning "to swear an oath."'

So?? we're talking, Wishing Wells?? (as opposed to wishing someone NOT well..?) Maybe check for temple treasures at the bottom of said wells, too? just a thought. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.218.248.127 (talk) 01:45, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Please see Beersheba#Etymology.--Johnsoniensis (talk) 10:56, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Which periods are documented?

Modern Be'er Sheva has been built from scratch by the Ottomans in 1900. There was nothing there. At Tell Sheva, east of the modern city, all findings described are from the Iron Age. Where was the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Bersheba? At the tell, at the Ottoman city, at a 3rd nearby location, or at several different sites in the area (the name migrated more than once)? As always: first, we need a clear definition; only then comes an article. Otherwise we're just misleading the user with chaotic collections of unrelated data.
Beware: the Bedouin township with the Hebrew name of Tel Sheva, almost identical to the scholarly name of the biblical tell, is confusing things additionally. Arminden (talk) 16:13, 16 August 2020 (UTC)

@Arminden: It is a bit confusing indeed. Some links to the modern Bedouin town should go to this article instead. Also, it is not quite correct that nothing was at Beersheba before 1900. It is marked as "BEERSHEBA (Kh. Bir es Seba)" on the PEF map (1870s) and appears as a named locality on other old maps. It wasn't a town of permanent buildings, but it was a notable crossroads and meeting place. Zero^talk 08:11, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

@Zero0000: hi. I see. "Crossroads" can be confusing when there were no roads. Caravans, Bedouin herds etc. follow a general route dictated by topography and watering holes (wells etc.). So 2-3 km this or that way can dometimes make no or little difference. You have n tracks running parallel to each other over many miles. Sometimes, depending on the season, one found tent camps in the area, next to a well or wadi. Not relevant for my question. And a khirba can be very old or quite new, as long as it's abandoned. Look at the 1900 photos: nothing, nada, except for the handfull of brandnew Turkish admin. buildings. I expect answers for those familiar with archaeological work: what was found where? Which period was documented at what site? European-style maps take a simplifying approach, often from a military perspective. Modern Beersheba is a sprawling city, we're getting into the same type of trouble as with findings from Shuafat making journalists write that Jerusalem is older than we thought. Total nonsense. However, Jerusalem is on the ridge, a smaller distance make two settlements be clearly distinct from each other than is the case in the desert. There are two "wells of Abraham" shown to tourists, one at Tell Sheva and one in Turkish Beersheba. Wells are indeed creating settlements. That would be smth to go by. But archaeological surveys and digs, and if we're lucky old texts, are the only hard proof - and what's in the article is also based on that, just that hete it's taken from superficial tertiary sources. Arminden (talk) 08:53, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

@Arminden: I have driven on desert roads that look like what you describe. But anyway Bir es Saba was important because it had two magnificent wells. Not the two you mention (though one might be). Robinson visited in 1838 and gave a detailed description of them. One was 12.5 ft in diameter and 44.5 ft down to the water surface, the other was 55 rods (276m) to the SSW and 5 ft in diameter and 42 ft deep. (This is much too close for one of them to be at Tell Be'er Sheva.) He also says that although no ruins were visible from the wells, the hills to the north were covered with them. He notes that two 14th century travelers recorded no inhabitants but churches that were still standing. There is clearly a lot more to be sorted out here, including the problem of which travelers got Bir es Saba and Tell Beer Sheba confused. Zero^talk 09:22, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Great, we're getting somewhere. Yes, the ridiculous theme-park (see here) is probably the 5m well Robinson saw. (To me it doesn't look 12m in diametre, but I'm not great with that.) Hills with ruins - that's what I mean. Could be one site, or several, probably the latter. With one name or a bunch of names. The Bedouin certainly have a name for each hill, but I mean settlements with distinct names, inhabited in succession or simultaneously. Scholars would know some answers, maybe not all, but much more than the usual popular science nonsense that draws a straight continuous line from the Chalcolithic, through Abraham, David, their cousin twice removed, Herzl's poodle, and today's city. Arminden (talk) 09:35, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Sorry, I misread. 12 ft, some 4 m in diametre - that's the one in the theme-park. Arminden (talk) 09:36, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

See see, there's already an article with both Robinson's and Conder's descriptions, Abraham's well. Conder writes that the larger well, entirely or in large parts, is 12th century CE, according to in situ dedicatory plaque. Arminden (talk) 09:46, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Iron Age II Chronology

An anonymus editor in 2015 inserted in the section on the Iron Age II a claim that a fortified settlement formerly attributed to King Saul should now be redated to the late 10th or 9th century BCE. However, of the three sources provided in support of that claim, none of them deal directly with the chronology of Tel Be'er Sheva in particular; they deal with the chronology of the Iron Age in the Levant in general. Besides, of those three sources, only Boaretto (2005) and Finkelstein & Piasetzky (2009) would support a Lower Chronology, while Mazar (2011) advocates a higher one, so I do not know why the later is cited at all.

Given that such statement in the article is not properly sourced and that it contradicts the position of the excavators at the site, who place the start of the fortified settlement phase in the mid-10th century BCE, I think it should be deleted from the article unless we find a better source in its support. Potatín5 (talk) 12:07, 10 December 2022 (UTC)