Tell el-Far'ah (South)

Tell el-Far'ah (South), also transliterated Tell el-Fārʿa, is an archaeological site on the bank of HaBesor Stream in the northern Negev region in Israel. Not to be confused with the site Tell el-Far'ah (North). It is located between the modern settlements of Ein HaBesor and Urim, some 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the modern city of Ofakim and 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Gaza City.

TypeTell

LocationIsrael

RegionNorthern Negev, Israel

MaterialMud brick

Quick facts Type, Location ...

Tell el-Far'ah
Tell el-Far'ah Shown in Israel
31°16′56.8″N 34°28′57.7″E
Type	Tell
Location	Israel
Region	Northern Negev, Israel
Site notes
Material	Mud brick
Excavation dates	1928-29, 1977, 1998-2002
Archaeologists	Flinders Petrie, Rudolph Cohen, Gunnar Lehmann

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Archaeology

The site runs about 185 meters N to S and about 115 meters E to W with a total area of around 2 hectares, with World War I trenching and modern graves present in some areas. The British Western Negev Expedition surveyed the area around Tell el-Far'ah (South) in 1972 to 1973 finding a Byzantine site 1 kilometer away and a Paleolithic site across the wadi.^[1]^[2] It was first excavated by Flinders Petrie and E. McDonald for three seasons from 1928 to 1930. An advance team including Olga Tufnell and James Leslie Starkey had arrived in 1927 to begin work.^[3] Petrie focused primarily on graves and tombs.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] Rudolph Cohen directed salvage excavations at the site in 1977.^[9] The site was again excavated, after a survey season in 1998, in 1999 (with Claremont Graduate University) and 2002 (with Rostock University) by a team from Ben-Gurion University led by Gunnar Lehmann.^[10]^[11]^[12] Finds included a small ostracon fragment which read "To Our Lord" in an early Canaanite alphabetic script.^[13]

Identification

As of 1993^[update], the actual identification was still in dispute.^[14]

Flinders Petrie identified the site with Beit Pelet in the territory of the Tribe of Judah.^[5] William F. Albright identified the site with Sharuhen, which appears in Egyptian and Biblical sources.^[15] N. Na'aman proposed identifying the site with Biblical Shur.^[16] E. A. Knauf [de] and H. M. Niemann [de] locate Ziklag at the site.^[17]

History

Middle Bronze Age

The site was lightly occupied beginning in the Middle Bronze Age IIB-IIC/III (c. 1600 BC). The town had fortifications, a city gate, and a moat and is generally identified as a Hyksos settlement.

Late Bronze Age

Starting around 1500 BC many of the numerous city-states of southern Canaan came under direct Egyptian control or became vassal states.

19th Dynasty

During the 19th dynasty, the area was under direct control of Seti I (1294–1279 BC), Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC), Merneptah (1213–1203 BC). It is believed that the site of Tell el-Far’ah (South) became an Egyptian administrative center and garrison during this time. A large, 600 square meter, monumental building was constructed (called the "Governor’s Residency" by Petrie). It was built of mud bricks on a baked brick foundation using Egyptian methods.^[18] Egyptian finds included pottery, scarabs, amulets, and two bowls with Egyptian hieratic inscriptions (related to tax collection). There is scholarly debate of whether Egyptians were living at the site or "Egyptian inspired" locals.^[19]^[20] Seti II is the last Pharaoh mentioned by finds at the site, before the site was destroyed.

Iron Age

Philistine period

The Petrie excavation found a large number of tombs and graves with pottery having a close connection with Mycenae Greek which Petrie termed "Philistine", a designation which has been maintained. These remains lie above a destruction layer which contained a jar shard with the mark of Egyptian pharaoh Seti II (c. 1203 BC to 1197 BC) which sets a "no earlier than" date for the "Philistine" finds.^[21]

In Iron I, the fauna of Tell el-Far’ah South was different than that of the Philistine sites, notwithstanding the fact that the material culture was strongly influenced by the Philistine culture.^[22]

In Area 1^[23]:

Stratum 1-8b (Iron IB) pottery compared with Philistines and Arad.
Stratum 1-8a (Iron IIA1) pottery has a distinct regional and local style.
Stratum 1-7 (Iron IIA2) pottery compared with Philistines and Lachish.
Stratum 1-6 (Iron IIA3, 800/790 BCE)
Stratum 1-5 (Iron IIB)

Classical Age

After a possible break in Neo-Babylonian times the site was lightly occupied in Persian and Hellenistic periods, with somewhat greater activity in the Roman period.^[24]^[25] Several ostraca were discovered in Tell el-Far'ah during Sir Flinders Petrie's excavations there. One, dated to 300 BCE, recorded a payment to "Shebi the Arab" (ls̆by 'arby), a name that also appears in Safaitic and Nabatean Aramaic inscriptions from other sites in the region.^[26]

Ottoman period

During the Ottoman period, the area was inhabited by the Bedouin tribe of 'Arab al-Jubarat (عرب الجبارات).^[27]

