Bet Yerah

Excavations were carried out by William Albright in the 1920s. During excavations, 16 archaeological layers were discovered, among which the first is early Canaanite . The first settlement dates from approximately 3200 BC. e. There was a small fortified city, inhabited throughout the early Bronze Age (3200-2000 BC).

In the excavations of 2009, a carved stone palette with Egyptian motifs, including an early form of the Ankh sign, was discovered here; this indicates trade and political relations with the I dynasty of Egypt , around the 3000s BC. Finds of this kind are rare even in Egypt itself ^{[1] [2]} .

The name Khirbet-Kerak received the characteristic ceramics of 2700-2600 years BC. e. ^[3] This is a black and white dish with a red inner surface. Its origin is associated with the South Caucasus (see Kuro-Arak culture ). Such ceramics are also found from the Amuk Plain to Lakhish in the south. ^[four]

Also, in the excavations of 2009, many more red-black polished ceramics of the Khirbet-Kerak type were found. It was found in association with portable ceramic foci - some of them are decorated with symbols depicting human faces ^{[2] [5]}

The city was destroyed in the Middle Canaan period and rebuilt again in the era of the Second Temple . After the destruction, about one and a half thousand years remained uninhabited. During the time of the Achaemenids, the city ​​was re-populated; reached its peak during the Hellenistic period . Finally abandoned in the VII century BC. e.

• Prehistoric Palestine and the Levant

• Beth Yerah - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia