ABSTRACT
Ramat Rachel is an important Iron Age II B, C ruin located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem (see Figure 64). In 1931 Benjamin Mazar and Moshe Stekelis excavated a burial cave on the site but the major excavation of the ruin began in 1954, when Yohanan Aharoni began four seasons of work that ended in 1962. Based upon his discoveries and the biblical textual evidence (mainly Jer. 6: 1; Neh. 3: 14; Josh. 15: 59 (in the Greek Bible)), he identified the site with ancient Beth-haccherem (“house of the vineyard”). Gabriel Barkay also excavated two trenches here in 1984 for Tel Aviv University and the
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jar handles (the other three towns mentioned on the handles are: Hebron, Ziph, and Sochoh; mmssˇt has never been successfully identified).
