Tel Arad

Tel Arad (Hebrew: תל ערד) or Tell 'Arad (Arabic: تل عراد, romanized: Tall ʿArād) is an archaeological site consisting of a lower section and a tell or mound. It is located west of the Dead Sea, about 10 kilometres (6 miles) west of the Israeli city of Arad in an area surrounded by mountain ridges which is known as the Arad Plain. The site is about 10.1 ha (25 acres) in size. The site comprises two parts: a Canaanite settlement on lower ground and a Judahite fortress and settlement on a hill. The Canaanite settlement was inhabited from the early 4th to the mid 3rd millennium BCE, while the Judahite habitation was established in the 10th century BCE and continued until 135 CE during the Bar Kokhba revolt. After a period of abandonment, the settlement was reinhabited in the 7th century CE during the Early Muslim period and was used for approximately two centuries. The lower and upper sites are part of the Tel Arad National Park, which has undertaken projects to restore the upper and lower sites and opened them to the public. Tel Arad has been excavated in the 20th and 21st centuries.