Beersheba (Beer-Sheba)

BEERSHEBA (Beer-Sheba) bĭr she’ bə (בְּאֵ֥ר שָֽׁבַע; LXX Βηρσαβέε; the well of seven/swearing). A town in the Judean Negeb district. The site of Biblical Beer-sheba has been identified with Tell es-Saba’, located at the juncture of the Wâdī Saba’ and the Wâdī Khelîl. Chalcolithic remains in the immediate vicinity of Beer-sheba have been discovered in numerous small mounds on both sides of the Wâdī es-Saba’.

Bibliography

A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, I-III (1907-08), 2, 165ff.; W. F. Albright, “Egypt and the Early History of the Negeb,” JPOS IV (1924), 131-161; A. Alt, “Beiträge zur Historischen Geographie und Topographie des Negeb,” JPOS XV (1935), 294-326; D. H. Kallner-Amiran, “Geomorphology of the Central Negev Highlands,” IEJ, I (1951), 107-120; J. Perrot, “The Excavations at Tell Abu Matar, near Beersheba,” IEJ, V (1955), 17-40, 73-84, 167-189; R. B. K. Amiran, “The ‘Cream Ware’ of Gezer and the Beersheba Late Chalcolithic,” IEJ, V (1955), 240-245; T. Josien, “La faune chalcolithique des gisements Palestiniens de Bir Es-Safadi et Bir Abou Matar,” IEJ, V (1955), 246-256; M. Negbi, “The Botanical Finds at Tell Abu Matar, near Beersheba,” IEJ, V (1955), 257-261; M. Dothan, “Radioactive Examination of Archaeological Material from Israel,” IEJ, VI (1956), 112-114; Y. Aharoni, “The Negeb of Judah,” IEJ, VIII (1958), 26-38; A. F. Rainey, “The Merchants at Ugarit and the Patriarchal Narratives,” Christian News from Israel XIV, No. 4 (July, 1963), 17-26; Israel Department of Antiquities, “Notes and News,” IEJ, II (1952), 253; III (1953), 262, 263; IV (1954), 125, 126; V (1955), 125, 126, 174, 175; VI (1956), 126, 127; VIII (1958), 131-133; IX (1959), 29, 141, 142, 267; X (1960), 120, 121; XIII (1963), 145, 146, 260, 261.