Tel
Arad
divides
into
two
adjoined
sections;
an
Early
Bronze
Canaanite city and an Iron II Judahite fortress.
The
lower
Canaanite
city
was
inhabited
in
the
Early
Bronze
Age
and
was
one
of
the
first
urban
centers
in
the
region.
The
city
flourished
at
the
beginning
of
the
Third
Millennium
BCE
during
few
hundreds
of
years.
The
prosperity
of
that
remote
settlement,
backed
by
the
Egyptian
trade
with
the
southern
Levant,
mainly
of
asphalt,
copper
and
olive
oil.
At
the
time,
when
the
Egyptians
lost
their
interest
in
the
region,
the
city
was
abandoned
and
vanished,
and
ever
since,
has
been
deserted.
Today
you
can
see
the
well-preserved
city
walls,
the
sophisticated
urban
planning,
the
public
establishments
and
some
families dwellings.
The
upper
Judahite
fortress
was
one
of
several
military
strongholds
on
the
trade
route
from
Arabia
in
the
east
to
the
Mediterranean
port
of
Gaza
in
the
west.
The
Arad
and
Beer
Sheva
valleys
prospered
due
to
collaboration,
between
the
Kingdoms
of
Judah
and
Edom
and
the
local
tribes.
They
were
forced
to
maintain
the
trade
route
under
the
order
of the Assyrian rule of the late 8
th
and 7
th
centuries BCE.
Today,
you
can
see
the
small,
impressive
fortress,
observe
the
surrounding
endless
desert
and
visit
the
remains
of
a
7th
century
BCE
Judahite
Temple,
similar
in
concept
to
that
of
the
Jerusalem.
The
temple, is the only one discovered, from the Kingdom of Judah period.
