ABSTRACT
Writing about the archaeology of Hebron, Avi Ofer expresses regret that it is impossible to carry out fundamental excavations in the town and its vicinity, particularly as there are no publications of the results of earlier archaeological works.1 Ofer identies the biblical town of Hebron2 with Tell Hebron, and considers that Haram el-Khalil (including the cave of Machpelah) is the remnant of a construction developed during the Second Temple, while the contemporary town of Hebron was a settlement also originating in the time of the Second Temple. Furthermore, Jebel Nimra and Haram Ramath el-Khalil (researchers do not agree on this) are identied with Mamre. The excavations in Tell Hebron uncovered remains dating from the Early Bronze Age. In the stratum from the Middle Bronze Age (in the S region), cuneiform script containing proper names and the number of sheep and goats (maybe a count of sacricial beasts) was found on clay tablets, as was the imprint of a scarab dated from the 12th Dynasty. Also discovered were ashes and the bones of sheep and goats.3 Ofer contends that during the middle Bronze period Hebron was the capital of a kingdom and that the names on the tablets are evidence of the western Semitic (Amorite) origin of the people, as well as of the presence of a Huritic minority.4 During the Bronze Age the town’s importance 1. A. Ofer, “Hebron,” in NEAEHL, 2:606-609 (607). 2. It is, unfortunately, difcult to ascertain what Ofer understands by the word “biblical.” What he probably means are the times of the united monarchy, but just the mere fact that the archaeological terminology has been mixed with the biblical indicates how far the archaeology of Palestine is presently subject to ideologisation. 3. Ofer, “Hebron.” 4. Ibid., 608.
