A Tour of Khirbet Qeiyafa – “Shaaraim”

Khirbet Qeiyafa – An important Biblical site which is rarely visited

I love taking people to sites that bring the stories of the Bible to life for them. It’s one of the main reasons that I became a tour guide.

One site that really accomplishes this is Khirbet Qeiyafa. It’s a site which brings to life what Israel was like in the time of King David. Furthermore, its discovery was revolutionary in the world of Biblical Archaeology, yet it’s rarely visited on standard tours of Israel. This is mainly because it’s a bit difficult to reach and doesn’t appear on the maps. Its funny name doesn’t help its PR much either!

Aerial view of Khirbet Qeiyafa

The team of archaeologists who excavated Khirbet Qeiyafa recently announced that they have concluded their work there and are moving on to other sites. That makes this a great time to do a rundown of this awesome site. So I made sure to take a bunch of pictures the last few times I guided people there and here it goes!

Background

Khirbet Qeiyafa is a small circular site of 5.5 acres on a hill above the Elah Valley. It is just above the orchards of Kibbutz Netiv Halamed Hey.

Orchards of Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed Hey from Khirbet Qeiyafa

The site was first noted by archaeologists as early as the 1860’s, but until recently everyone assumed it was an abandoned Arab village. Only in 2005 did a survey by Israeli archaeologists notice that the site was surrounded by ancient fortifications.

In 2007 a team from the Hebrew University led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel began excavating the site. The same team continued their excavations season after season until they decided to conclude this past summer.

Over several years of excavation, this tiny site has managed to yield many fascinating finds which cast light on the period of King David. But what’s most interesting is that it has managed to prove to the world of science that King David was indeed the king of a thriving kingdom. This is something which is clear to those of us who believe in the Bible, but it was not taken seriously by most archaeologists until recently and Khirbet Qeiyafa is the reason they have had to change their view!

How does this site prove David was a real king?

Until Khirbet Qeiyafa was excavated, the vast majority of archaeologists theorised that David was more of a small time tribal leader than king of a kingdom.

They based this on the fact that they had found little evidence of the types of things you would expect of a kingdom, such as fortresses, planned cities etc. The few sites that they had found, they interpreted as being from much later than David.

Khirbet Qeiyafa proved this to be wrong! Here’s how:

Only one layer of ruins makes dating simple

Most archaeological sites have many layers of settlement. This can make it difficult to always be sure which items are from which period. Khirbet Qeiyafa on the other hand has only one layer. This means that whatever we find there, we know that it is all from the same period.

One of the things they found there were many olive pits. They sent some of them for radiocarbon dating and found they date back to the 10th century BCE! The same time as David! They also found hundreds of animal bones there and they were all from Kosher animals. This together with other finds we will talk about, led them to conclude that this was a Jewish city. Now, since this is a planned site, built with very large stones, it is clear that it was built by a central government. Meaning that David stood at the head of an organized kingdom.

More signs of a Davidic Kingdom

But wait, there’s more! They also found thousands of pieces of pottery. They had found this same pottery at other sites in Israel, but they always assumed it was from a much later date. The new dating of this site, pushed back the dating of many other sites in Israel, showing that they too were from the time of David.

Also, among this pottery, they found over 600 jug handles with a circular imprint which was used to mark the contents as belonging to the government. This implies that Khirbet Qeiyafa was a sort of regional center for collecting taxes and defending the area.

My guests spot a shard of ancient pottery

A shard of ancient pottery at Khirbet Qeiyafa

Oldest Hebrew writing

One of the “proofs” that used to be claimed against a Davidic Kingdom was that you need a system of writing in order to run a proper kingdom. Before excavating Khirbet Qeiyafa, scientists claimed that Hebrew didn’t become a written language until hundreds of years after David. That was until they found a large piece of pottery with ancient hebrew writing on it at Khirbet Qeiyafa!

In ancient times it was common to use broken shards of pottery to write notes or receipts on since parchment was very expensive and broken pottery was very common. This kind of writing on pottery is called an ostracon.

Although there’s a lot of debate about how to read the words on this ostracon. It’s pretty widely agreed that it is a form of ancient Hebrew writing. This debunks the idea that the Israelites didn’t have writing in the times of David.

Qeiyafa Ostracon – The oldest Hebrew writing in the world!

A visit to Khirbet Qeiyafa

Khirbet Qeiyafa is reached by turning off road 38 just north of the Elah Junction onto a dirt road that heads east. After traveling for 5 minutes on the dirt road, you  come to a dirt parking area. From there it’s a 5 minute walk along the trail to the site.

A wild caper bush along the path up to the site.

Trail up to on of the two gates.

When entering the site note the city walls which are made of very large stones. This is a clear sign of a city built by a central power and not by the local population.

The walls are what we call “casemate”, which means that they are a kind of double wall with living quarters in between the two parts of the wall. At times of attack, these living quarters could be filled in with rubble to make the walls even stronger.

A view of the Casemate walls

One of the most interesting features of this site is that the wall has two large gates. This is a feature that is almost unheard of in ancient cities. The gate is the weakest point in the wall in the case of attack. Therefore, you generally don’t want to have more than one.

We don’t really know why they made this city with two gates, but this unusual feature has lead some to propose that Khirbet Qeiyafa is the biblical “Shaaraim” mentioned in the Tanach’s story of David and Goliath.

Looking in through one of the two gates

A view out of one of the gates

As you stroll round the site you’ll see many ruins of homes and public buildings. In some of the larger buildings you can see the foundations of columns on the floor.

Walls of houses

Fig tree growing from a wall

In the center of the site you can see ruins of a very large structure, which is thought to be a palace of the governor of the city. Who knows, King David himself may have stayed there!

Large wall from the palace in the center of the site

Let’s tour Khirbet Qeiyafa

There is so much more to talk about Khirbet Qeiyafa. We haven’t mentioned the many iron weapons or the fascinating cultic items found there and much more. Next time you visit Israel, contact me for a private tour. We can visit Khirbet Qeiyafa as well as many more fascinating Biblical sites in the area such as Tel Beit Shemesh, Tel Tzorah, Kever Dan, and more!