Oval Settlement Sites Among the Early Israelites

One of the most important elements in the material culture of early Israelite sites is the layout of the settlements. Pottery forms change relatively fast, but architecture is more conservative and reflects deep-rooted traditions over a long period of time. The plan of some of these sites apparently points to the origin of their inhabitants as pastoral nomads.

Let us look first at the layout of Izbet Sartah, level III, one of the earliest Israelite settlement sites known.³⁵ It is oval-shaped, with a row of broadrooms surrounding a large central courtyard.

Similar elliptical “courtyard sites” have been found in various regions of the country—in Western Galilee, in the central hill-country, in the Judean Desert (perhaps Transjordan as well) and even into the Negev Highlands. At Tel Beer-Sheva, for example, adjacent four-room houses arranged perpendicularly to the periphery compose an 11th-century B.C. “courtyard site” found in stratum VII.