Tel
Beer
Sheva
was
recognized
by
UNESCO
as
a
World
Heritage
Site, in a case of its best representation of the biblical period.
The
site
settled
as
early
as
the
Chalcolithic
period
(fourth
millennium
BCE)
and
mentioned
in
the
bible
as
the
dwelling
place
of
the
founder
father,
Abraham.
At
the
Iron
Age
II,
Beer
Sheva
was
the
administrative
and
military
center
of
the
Kingdom
of
Judah.
In
several
places
in
the
bible,
Beer
Sheva
described
as
the
southern
border
of
the
Kingdoms
of
Israel
and
Judea.
The
city
was
destroyed
during
the
Assyrian
King
Sennacherib
campaign
against
Judah
in
701
BCE
and
has
never really recovered since then.
Today
you
can
visit
the
fortified
Tel
Beer
Sheva
(also
known
as
Tel
Sheva)
and
see
a
good
example
of
the
Iron
II
Age
civil
and
military
architecture.
At
the
site,
you
can
find
the
four-chambered
gate,
a
casemate
wall,
an
impressive
water
system,
pillars
warehouses,
dwellings
and
a
four-horn
altar.
This
altar
type
is
the
first
ever
unearthed
in
Israel;
it
has
the
same
size
and
shape
as
the
altars
description in the bible.
