The Shephelah or Shfela, lit. "lowlands" ( hbo, הַשְּפֵלָה ''hašŠǝfēlā'', also
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the He ...
: , ''Šǝfēlat Yəhūda'', the "Judaean foothills"), is a transitional region of soft-sloping
rolling hills in south-central
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 ...
stretching over between the
Judaean Mountains
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 wh ...
and the
Coastal Plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...
.
[ 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
Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...
, 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
Kiryat Gat, also spelled Qiryat Gat ( he, קִרְיַת גַּת), is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies south of Tel Aviv, north of Beersheba, and from Jerusalem. In it had a population of . The city hosts one of the most a ...
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'Ivoi ...
.
Biblical references
The Shfela is mentioned many times in the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
. (In the King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
, 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 ...
-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
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
y 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
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. 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 wh ...
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 rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs.
Rainy Season may also refer to:
* ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King
* "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni
* ''T ...
. 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
Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...
consists of clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
.
The Shfela has a temperate Mediterranean to semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
.
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
The Valley of Elah or Ella Valley ("the valley of the terebinth"; from the he, עמק האלה ''Emek HaElah''), called in ar, وادي السنط, Wadi es-Sunt, is a long, shallow valley in Israel and the West Bank best known as the place de ...
, Guvrin Valley, Valley of Lachish
Lachish ( he, לכיש; grc, Λαχίς; la, Lachis) was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Israel, on the South bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Th ...
, 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
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
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 in ...
.
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. The overall estimated numbers for inhabitants range from 50,000 to 100,000, over numerous sites such as Tel Lachish
Lachish ( he, לכיש; grc, Λαχίς; la, Lachis) was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Israel, on the South bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Th ...
, 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, ...
, Tel Burna
Tel Burna is an Israeli archaeological site located in the Shephelah (Judean foothills), along the banks of Nahal Guvrin, not far from modern-day Qiryat Gat.
History and identification
The site was primarily inhabited in the Bronze and Iron Ages ...
, 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 Erani ( he, תל עירני) or Tell esh-Sheikh Ahmed el-ʿAreini ( ar, تل الشيخ أحمد العريني) is a multi-period archaeological site on the outskirts of Kiryat Gat in the Southern District of Israel. It is also known by the n ...
, 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
The Basor or Bansor or Vanskaar are a Hindu caste found in the state of Uttar Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh, India. They have scheduled caste status and also belongs to kshatriya status because they also used to make bamboo based weapons for soldier ...
, vol.383 2020pp.115-137pp.117-119,122,124. During the decline and ultimate destruction of Judah by the Assyrians and Babylonians
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
, the region was taken over gradually by the Edom
Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...
ites 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 (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
The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territorie ...
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, ...
* 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 ...
* Beit Guvrin
* Beit Jimal
* Tell Beit Mirsim
Tell Beit Mirsim is an archaeological site in Israel, on the border between the lowlands of Shfela and Mount Hebron. It is located in the eastern region of Lachish about 20 kilometers southwest of Hebron and about 13 kilometers southeast of La ...
* 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 Burna is an Israeli archaeological site located in the Shephelah (Judean foothills), along the banks of Nahal Guvrin, not far from modern-day Qiryat Gat.
History and identification
The site was primarily inhabited in the Bronze and Iron Ages ...
* 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
Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (eithe ...
* Imwas
Imwas or Emmaus ( ar, عِمواس), known in classical times as Nicopolis ( gr, Νικόπολις, lit=City of Victory), was a Palestinian Arab village located southeast of the city of Ramla and from Jerusalem in the Latrun salient of the W ...
and Emmaus Nicopolis
Nicopolis ( grc-gre, Νικόπολις, ''Nikópolis'') was the name of Emmaus ( he, אמאוס; grc-gre, Ἀμμαοῦς, ''Ammaoûs''; ar, عِمواس, ''Imwas'') under the Roman Empire until the conquest of Palestine by the Rashidun Calip ...
