Khirbet Sharta is an ancient tell in northern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, northeast of

Kiryat Atta , wiktionary:בית, :he:בית, house * * * * E , wiktionary:עין, spring, fountain * * , wiktionary:עמק, :he:עמק, valley * G , wiktionary:גן, :he:גן, "garden" * , wiktionary:גבעה, :he:גבע� ...

, that covers two hills.

Archaeology

In 1965, the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

conducted excavations of the western hill prior to the construction of residential housing in Kiryat Atta. Discoveries include burial caves with remains from the

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

eras. The eastern hill is still unexcavated, with visible remains of a stone wall built with a double row of large stones, rock cuttings and two wine presses.

Significance

Khirbet Sharta was the first site in the region scientifically excavated that produced a jar handle with a

LMLK seal LMLK seals (with LMLK meaning 'of the king') are ancient Hebrew Stamp seal, seals stamped on the handles of large storage jars first issued in the reign of King Hezekiah (circa 700 BC) and discovered mostly in and around Jerusalem. Several comp ...

impression, previously thought to have been limited to southern Israel. Similar specimens have been recovered from three other northern sites, the most important being

Nahal Tut Nahal Tut ( he, נחל תות, also ''Nachal Toot'') is an archaeological site excavated along the wadi, streambed of the same name in northern Israel's Mount Carmel#Ramot Menashe, Menashe Heights from February to July 2005 by Amir Gorzalczany and G ...

.LMLK seal from Khirbet Sharta
/ref>

References

{{Reflist Archaeological sites in Israel