(Adapted from JEWISH ACTION Magazine, Summer 5766/2006)
A tel is a mound formed by the remains of many civilizations that once occupied the spot, each new town bweing built on top of the remains of the old.
The modern city of Beit Shemesh, on the eastern side of the road, looks down on the site of the ancient city. We first read of Beit Shemesh in sefer Yehoshua, which describes the town as being one of the borders of shevet Yehudah (Yehoshua 15: 10-11). Later, in chapter 19, Beit Shemesh is mentioned as one of the cities given to the Levi’im, within the territory of Yehudah. Because of its strategic location, on the border between Yehudah and the ancient territory of the Philistines, Beit Shemesh also figures prominently in one of the well-known stories in sefer Shmuel. The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant in a battle at Even Ha’ezer. The victorious Philistines carried the Ark back to their territory, but it brought them nothing but trouble and suffering. Finally, in desperation, they placed the Ark on a wagon, which was pulled by two cows. Sefer Shmuel describes what happens next:
The cows set out on the direct road—on the road to Beit Shemesh—on a single road did they go, lowing as they went, and they did not veer right or left. The governors of the Philistines went behind them until the border of Beit Shemesh. [The people of] Beit Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley, when they raised their eyes and saw the Ark, and they rejoiced to see [it] (I Shmuel 6:12-13).
Excavations were conducted on the tel in the early part of the twentieth century and again in the thirties by British archaeologists. Since 1990, teams of archaeologists from Bar-Ilan University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev and Tel Aviv University have returned to uncover more ruins.
There is a small parking area on the west side of the road. Although the area is not officially open to the public, it is worthwhile to take a few minutes to stroll along the top of the tel, which extends over seven acres to the west. You will see remains that have been discovered from the Late Bronze Age (the period of the Judges—twelfth and eleventh centuries BCE), from the Iron Age (the period of the United Kingdom—tenth century BCE) as well as from the Kingdom of Judea (ninth to seventh centuries BCE). There is evidence of city fortifications, sophisticated water systems and an olive oil industry that seems to have flourished in Beit Shemesh in the eighth century BCE. Under one of the olive presses on the western side of the tel, archaeologists have found large accumulations of ash, evidence, they believe, of an iron industry that existed during the time the Philistines controlled the region.
Tel Beit Shemesh is not a national park site, and there are no brochures to guide you. When visiting the area, you are really on your own
From the parking lot, stroll the tel so that the ruins are on your left. Once you pass all the ruins, follow the path to the left to the top of the large mound that overlooks Route 38 and the entrance to Yishi.