Shephelah

The Shephelah or Shfela, lit. "lowlands"[1] (Biblical Hebrew: הַשְּפֵלָה hašŠǝfēlā, also Modern Hebrew: שְׁפֵלַת יְהוּדָה‎, Šǝfēlat Yəhūda, the "Judaean foothills"), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel stretching over 10–15 km (6.2–9.3 mi) between the Judaean Mountains and the Coastal Plain.[2][3] The different use of the term "Judean Plain", as either defining just the Coastal Plain segment stretching along the Judaean Mountains, or also including, or only referring to, the Shfela, often creates grave confusion.

Shephela
שְׁפֵלַת יְהוּדָה (Hebrew)
Shfela, Judean Foothills, Judean Lowlands
Region
The Shephela near Tarum
The Shephela near Tarum
Location of Shephela
Coordinates: 30°41′N 34°52′E
Part ofIsrael
GeologyRolling hills
Native nameשְׁפֵלַת יְהוּדָה (Hebrew)
Dimensions
 • Length55 km
 • Width10-15 km
Highest elevation460 m (1,510 ft)

Today the Shfela is largely rural with many farms, but the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Rehovot, Beit Shemesh, and Kiryat Gat roughly surround it.

The Bible assigned land in the Shfela to the tribes of Judah and Dan.[4][5]

Biblical references

The Shfela is mentioned many times in the Hebrew Bible.[6][7] (In the King James Version, the Hebrew term "Shfela" tends to be translated as "vale" or "valley.") The Shfela was the site of many biblical battles. During the Bar Kokhba revolt, hollowed out hills were connected to form elaborate bunker systems for the combat with the Romans.

Geography
The Shfela region within Israel, with inset showing locations of major cities.

The Shfela consists of fertile rolling hills.[7][2] Topographically, it represents the transition from the higher and more rugged Jerusalem and Hebron Mountains, whose foothills it forms, and the Coastal Plain.[2] About 60 km (35 miles) long in north-south direction and only 13 km (8 miles) wide, it is subdivided into two parts: the western "Low Shephelah", which starts at an altitude of ca. 150 metres above sea level and rises to no more than ca. 200 metres above the Coastal Plain, and the eastern "High Shephelah" rising to altitudes between 250–450 metres above sea level.[3][2] In the upper part the valleys descending from the Judean Mountains are deeper, and they broaden once they reach the lower part where the riverbeds create larger spaces between the hills.[3] Where they reach the Shfela, the rivers can flow over substantial distances along the border between the mountains and the hills, forming longitudinal valleys.[2] Passage between the east-west and north-south valleys has dictated the communication routes throughout history.[2]

In geological terms, the Shfela is a syncline, i.e. it formed as a basin whose rock layers were folded downwards, but is part of the wider south Judean anticlinorium-a regional formation characterised by upward folding.[3][2] Typical to the Shfela are the Senonian-Eocene chalky formations.[2] The soft Eocene chalk is known locally as kirton, which tends to build a harder upper calcrete crust (nari), so that in the past people quarried the kirton while leaving the nari layer in place as a ceiling.[8] Apart from using the extracted rock, they also utilised the generated underground hollows for different purposes (refuge, burial, storage etc.).[8]

One of the major characteristics is hills formed of marl-covered soft chalk, as opposed to the Judean Hills which are made of hard chalk and dolomite. The valleys and lower areas contain soil with a high sand content, as well as large tracts of fertile areas. Seasonal swamps can develop during the rainy season. The southern part is made up of loess, while north of Ashkelon consists of clay.

The Shfela has a temperate Mediterranean to semi-arid climate.

A series of east-west valleys cuts the Shfelah into districts. From north to south, they are: the Valley of Ayalon, Sorek Valley, Valley of Elah, Guvrin Valley, Valley of Lachish, and Valley of Adorayim. The biblical towns established there guarded settlements of the interior and took advantage of trade passing along this route. Ayalon was the primary access corridor to Jerusalem along the ascent of Horon.

