Tel Yarmuth (also Tel Yarmouth, Tell Yarmuk, Tell Yarmuth, Tell Yarmouth, and Tel Yarmut; Hebrew name) or Khirbet Yarmuk (Arabic name) is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Israel located 25 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem and near modern Beit Shemesh. It is a large primarily single-period (EB II/III) site and has been suggested as possibly being the city of Jarmuth, being only a tentative identification, as it is based solely on the similarity of the Hebrew name with the Arabic name and its areal location. (original Hebrew edition: 'Land of Israel in Biblical Times - Historical Geography', Bialik Institute, Jerusalem (1962))
History Early Bronze Age
The Early Bronze Age I settlement is known only from pottery and a single basalt spindle whorl. Assumed EB I remains are under meters of occupational overburden and have therefore not been excavated. The entire site including the lower town was heavily occupied in the Early Bronze (EB) II and III periods.Eliot Braun, Edwin C. M. van den Brink, Ram Gophna, and Yuval Goren, "New Evidence for Egyptian Connections During a Late Phase of Early Bronze Age I from the Soreq Basin in South-Central Israel", Samuel R. Wolff (ed), Studies in the Archaeology of Israel and Neighboring Lands in Memory of Douglas L. Esse, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 59, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, pp. 59-98, 2001 P. de Miroschedji, "The Early Bronze Age Fortification System at Tel Yarmuth, an Interim Statement", EI 20, pp. 48-61, 1990 P. de Miroschedji., "The Early Bronze Age Fortifications at Tel Yarmut – An Update", Publication Name: Eretz-Israel, Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies, vol. 33 (Stager Volume), 2018 The site was abandoned around 2400 BC, during EB III and only saw sporadic small levels of occupation on the acropolis alone.P. de Miroschedji "The Late EB III Palace at Tel Yarmuth: A Descriptive Summary", Eretz-Israel, vol.27, pp.153–170, 2003
The Early Bronze II and III periods monumental construction began including the large "White Building", a plastered masonry broad-room temple with a side altar. In EB II a small palace was constructed (B1), termed a "proto-palace by the excavators, measuring 1750 square meters. In EB IIIA a large palace (B2) was built measuring 6000 square meters was built on top of the first palace. This palace was destroyed in the EB IIIB period.Vieweger, Dieter, "The Early Bronze Age I-III (3600---2300 BC)", Early and Middle Bronze Age. (Strata 25-17), edited by Dieter Vieweger and Jutta Häser, Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, pp. 15-156, 2019 At its peak the city had massive sophisticated fortifications and a large main city gate (Area E). The first city wall (Wall A) was made of stone, was 6 meters deep and is preserved to 4 meters in height and a glacis added to its exterior. A larger wall (Wall B) was later added 20 meters outside of that built of cyclopean construction. The fortifications were subsequently improved even further by filling in the area between the two walls. A number of EB III flint Canaanite blades, believed to be used as sickle inserts or in threshing, were found.
Early Bronze period material from Tel Yarmuth has been radiocarbon dated (calibration - IntCal09) and is being used to support the contention that EB III ended around 2500 BC. Samples tested were "3 from Final EB IB, 15 from EB II, and 19 from EB III". Results were Final EB IB to EB II transition between 3030 and 2960 BC, EB II to EB III transition between 2980 and 2910 BC.J. Regev-P. de Miroschedji-E. Boaretto, "Early Bronze Age Chronology. Radiocarbon Chronological Models from Tel Yarmuth (Israel)", Radiocarbon 54, pp. 505-524, 2012 Regev, J., de Miroscedji, P., Greenberg, R., Braun, E., Greenhut, Z., and Boaretto, E., "Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the South Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology, Radiocarbon", 54(3-4), pp. 525-566, 2012Regev, Johanna, et al., "Wiggle-matched 14C chronology of Early Bronze Megiddo and the synchronization of Egyptian and Levantine chronologies", Ägypten Und Levante / Egypt and the Levant, vol. 24, 20, pp. 241–64, 2014
Plant remains from EB II and EB III showed numerous remains from olive cultivation and processing (no plant remains from EB I are yet available for study). In an area of the Lower City an installation with paved floors, pithoi, basins, basalt grinding stones and calcareous mortars was found, thought to have been used for olive processing. Similar installations have been found at Beth Yerah and other contemporary sites.Salavert, Aurélie, "Olive Cultivation and Oil Production in Palestine during the Early Bronze Age (3500—2000 B.C.): The Case of Tel Yarmouth, Israel.", Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, vol. 17, pp. S53–61, 2008 Salavert, Aurélie, "Plant Economy at Early Bronze Age Tel Yarmouth (Israel)", 14th Symposium of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany, 2007D. L. Esse, "Subsistence, Trade, and Social Change in Early Bronze Age Palestine", Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 50, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1991
Middle Bronze The acropolis was lightly re-occupied, based on potsherd finds, in the Middle Bronze IIA.
Late Bronze Age The site saw some occupation on the acropolis in the Late Bronze Age II. It included 13th century BC Mycenaean and Cypriot sherds. The only other epigraphic find was a hoe with a partial hieroglyphic inscription in a hoard of bronze objects, mostly fragmentary. They were dated to the time of the 19th Dynasty (12th century BC) and may not be in their original context.
