Biblical Archaeology Review

This same Biblical passage notes that “the territory of the Danites slipped from their grasp.” So the Danites migrated to the north, captured Leshem (called Laish in Judges 18:7ff), and renamed it Dan (Joshua 19:47).

Timnah in the Shephelah should not be confused with the copper mines of Timna, north of Eilat. The former has an h at the end, the latter an ayin. The name Timna appears as a place name in Edom (Genesis 36:40) and in modern times was tentatively given to the valley north of Eilat on the basis of phonetic resemblance to the Arabic name of the valley (Meneieh).

Harold Brodsky, “Bible Lands: The Shephelah—Guardian of Judea,” Bible Review, Winter 1987.

By commonly accepted convention, “tell” is the spelling of the Arabic word, and “tel” (as in Tel Aviv) is the spelling of the same Hebrew word, meaning mound, an artificial hill formed by successive occupation levels of an ancient settlement.

B.C.E. is the scholarly, religiously neutral designation equivalent to B.C. It stands for “before the common era.”

Hershel Shanks, “BAR Interview: Avraham Biran—Twenty Years of Digging at Tel Dan,” BAR 13:04.

Priestly lots referred to in the Bible and used as a means of divine communcation.—Ed.

See Walter Harrelson, “What Is a Good Bible Dictionary?” BAR 12:06.

See Philip C. Hammond, “New Light on the Nabateans,” BAR 07:02.