* Tel Halif
Tel H̱alif, formerly Tel H̱alifa ( he, תל חליף, Arabic name: Tel el-Khuweilifeh) is an archaeological site, a mound ( tell) in northern Negev area, west from kibbutz Lahav, Israel.
Albrecht Alt suggested that it is the location of the ...
* Hurvat Itri
Horvat 'Ethri ( he, חורבת עתרי; alt. spellings: Hurvat Itri, Ethri, Atari), Hebrew for "Ethri ruin", Arabic name: Umm Suweid ("mother of the buckthorns"), is an archaeological site situated in the Judean Lowlands in modern-day Israel. E ...
* Jarmuth
Jarmuth, Hebrew: Yarmut (יַרְמוּת), was the name of two cities in the land of Canaan.Lemche (2010), p160
The Douai-Rheims version of the Bible has an alternative spelling, Jaramoth.
Jarmuth near Beit Shemesh
Jarmuth was an Amorite cit ...
* Tell ej-Judeideh
Tell ej-Judeideh ( ar, تل الجديدة / خربة الجديدة) is a tell in modern Israel, lying at an elevation of above sea-level. The Arabic name is thought to mean, "Mound of the dykes." In Modern Hebrew, the ruin is known by the n ...
* Kharruba
* Keilah
Keilah (), meaning Citadel, was a city in the lowlands of Judah (). It is now a ruin, known as ''Kh. Qeila'', near the modern village of Qila, east of Beit Gubrin, and about west of Kharas.Amit (n.d.), p. 308
History
The earliest historical ...
* Tel Lachish
Lachish ( he, לכיש; grc, Λαχίς; la, Lachis) was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Israel, on the South bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Th ...
* 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 a-Ra'i
Khirbet er-Ra'i, also Khirbet al-Ra'i, (formerly ''Tôr el Hiry'', )
is an archaeological site in the Shephelah region of Israel. It is located 4 km west of Lachish.Garfinkel, Yosef & Keimer, Kyle & Ganor, & Rollston, Christopher. (2021). 2019K ...
* Sokho
Sokho (alternate spellings: Sokhoh, Sochoh, Soco, Sokoh; he, שׂוֹכֹה ,שׂוֹכ֖וֹ ,שֹׂכֹ֖ה) is the name given to two ancient towns in the territorial domain of Judah as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, west of the Judean hil ...
*
* Tell Zayit Tel Zayit ( he, תל זית, ar, Tell Zeita, Kirbat Zeita al Kharab) is an Tell (archaeology), archaeological tell in the Shephelah, or lowlands, of Israel, about 30 km east of Ashkelon.
History
The site, roughly , shows evidence of human set ...
* Zorah
Zorah ( he, צרעה) or Tzorah (), was a biblical town in the Judaean Foothills. It is identified with the depopulated village of Sar'a. It has been identified with the former village of Sar'a, now often referred to as Tel Tzora.
Location
Z ...
See also
*Geography of Israel
The geography of Israel is very diverse, with desert conditions in the south, and snow-capped mountains in the north. Israel is located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia. It is bounded to the north by Lebanon, the nort ...
*Kiryat Gat
Kiryat Gat, also spelled Qiryat Gat ( he, קִרְיַת גַּת), is a city in the Southern District of Israel. It lies south of Tel Aviv, north of Beersheba, and from Jerusalem. In it had a population of . The city hosts one of the most a ...
– modern Israeli town
*Latrun
Latrun ( he, לטרון, ''Latrun''; ar, اللطرون, ''al-Latrun'') is a strategic hilltop in the Latrun salient in the Ayalon Valley, and a depopulated Palestinian village. It overlooks the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, 25 kilometers ...
– historical site and modern monastery in the Ayalon Valley
*Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut
Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( he, מוֹדִיעִין-מַכַּבִּים-רֵעוּת) is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In t ...
– 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