Tell ej-Judeideh
Tell ej-Judeideh (Arabic: تل الجديدة / خربة الجديدة) is a tell in modern Israel, lying at an elevation of 398 metres (1,306 ft) above sea-level. The Arabic name is thought to mean, "Mound of the dykes." In Modern Hebrew, the ruin is known by the name Tell Goded (תל גודד).
تل الجديدة תל גודד | |
Tell Goded (Tell ej-Judeideh) | |
Shown within Israel | |
| Alternative name | Tell Goded |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Region | Shfela |
| Coordinates | 31°38′00″N 34°55′00″E |
| Grid position | 141/115 PAL |
| Length | 580 metres (1,900 ft) |
| Area | 58 dunams (14 acres) |
| History | |
| Periods | Middle and Late Bronze Age, Iron Age II, Hellenistic, Roman |
| Cultures | Pre-Israelite, Jewish monarchy, Greco-Roman |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1900 |
| Archaeologists | Frederick Jones Bliss, R. A. Stewart Macalister |
| Condition | Ruin |
| Public access | yes |
The tell, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of Beit Guvrin and 9.7 kilometres southeast of Tell es-Safi, was first surveyed by Frederick Jones Bliss in June 1897, and partially excavated by Bliss and R.A.S. Macalister in March 1900. It has tentatively been identified with the biblical Moresheth-Gath, while others think that it might be Ashan of Joshua 15:42, based on the name's proximity to Libnah (thought by Albright to possibly be Tel Burna) and to Ether, a site now recognized as Khirbet el-Ater (grid position 138/113 PAL).
Members of the Palestine Exploration Fund visited the site in the late 19th-century and described seeing there "foundations, heaps of stones, and a cistern."