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Tel Beer Sheva, Beer Sheva River and tributary, Abraham's Well
A 10-minute drive from today's Be'er Sheva along Highway 40, near the Shoket intersection, a little south of the settlement of Omer, is Tel Be'er Sheva National Park.
Archaeological excavations here were carried out in 1969-1975 under the direction of Professor Yohanan Aharoni and in 1976 under the direction of Professor Ze'ev Herzog.
Tel Be'er Sheva is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The first fortified settlement on the site of Tel Beersheba dates back to the time of the Judges in the 11th century BC, before or at the very beginning of the reigns of Saul and King David. The main layers and excavated buildings date back to the 9th century BC, during the reign of the Kingdom of Judah.
It is believed that the city was probably destroyed by Sennacherib around 700 BC and then abandoned for about 300 years. After this, traces of early Persian, Hellenistic and Roman settlements, and later Arab presence, were discovered in the city.
Efforts have been made to locate the earliest settlements, and the four earliest layers have been discovered at the bedrock level. The earliest settlement at Tel Be'er Sheva, dating back to the Iron Age (stratum IX), or 12-11 centuries BC, numbered about 100-140 people.
The construction of houses can be seen for the first time on layer VIII, which dates back to the 11th century. In 1993-1995 Herzog discovered the city's water supply system dating back to the Iron Age (Israelite period).
Until the beginning of the last century, one of the operating wells in the center of modern Beersheba, approximately 5 kilometers from here, bore the name “Abraham’s Well”.
Modern Beersheba, built to the west of the ancient hill, is the largest Israeli city in the Negev Desert.
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