In summarizing key arguments from his latest book, Age of Empires (Eisenbrauns, 2021), [archaeologist Oded] Lipschits mostly draws on material excavated from Ramat Rahel. Located a mere 3 miles south of Jerusalem, Ramat Rahel served as the heart of this centralized administrative system that was based on collecting, storing, and transporting agricultural products in support of Judah’s economy and to pay the kingdom’s annual tribute—first to the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, Persians, and finally Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires.Substantive PaleoJudaica posts on the site of Ramat Rahel (Ramat Rachel) are here, here, here, here, here, here, here , here, here, (sort of) here, and the links collected here.
Cross-file under Iconography and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy.
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