Researchers glimpse urbanization in ancient Israel at site of 5000-year-old public building

A 5,000-year-old settlement was recently uncovered near Beit Shemesh at the site of Hurvat Husham in an excavation project that was preparing for a new industrial zone, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported late October. 

The site was uncovered during the expansion into Beit Shemesh's Western industrial zone as part of a new initiative by the Shamir Engineering Group along with the Bet Shemesh Economic Development Company. 

The uncovered settlement, and the encompassed remains of some of Judea’s first public buildings, provided IAA researchers with a visualization of the urbanization process undergone during that period.

The excavation managers at Hurvat Husham stated that the discovery was "exceptional not only because of its size but because it reveals to us some of the first characteristics of the transition from village life to urban life."

The Tel Yarmouth site, built generations after Hurvat Husham, showed stark differences in the city’s architectural design, the IAA explained. Like Tel Yarmouth, later civilizations show large cities surrounded by walls, usually with palaces and other buildings. This displays the development of urban planning in the Judean Lowlands 5000 years ago.

The Hurvat Husham site is an "important piece in the puzzle of urban development in our region," according to Israel Antiquities Authority Director Eli Escusido.

Hurvat Husham was first discovered in 2021 in excavations conducted by Marion Zindel and Natan Ben-Ari on behalf of the IAA. The expansion of the project enabled a visual display of the enlarging urbanization process that underwent the site, the IAA explained.

Other discoveries made at the site

Dozens of vessels were also uncovered and have remained intact after 5000 years. Some of the vessels were small, leading researchers to theorize that they were symbolic rather than domestically used. 

The contents of the vessels are under laboratory examination and may soon be identified.

The discoveries will be presented at the 17th "Discoveries in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Surroundings Conference," which will be held at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, the IAA reports. The exhibition takes place in late October with guided tours for the public presenting the findings from the Hurvat Husham site, such as the vessels. 

In addition to the vessels, another indication of urbanization development in Israel were the two kilns for pottery manufacturing discovered in the settlement. These are among the earliest ever discovered in Israel, the IAA reported.

Within the site, there was a complex with standing stones displayed in rows within an enclosed building. 

"The standing stones were erected even before this enclosed public building was erected." According to Dr. Yitzhak Paz, an Early Bronze Age expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority. 

Dr. Paz believed that the presence of these columns is indicative of cultic services in Hurvat Husham. 

Before the public building was constructed, there was an open cultic activity area for the general public. Only later on did this area get transformed into ritual activity in an enclosed compound with more controlled access, Dr. Paz stated. 

"The size of this structure that we uncovered has broad walls, the benches inside it and other variables indicate that it is an important and exceptional structure with a public function – perhaps a temple," according to the excavation managers. "We know almost no public buildings in Israel from this ancient period and earlier," say the researchers.

"This is probably one of the earliest temples ever discovered in the Judean Lowlands." According to the researchers.

The settlement dating to the Early Bronze Age is significant as it is "the most complex period in Israel's history, during which dramatic changes took place in the lifestyle and worldview of the region's inhabitants," according to the IAA. 

The site enabled researchers to further delve into the period, which the IAA described as “the first time, social complexity was created, as well as the political structure of a hierarchical society.”

The IAA explained that the process of urbanization had been accelerated with public buildings being made more common including religious and government buildings - such as the Hurvat Husham public building.