BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Early Urbanization in Ancient Canaan

Earliest temple ever discovered in the Shephelah

Aerial photo of the excavations at Hurvat Husham. Courtesy Emil Aladjem, IAA.

Excavators with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered what is likely the oldest temple ever discovered in the Shephelah region of central Israel. Dating to the end of the fourth millennium BCE, the temple is impressive in its own right, but also represents the birth of urbanization in the land of Canaan.

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Building Social Complexity

Discovered at the site of Hurvat Husham near Beth Shemesh, the building, which dates to the Early Bronze Age (c. 3300–2000 BCE), features broad walls and benches and around 40 miniature ceramic vessels that were likely intended for ritual rather than domestic use. Interestingly, the vessels appear to have been arranged at the time the building was abandoned as if the inhabitants planned to return quickly. “It is interesting that these many pots and juglets were placed here just shortly before the entire site was abandoned forever,” said the excavation directors. “You can literally imagine the people who put down this ware and left it all here.”

Near the temple, the archaeologists discovered a complex of large standing stones arranged in rows. “The standing stones were erected even before this enclosed public building was erected,” said Yitzhak Paz, an IAA expert in Bronze Age archaeology. “Their presence promises to be instructive of the socio-political process involved in the founding of the cultic service in Hurvat Husham; it seems that originally there was an open cultic activity area for the general public which then transformed into ritual activity in an enclosed compound with more controlled access.”

Removing an ancient jar from the ground. Courtesy Emil Aladjem, IAA.

Whether it was a temple or not, the building was clearly intended for communal rather than private use. This makes it one of the earliest public buildings ever found in Israel. Such public buildings are one of the clues that archaeologists look for to identify social complexity and urbanization, which first begins to develop in the southern Levant around this time. At the start of this period, nomadic and village life dominated, but at the period’s peak, large urban centers appear throughout the region, complete with fortifications, religious and administrative buildings, craft and industrial specialization, and more intensive trade with neighboring regions such as Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.

“The site uncovered in Hurvat Husham is exceptional not only because of its size,” said the directors, “but because it reveals to us some of the first characteristics of the transition from village life to urban life. A few generations later, we already see large cities in the area, surrounded by a wall, with palaces and other buildings.”

The excavations at Hurvat Husham were launched as a salvage excavation in light of the planned expansion of nearby Beth Shemesh.

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