The Shephelah or Shfela, lit. "lowlands" ( hbo, הַשְּפֵלָה ''hašŠǝfēlā'', also
Modern Hebrew: , ''Šǝfēlat Yəhūda'', the "Judaean foothills"), is a transitional region of soft-sloping
rolling hills in south-central
Israel stretching over between the
Judaean Mountains and the
Coastal Plain.
[ Jewish National Fund (KKL), ''British Park – Scenic trails in Israel's Heartland''. Quote: "The Judean Plain is an intermediate region situated between the Coastal Plain to the west and the Judean Mountains to the east. The altitude of its hills varies from 150 to 450 meters above sea level, and geologically speaking, the plain is a syncline, i.e., a basin in which the layers of rock have folded downwards and sunk. [...] The plain consists of two distinct landscape units: the lower plain, to the west, where the hills are lower and separated by broad riverbeds; and the upper plain, where the valleys are deeper and the hills rise to a height of between 250 and 450 meters above sea level."](_blank)
/ref> The different use of the term "Judean Plain", as either defining just the Coastal Plain segment stretching along the Judaean Mountains, or also including, or only referring to, the Shfela, often creates grave confusion.
Today the Shfela is largely rural with many farms, but the cities of Ashdod
Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterran ...
, Ashkelon, Rehovot
Rehovot ( he, רְחוֹבוֹת ''Rəḥōvōt'', ar, رحوڤوت ''Reḥūfūt'') is a city in the Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of .
Etymology
Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu movement, ...
, Beit Shemesh
Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in .
History Tel Beit Shemesh
The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...
, and Kiryat Gat roughly surround it.
The Bible assigned land in the Shfela to the tribes of Judah and Dan
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
.
Biblical references
The Shfela is mentioned many times in the Hebrew Bible. (In the King James Version, the Hebrew term "Shfela" tends to be translated as "vale" or "valley.") The Shfela was the site of many biblical battles. During the Bar Kokhba revolt
The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Judea (Roman province), Roman province of Judea, led b ...
, hollowed out hills were connected to form elaborate bunker systems for the combat with the Romans.
Geography
The Shfela consists of fertile rolling hills. Topographically, it represents the transition from the higher and more rugged Jerusalem and Hebron Mountains, whose foothills it forms, and the Coastal Plain. About 60 km (35 miles) long in north-south direction and only 13 km (8 miles) wide, it is subdivided into two parts: the western "Low Shephelah", which starts at an altitude of ca. 150 metres above sea level and rises to no more than ca. 200 metres above the Coastal Plain, and the eastern "High Shephelah" rising to altitudes between 250–450 metres above sea level. In the upper part the valleys descending from the Judean Mountains are deeper, and they broaden once they reach the lower part where the riverbeds create larger spaces between the hills. Where they reach the Shfela, the rivers can flow over substantial distances along the border between the mountains and the hills, forming longitudinal valleys. Passage between the east-west and north-south valleys has dictated the communication routes throughout history.
In geological terms, the Shfela is a syncline
In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...
, i.e. it formed as a basin whose rock layers were folded downwards, but is part of the wider south Judean anticlinorium
In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the l ...
-a regional formation characterised by upward folding. Typical to the Shfela are the Senonian
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
- Eocene chalky formations. The soft Eocene chalk is known locally as ''kirton'', which tends to build a harder upper calcrete
Caliche () is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It occurs worldwide, in aridisol and mollisol soil orders—generally in arid or semiarid regions, ...
crust (''nari''), so that in the past people quarried the ''kirton'' while leaving the ''nari'' layer in place as a ceiling. Apart from using the extracted rock, they also utilised the generated underground hollows for different purposes (refuge, burial, storage etc.).
One of the major characteristics is hills formed of marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
Marl makes up the lower part o ...
-covered soft chalk, as opposed to the Judean Hills
The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel whe ...
which are made of hard chalk and dolomite Dolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral
*Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock
*Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community
*Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
. The valleys and lower areas contain soil with a high sand content, as well as large tracts of fertile areas. Seasonal swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s can develop during the rainy season. The southern part is made up of loess
Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits.
Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
, while north of Ashkelon consists of clay.
The Shfela has a temperate Mediterranean to semi-arid climate.
A series of east-west valleys cuts the Shfelah into districts. From north to south, they are: the Valley of Ayalon
The Ayalon Valley ( he, or , ''ʾAyyālōn'') is a valley in the lowland of the Shephelah in the States of Palestine and Israel, identified in the 19th century as Yalo at the foot of the Bethoron pass, a Palestinian Arab village located sout ...
, Sorek Valley
Naḥal Sorek ( he, נחל שורק, translation=Brook of Sorek; ar, وادي الصرار, translit=Wadi al-Sirar), also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 ...
, Valley of Elah, Guvrin Valley, Valley of Lachish, and Valley of Adorayim. The biblical towns established there guarded settlements of the interior and took advantage of trade passing along this route. Ayalon was the primary access corridor to Jerusalem along the ascent of Horon
Horon ( pnt, χορόν, khorón) is a traditional folk dance from Pontus or Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey.
Name Etymology
The term ''horon'' derives from Greek ''choros'' ( el, χορός, khorós), which means "dance." The earliest ins ...