References

[1]
GILEAD, ISAAC. “A Middle Paleolithic Open-Air Site Near Tell Far’ah, Western Negev: Preliminary Report.” Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 30, no. 1/2, 1980, pp. 52–62
[2]
Tubb, Jonathan N. "The pottery from a Byzantine well near Tell Fara." Palestine exploration quarterly 118.1 (1986): 51-65
[3]
Green, John D. M., and Ros Henry, editors. "Tell Fara, 1927-9. Olga Tufnell’s “Perfect Journey”: Letters and Photographs of an Archaeologist in the Levant and Mediterranean", UCL Press, 2021, pp. 59–103
[4]
W. M. F. Petrie, "Gerar", Publications of the Egyptian Research Account and British School of Archaeology in Egypt 43; London, 1928
[5]
W. M. F. Petrie, "Beth-Pelet I (Tell Fara). With a Chapter by O. Tijfnell", Publications of the Egyptian Research Account and British School of Archaeology in Egypt 48; London, 1930
[6]
Macdonald, E. et. al., "Beth Pelet II: Prehistoric Fara (BSAE 52).", 1932
[7]
J. G. Duncan, J. G., "Corpus of Dated Palestinian Pottery. Including Pottery of Gerar and Beth-Pelet Dated and Arranged by Sir F. Petrie and Beads of Beth-Pelet Dated and Arranged by J. L. Starkey", London, 1930
[8]
D. Price Williams, "The Tombs of the Middle Bronze Age II Period from the '500' Cemetery at Tell Fara (South)", University of London. Institute of Archaeology. Occasional Publication 1; London, 1977
[9]
Rudolph Cohen, "Tell el-Far'ah (South)", Israel Exploration Journal 27, 170, 1977
[10]
Gunnar Lehmann and T.J. Schneider, "Tell el-Farʿah (South), 1999 and 2000.", Israel Exploration Journal 50: 258–61, 2000
[11]
Lehmann, Gunnar, et al. “Excavations at ‘Tell El-Fārʿa’ (South), 1998-2002.” Zeitschrift Des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins (1953-), vol. 134, no. 2, 2018, pp. 109–50
[12]
Gunnar Lehmann and T.J. Schneider, "Tell el-Farah (South) 1999 Ostracon", Ugarit-Forschungen 31, 251-254, 1999
[13]
Lehman, Gunnar, and Tammi J. Schneider. "A New Ostracon from Tell El-Far˒ah (South)." Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 63, no. 2, 2000, pp. 113–113
[14]
Rainey, A.F. (1993), "Sharhan/Sharuhen, the Problem of Identification", Eretz Israel 24, pp. 178-187.
[15]
W. F. Albright (1929), "Progress in Palestinian Archaeology during the Year 1928", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 33, pp. 1-10.
[16]
Na'aman, N. (1980). "The Shihor of Egypt and Shur that is nefore Egypt". Tel Aviv. 7 (1–2). Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University: 95–109. doi:10.1179/033443580788441125. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
[17]
Knauf, E. A. and Niemann, H. M. (2011), Tell el-Far'ah South Ostracon 1027 and a New Identification for the Site, Ugarit-Forschungen [de] 43, pp. 273-282.
[18]
Yannai, E., "A Stratigraphic and Chronological Reappraisal of the “Governor’s Residence” at Tell el-Farʿah (South).", Pp. 368–76 in Aharon Kempinski Memorial Volume: Studies in Archaeology and Related Disciplines, ed. E. Oren and S. Aḥituv. Beer Sheva 15. Beersheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 2002
[19]
Susan L. Braunstein., "The Meaning of Egyptian-Style Objects in the Late Bronze Cemeteries of Tell El-Farʿah (South)." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 364, 2011, pp. 1–36. doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0001
[20]
Goldwasser, O., and Wimmer, S., "Hieratic Fragments from Tell el-Farʿah (South).", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 313: 39–42, 1999
[21]
McClellan, Thomas L., "Chronology of the ‘Philistine’ Burials at Tell El-Far’ah (South)." Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 6, no. 1, 1979, pp. 57–73
[22]
https://www.palaestina-verein.de/wp/wordpress/?portfolio=tell-el-farah-su%CC%88d-analysen-archoeozoologischer-funde&lang=en
[23]
Niemann, H. M. (2018). Lehmann-GoldingMeir-Neumeier-Niemann Excavations at Tell el- Fara´ (South) 1998-2002.pdf. Zeitschrift Des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 134(2), 109–150.
[24]
Lehmann, Gunnar. "The Persian and Hellenistic Periods in the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Excavations at Tell el-Far’ah (South), 1998-2002."
[25]
Iliffe, J.H., "A Tell Fara Tomb Group Reconsidered: Silver Vessels of the Persian Period.", Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 4: 182-186, 1935
[26]
Graf, David Franck (1 January 2003). Sartre, Maurice (ed.). "Arabs in Syria: Demography and epigraphy". Topoi. La Syrie hellénistique. 13 (Suppl. 4). Lyon, France: Société des Amis de la bibliothèque Salomon-Reinach/Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux (Fédération de recherche sur les sociétés anciennes): 310–340. ISSN 2496-7114 – via Persée.
[27]
Marom, Roy (2025-01-01). "Vines Among the dunes: sand/dune agriculture in Rimāl Isdūd/Ashdod-Yam during the Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods". Contemporary Levant: 7.