Is Tel Masos an Amalekite Settlement?

In the November/December 1980 BAR, Ze’ev Herzog of Tel Aviv University, reported on the excavations of the earliest settlements at ancient Beer-sheba (“Beer-sheba of the Patriarchs,” BAR 06:06). In discussing why Beer-sheba was fortified with a wall for the first time during the time of King Saul, Herzog suggested that this was because of the threat from the powerful Amalekites to the south.

Herzog noted that about eight miles east of Beer-sheba there was an enormous city, 40 times larger than Beer-sheba. This city is known today as Tel Masos. Professor Moshe Kochavi, also of Tel Aviv University, has suggested that Tel Masos might be ‘Ir ‘Amalek, an Amalekite city referred to in 1 Samuel 15:5. If Kochavi’s suggestion is correct, it would easily explain the need for a fortification wall at Beer-sheba. According to Herzog, Kochavi’s suggestion that Tel Masos is ‘Ir ‘Amalek seems quite likely.

Herzog noted, however, that the excavator of Tel Masos, Tel Aviv University’s Aharon Kempinski (following a suggestion of the late Yohanan Aharoni who led the excavations at Beer-sheba), contends that Tel Masos was actually Biblical Hormah and that Masos was, in fact, an Israelite city.