Hebron

Archaeological remains at Tel Hebron demonstrate settlement extending back into the Bronze Age. Fortifications and occupation remains show that Hebron was an important highland settlement long before the period of the Judahite monarchy.

The city's position in the southern hill country placed it amid productive agricultural territory associated with vineyards, olives, livestock, and trade routes.

During the late Second Temple period, Herod the Great constructed the massive enclosure surrounding the traditional Cave of Machpelah. Much of this monumental stone enclosure survives and remains one of the most impressive Herodian structures preserved in the region.

Biblical Hebron is securely associated with modern Hebron in the southern West Bank. The earliest city occupied the mound commonly called Tel Rumeida or, more precisely, Tel Hebron, above the later urban center.

The traditional burial place of the patriarchs and matriarchs is the Cave of Machpelah beneath the monumental enclosure known as the Tomb of the Patriarchs or Ibrahimi Mosque.

The tradition identifying this location with Machpelah is ancient, but direct archaeological investigation of the cave itself has been extremely limited. AVWJ should distinguish the secure identification of Hebron from the more difficult question of verifying the identities of those buried within the traditional cave.