Caves are a major feature of the southern part of the Shfela, many of them bell-shaped such as those in Beit Guvrin.[9]

History and archaeology
Shfela lowlands

Archaeological surveys in the Shephelah have found evidence of habitation during the Late Bronze period.[10] During the early Iron Age, the population of what has been widely believed to be a Canaanite enclave[11] between the rising centres of both coastal Philistia and the Israelite/Judahite highlands, went into decline, though a string of settlements survived on the eastern edge. In the Iron Age IIA–B, population growth resumed and by the 8th century BCE it was densely populated, not so much by natural growth but as a result of incoming settlers, beginning with the short-lived settlement at Khirbet Qeiyafa. The overall estimated numbers for inhabitants range from 50,000 to 100,000, over numerous sites such as Tel Lachish, Azekah, Tel Burna, Tel Zayit, Khirbet el-Qom, Tel Erani, Tel Harasim and Tel Nagila. This colonization, together with the inhabitants of the Canaanite enclave, identified with the highland Israelite/Judahite culture, and its expansion coincides with the decline of Philistia.[12] During the decline and ultimate destruction of Judah by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the region was taken over gradually by the Edomites and it became the core of what was known in Greek as Idumea. The Shephela flourished during the Hellenistic period, was strongly affected by the First Jewish-Roman War (66–70) and was largely depopulated of Jews as a result of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136). It flourished again in the Byzantine period and was the scene of one of the major battles during the Muslim conquest of the Levant of the 7th century.

Archaeological sites

See also

References
  1. Claude R. Conder, in Tent Work in Palestine (pub. Richard Bentley and Son: London 1878, p. 276), wrote: "The term Shephelah is used in the Talmud to mean the low hills of soft limestone, which, as already explained, form a distinct district between the plain and the watershed mountains. The name Sifla, or Shephelah, still exists in four or five places within the region round Beit Jibrîn."
  2. "Land of Israel: Geographical Survey. Shephelah". Encyclopaedia Judaica. Thomson Gale. 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2017. Topographically, the Shephelah represents a transition zone between the Coastal Plains and the Hebron and Jerusalem Mountains. It is relatively narrow – about 8 mi. (13 km.) – in proportion to its south-north extension – about 35 mi. (60 km.). Though they form the foothills of the Judean Mountains, the Shephelah hills differ from the former in almost all respects. Structurally, they constitute a major synclinal part of the south Judean anticlinorium, composed mainly of chalky formations of Senonian-Eocene origin. Hypsographically, the Shephelah consists of two parts: a western one (the "Low Shephelah"), rising to a height of about 600 ft. (200 m.) above the Coastal Plains, and an eastern one (the "High Shephelah") about 600 ft. (200 m.) higher than the former. On the north the Shephelah borders on the tectonically conditioned Aijalon Valley, one of the main natural approaches to the Judean Mountains. The Shephelah is a region of gently sloped hills separated by the confluents of the major rivers descending into the area from the Judean Mountains. At their entrance into the Shephelah, these rivers, and several of their tributaries, form relatively wide-floored valleys that run for a considerable stretch along the border between the hill and the mountain region. Passage between these longitudinal valleys is relatively convenient, and this natural communication channel has been very important throughout history.
  3. Jewish National Fund (KKL), British Park – Scenic trails in Israel's Heartland. Quote: "The Judean Plain is an intermediate region situated between the Coastal Plain to the west and the Judean Mountains to the east. The altitude of its hills varies from 150 to 450 meters above sea level, and geologically speaking, the plain is a syncline, i.e., a basin in which the layers of rock have folded downwards and sunk. [...] The plain consists of two distinct landscape units: the lower plain, to the west, where the hills are lower and separated by broad riverbeds; and the upper plain, where the valleys are deeper and the hills rise to a height of between 250 and 450 meters above sea level."
  4. Nadav Naʼaman (2005). Ancient Israel and Its Neighbors: Interaction and Counteraction. Eisenbrauns. p. 334. ISBN 978-1-57506-108-5.
  5. Joshua 15:33-36, 19:40-41
  6. e.g. Deuteronomy 1:7; Joshua 9:1; 10:40; 11:2, 16; 12:8; 15:33; Judges 1:9; 1 Kings 10:27; Jeremiah 17:26; 32:44; 33:13; Obadiah 1:19; Zechariah 7:7; 1 Chronicles 27:28; 2 Chronicles 1:15; 9:27; 26:10; 28:18.
  7. The Plain of the Shephelah, Jewish Encyclopedia (1906).
  8. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (2008). The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700. Oxford Archaeological Guides. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-19-923666-4. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  9. Pits and Caves in the Shephelah of Israel compared with Similar Pits in East Anglia
  10. Lester L. Grabbe (1 December 2008). Israel in Transition: From Late Bronze II to Iron IIa (c. 1250–850 BCE): 1 The Archaeology. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-567-59913-1.
  11. For reservation about this consensus see Avraham Faust, 2020 pp.128-130.
  12. Avraham Faust, 'Between the Highland Polity and Philistia,', in BASOR, vol.383 2020pp.115-137pp.117-119,122,124.
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