Iron Age Somewhat more substantial building occurred on the acropolis in Iron I times. Finds from that period included a 2nd-century BC jar handle with a yršlm (Jerusalem) stamp.Lipschits, Oded, Gadot, Yuval, Arubas, Benjamin and Oeming, Manfred, "Third Building Phase (Late 6th or 5th Century BC)", What Are the Stones Whispering?: Ramat Raḥel: 3,000 Years of Forgotten History, edited by Oded Lipschits, Yuval Gadot, Benjamin Arubas and Manfred Oeming, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 98-116, 2017Richardson, H.N., "A Stamped Handle from Khirbet Yarmuk", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 192.1, pp. 12–16, 1968 The yršlm stamp was intitially thought to have been in use 257‒221 BC contemporary with Ptolemy III Euergetes and high priest Onias II however later scholarship changed that to the early 2nd century BC, during the early days of the Hasmonean dynasty which was founded in 165 BC. Single yršlm stamps have been found at 16 site, 34 at Ramat Raḥel, and 61 at and near Jerusalem.Bocher, Efrat, and Oded Lipschits, "The yršlm stamp impressions on jar handles: Distribution, chronology, iconography and function", Tel Aviv 40.1, pp. 99-116, 2013
Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods No Hellenistic or Roman periods records of Yarmuth have survived, although potsherds from the Roman period have been discerned. Some Early Byzantine era terraces and potsherds were found in the lower town area.P. de Miroschedji, "Yarmuth: The Dawn of City-States in Southern Canaan", Near Eastern Archaeology, 62(1):2, March 1999 DOI : https://doi.org/10.2307/3210719
Archaeology
The site is about in extent. The high point, in area, lies on the eastern side with a lower town extending to the west. The site is roughly 640 by 420 meters.Guérin, V., "Description géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine. Premiere partie.", Judée. 3 volumes. Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1869
The mound, then known as Khirbet Yarmuk, was visited by French archaeologist Victor Guérin in 1863. American archaeologist Frederick J. Bliss, who visited the site at the start of the 20th-century, remarked seeing interior walls of a building that were 4 feet and 6 inches thick in diameter, and that early Roman and Arab potsherds could be seen there., (s.v. Tell Yarmûk) A survey of the site was conducted by Adam Druks in 1963.Druks, A., "Survey of Tel Yarmut", Hadashot Arkheologiyot 5:20-21, 1963 (Hebrew) A. Ben-Tor conducted a sounding there in 1970 on behalf of the Hebrew University.Ben-Tor A., "Two Burial Caves of the Proto-Urban Period at Azor, 1971; The First Season of Excavations at Tell-Yarmuth", 1970 (Qedem 1). Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1975
Tel Yarmuth was excavated between 1980 and 2009 by Pierre de Miroschedji under the auspices of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).P. de Miroschedji, "Yarmouth 1. Rapports sur les trois premières campagnes de fouilles à Tel Yarmouth (Israël) (1980-1982)", Syria, 67-2 pp. 523-524, 1990P. de Miroschedji, "Tel Yarmut, (1992)", Excavations and Surveys in Israel 14, pp. 105-108, 1994P. de Miroscheddji, "Tel Yarmut, 1992", IEJ42, pp. 265–72, 1992P. de Miroschedji, "Fouilles de Tel Yarmouth: résultats des 11e, 12e et 13e campagnes de fouilles (1996-1999)", Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 144.2, pp. 679-710, 2000P. de Miroschedji,"Tel Yarmut, 1997", IEJ, vol. 48, pp. 136–144", 1998P. de Miroschedji, "Fouilles de Tel Yarmouth: Résultats des travaux de 2003 à 2009 (14th-18th campagnes)", Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 157e année, N. 2, pp. 759-796, 2013Jasmin, Michaël, and Pierre de Miroschedji, "Fouilles de Tel Yarmouth (1980-2009). Rapport final. Volume 1: Les fouilles sur l’acropole.", (Peeters: Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement 56, 2020)
Beginning in the 1990s the Beit Shemesh area underwent a period of rapid development which endangered the archaeological site, especially in Ramat Beit Shemesh. In order to protect the site it was declared a national park and excavations were conducted by a team led by Amir Golani and Omer Shalev under the auspices of the Israel Antiquities Authority in 2016 and 2017 in preparation for public access. Work focused on a palace are (Palace B1) and a domestic area to the southeast of the palace (Area J). Vandalism, mainly at the EB II monumental gateway (Area E), was repaired. Fifteen squares were also opened in an area that would be destroyed by construction in Neighborhood D of Ramat Bet Shemesh.Sivan Mizrahi et al., "Tel Yarmut, Site 203A: Preliminary Report.", Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 129, 2017"Shalev, Omer, and Amir Golani, "Tel Yarmut: Preliminary Report.” Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 130, 2018. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26691759Shadman, Amit, "Ramat Bet Shemesh—Statutory Intervention in the Service of Archaeology in an Urban Environment", 'Along the Road to Bet Shemesh' (I Samuel 6:12): Archaeological Studies of the Ramat Bet Shemesh Region, edited by Ofer Sion et al., Israel Antiquities Authority, pp. 1–16, 2023Shalev, Omer, "Bet Shemesh, Ramat Bet Shemesh D2: Final Report", Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israelל, vol. 129, 2017
Excavators have established an occupational periodization for Tel Yarmuth:Sebag D, "Les habitats au Bronze Ancien au Levant sud", Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem 16, pp.20–44, 2005Shalev, Omer, et al., "Telling the Story of the Early Bronze Age—Developing the Archaeological Park at Tel Yarmut", “Along the Road to Bet Shemesh” (I Samuel 6:12): Archaeological Studies of the Ramat Bet Shemesh Region, edited by Omer Shalev et al., Israel Antiquities Authority, pp. 87–108, 2023 Early Bronze Age IB - 3300–3100 BC - unfortified village Early Bronze Age II - 3100–2700 BC - urban center with two fortification walls and glacis Early Bronze Age III - 2700–2300 BC - 6,000 square meter palace, are between walls filled Hiatus Middle Bronze Age II - 17th/16th century BC - minor level of occupation Hiatus Late Bronze Age to Byzantine - acropolis only
Jarmuth