.
Caves are a major feature of the southern part of the Shfela, many of them bell-shaped such as those in Beit Guvrin.
History and archaeology
Archaeological surveys in the Shephelah have found evidence of habitation during the Late Bronze period. During the early Iron Age, the population of what has been widely believed to be a Canaanite enclave between the rising centres of both coastal Philistia and the Israelite/Judahite highlands, went into decline, though a string of settlements survived on the eastern edge. In the Iron Age IIA–B, population growth resumed and by the 8th century BCE it was densely populated, not so much by natural growth but as a result of incoming settlers, beginning with the short-lived settlement at Khirbet Qeiyafa
Khirbet Qeiyafa ( ar, خربة قيافة), also known as Elah Fortress and in Hebrew as Horbat Qayafa ( he, חורבת קייאפה), is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley and dated to the first half of the 10th ...
. The overall estimated numbers for inhabitants range from 50,000 to 100,000, over numerous sites such as Tel Lachish, Azekah
Azekah ( he, עֲזֵקָה, ''ʿazēqā'') was an ancient town in the Shfela ("lowlands of Judea") guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron.
The current '' tell'' (ruin) by that name, a ...
, Tel Burna, Tel Zayit Tel Zayit ( he, תל זית, ar, Tell Zeita, Kirbat Zeita al Kharab) is an archaeological tell in the Shephelah, or lowlands, of Israel, about 30 km east of Ashkelon.
History
The site, roughly , shows evidence of human settlement throughout ...
, Khirbet el-Qom
Khirbet el-Qom () is an archaeological site in the village of al-Kum, West Bank, in the territory of the biblical Kingdom of Judah, between Lachish and Hebron, 14 km to the west of the latter.
Excavations
Archaeological excavations were co ...
, Tel Erani, Tel Harasim and Tel Nagila. This colonization, together with the inhabitants of the Canaanite enclave, identified with the highland Israelite/Judahite culture, and its expansion coincides with the decline of Philistia.[Avraham Faust]
'Between the Highland Polity and Philistia,'
in BASOR, vol.383 2020pp.115-137pp.117-119,122,124. During the decline and ultimate destruction of Judah by the Assyrians
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
and Babylonians, the region was taken over gradually by the Edomites and it became the core of what was known in Greek as Idumea. The Shephela flourished during the Hellenistic period, was strongly affected by the First Jewish-Roman War (66–70) and was largely depopulated of Jews as a result of the Bar Kochba revolt
The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, aga ...
(132–136). It flourished again in the Byzantine period and was the scene of one of the major battles during the Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Arab conquest of the 7th century.
Archaeological sites
* Azekah
Azekah ( he, עֲזֵקָה, ''ʿazēqā'') was an ancient town in the Shfela ("lowlands of Judea") guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron.
The current '' tell'' (ruin) by that name, a ...
* Tel Batash
Timnath or Timnah was a Philistine city in Canaan that is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in and in connection with Samson. Modern archaeologists identify the ancient site with a tell lying on a flat, alluvial plain, located in the Sorek Valley c ...
* Beit Guvrin
* Beit Jimal
Beit Jimal (or Beit Jamal; he, בית ג'מאל; ar, بيت جمال / الحكمة), Beit el Jemâl, meaning "The house of the camel"Palmer, 1881, p286/ref> is a Catholic monastery run by Salesian priests and brothers near Beit Shemesh, Israel. ...
* Tell Beit Mirsim
* Beit Shemesh
Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in .
History Tel Beit Shemesh
The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...
* Tel Burna
* Tel Eton
Tel Eton is an archaeological site measuring 60 dunams, located in the Telam Valley, near Nahal Adoraim in the southeast of the Shephelah, Judean Lowlands, near Moshav Shekef. The tell's current name comes from the nearby village that was inhabite ...
* Gezer
* Imwas and Emmaus Nicopolis
* Tel Halif
* Hurvat Itri
* Jarmuth
* Tell ej-Judeideh
* Kharruba
Kharruba was a Palestinian people, Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine, Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, near Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, Modi'in. It was located 8 km east of Ramla. It was depopulated o ...
* Keilah
* Tel Lachish
* Lavnin
Lavnin (''Hurvat Libnah'' / ''Tel Lavnin'' / ''Kh. Tell el-Beida'')()( ar, خربة تل البيضة), is a late Bronze Age archaeological site situated in Israel's Adullam region, rising some above sea level. The site lies northwest of Beit Gu ...
* Khirbet Qeiyafa
Khirbet Qeiyafa ( ar, خربة قيافة), also known as Elah Fortress and in Hebrew as Horbat Qayafa ( he, חורבת קייאפה), is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley and dated to the first half of the 10th ...
* Khirbet a-Ra'i
* Sokho
*
* Tell Zayit
* Zorah
See also
* Geography of Israel
* Kiryat Gat – modern Israeli town
* Latrun – historical site and modern monastery in the Ayalon Valley
* Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut – modern Israeli town
References
External links
Soils of the Coastal Plain and the Shefela
{{coord, 31, 41, 30, N, 34, 52, 30, E, region:IL_source:kolossus-cswiki, display=title
Hebrew Bible places
Regions of Israel