Beersheba

A site in southern Israel which was a frontier post in ancient Palestine. The earliest occupations were in 12th and 11th centuries BC, but the first town belonged to the period of the United Monarchy (10th century). The 8th century BC town wall with a great gateway flanked by double guard chambers and external towers has been excavated. There was also a 15-meter ring road inside the wall which divided the inner and outer towns. Beersheba may have been the administrative center of the region and there are indications of storerooms which may have contained the royal stores for the collection of taxes in kind (grain, wine, oil, etc.). The town was destroyed in the mid-7th century BC. Beersheba is first mentioned as the site where Abraham, founder of the Jewish people, made a covenant with the Philistine king Abimelech of Gerar (Genesis 21). Isaac and Jacob, the other patriarchs, also lived there (Genesis 26, 28, 46).

A Palestinian site in southern Israel, which formed one of the desert frontier posts. The earliest occupation belongs to the 12th and 11th centuries bc, but the first town belonged to the period of the United Monarchy (10th century). The only phase which has been excavated on any scale is Stratum II, of the 8th century bc. The town wall of this period was a casemate wall, with a great gateway flanked by double guard chambers and external towers. A ring road 15 metres inside the wall divided the inner and outer towns. Between the wall and the road were radially planned buildings including, to the right of the gateway, structures interpreted as storerooms. Inside the ring road there were mostly domestic buildings arranged in blocks. Beersheba may have been the adminstrative centre of the region and the storerooms may have contained the royal stores for the collection of taxes in kind (grain, wine, oil etc). The town was destroyed in the mid-7th century bc. beetles. More than 250,000 different species of beetle are known. A great variety of forms exists, inhabiting a wide variety of habitats. Many beetles are very dependent on particular features of their environment; some, for example, live only in the bark of a particular tree. It is this ‘fastidiousness’ that makes beetles useful for reconstructing ancient environments. Parts of the tough beetle exoskeleton may be well preserved in acid and waterlogged conditions, not only on archaeological sites, but also in peats, silts and lake clays outside human habitation. Using such fossils, the known temperature preferences of beetles have made it possible to reconstruct climatic changes during the Devensian cold stage and the Flandrian interglacial. Beetles can also be used to investigate changes in vegetation, conditions in towns, and problems with storage of food.