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There are two ancient sites at Tell Arad, separated by 1500
years of nothing. The first was a city that thrived from 3000 until 2650 BC. The
second was an Israelite fortress, including a temple with a sacrificial altar of
exactly the size prescribed in the Book of Exodus. Given the near-desert
conditions (about 7 inches of annual rainfall, though slightly more 5000 years
ago), we look for an explanation: why would people choose to live here? The
answer, for each site, is different, but in both cases constant geographical
features played a major role:
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The land here forms a bowl, about 25 acres in area,
dipping down to a depression where the rock is waterproof, so that rainwater
gathers there and stays.
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The site occupies the eastern edge of a basin
(geographers call it the "Beersheba depression") that stretches in an
east-west direction, dividing the Judean mountains to the north from those
of the Negev Desert in the south.
 The
Early Bronze City (3000 - 2650 BC)
The Beersheba "depression" or "basin" makes for relatively
easy travel from Arad (1) westward to the trunk road leading to Egypt and (2)
eastward to the Dead Sea (one kilometer down). In
addition, the only good road through the central mountain range splits in two at
Hebron, one branch descending to
Beersheba, the
other to Arad. At Beersheba, however, there was no city in the Early Bronze Age
(EB). With the rare exception of Jericho, we stand at the beginning of
urbanization in the land. "Arad" (we don't know its name in this period) lorded
it alone in the basin as an urban emporium, exchanging copper from Sinai for the
wine, olive oil and grain of the north. Much of the pottery attests to Arad's
connections with Egypt and the copper-producing settlements in Sinai. In the
north Arad could connect to city states such as Ai, Jericho, Yarmuth, Gezer, Megiddo, Beth Shean,
Hazor
and Dan.
In addition to wine and olive oil, Egypt wanted asphalt for
waterproofing ships and mummification, and asphalt could be had in the
Dead Sea. When the earth trembled in the southern
part of that deep rift, pieces of bitumen (asphalt) would break away and float
to the surface. Presumably, the "Aradians" exported it to Egypt. They deposited
chunks of bitumen under the floor of one of their temples - as an offering
perhaps.
At the time of the earliest city here, urbanization was well
underway on the Upper Euphrates, under Sumerian influence, and Egypt had just
entered its first historical period. (One pottery shard at Arad is incised with
the name of Narmer, first pharaoh of the first dynasty, who reigned around 3100
BC.) It was a time of population growth. On the basis of archeological surveys,
the number of people in the land at this time has been estimated at 150,000 (Mazar
p.112). Such growth was spurred by the domestication of livestock, which made
possible a more intensive agriculture.
At Arad, for example, archaeologists found the bones of sheep
and goats all over the site. There were cattle bones too, indicating use of the
plow. The bones of asses testified to the main means of long-range transport.
(The horse and camel were not yet domesticated.) Under Ruth Amiran, the Arad
archaeologists also found carbonized wheat, barley, peas, lentils, chickpeas,
flax seeds and olive pits (visible today in the Early Bronze room of the Israel
Museum). Here was a thriving city center, surrounded (a survey has indicated) by
villages.
 About
2850 BC, the inhabitants built a wall along the watershed of the natural
amphitheater. They laid out a network of streets in such a way that all rain
falling within the wall would flow downhill to the reservoir, then an open pool
of about 1000 square meters. Near it they erected public buildings. The planning
was meticulous, as it would have had to be to maintain 2500 people (figuring 100
per acre) despite occasional years of drought and attacks by nomadic tribes.
Except for the Israelite fortress, no one ever built here again. Nor has
rainfall-erosion taken the toll it has elsewhere. The ruins, therefore, are in a
good state of preservation.
 Here
is another view, from the north and closer in. Note again the city wall running
along the watershed, and how the radial pattern would enable water to flow
through the streets to the reservoir. More than a kilometer long, the wall would
have required a great many soldiers to defend it; no doubt the villagers took
refuge in the city and provided troops as well. The wall was probably at least
12 feet high. Its two courses were filled with rubble. From it protruded 35 - 40
towers, which enabled the defenders to shoot at attackers who might try to take
cover up against it. These attackers were probably desert tribes such as the
later Amalekites, although there may have been occasional problems with Egypt
too. The diggers found ash from a major destruction around 2800 BC. The city was
then rebuilt.
In addition to the pottery, the city's architecture
illustrates its contacts with north and south. Its twin temples were similar in
design to those at Megiddo in the north, also from this period. Yet the houses
were very like contemporaneous dwellings found in southern Sinai.
Looking into these houses, we can get a feel of what life was
like almost 5000 years ago. They all have a similar form (again, central
planning at work): from an outer courtyard, where most of the daily chores took
place, you took a single step down into the main room, which was rectangular
with benches on the sides.
 On
the benches were vessels. In the middle of the room was a wooden pillar on a
stone base. This pillar supported a beam that ran the length of the roof; the
roofing material could span the space between each long wall and the beam. The
archaeologists even found a clay model of such a house. It shows a runnel around
the door, which would have directed the rain away from the opening into the
street; thence it would have flowed to the reservoir. Houses of a similar plan
have been found in the copper-producing EB settlements of southern Sinai, whose
granite shows up in pottery shards found in Arad (as Arad pottery shows up
there).
We are not sure what led to the city's final destruction. One
or several factors may have had a part. The climate became drier in the middle
of the third millennium BC. Also, Egypt became more active in southern Sinai at
this time, perhaps undermining Arad's exclusivity as a trade emporium. And of
course there were the ever-hungry desert nomads.
Logistics:
Throughout the Negev, don't leave valuables in the bus or car!
Arad is a national park.
No telephone.
Nature Reserves and National Parks (Main office: 02/500-5444)
Opening hours:
April 1 through September 30, from 8.00 - 17.00. (Entrance until 16.00)*
October 1 through March 31, from 8.00 - 16.00. (Entrance until 15.00)*
One needs a hat, good walking shoes, and plenty of water.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(r),
(c) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The
Lockman Foundation. (www.Lockman.org)
© 2003 Near East Tourist
Agency (NET)
Text © 2003 Stephen Langfur
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