Horvat Tov: A Late Iron Age Fortress in the Northeastern Negev

Abstract

This article presents a summary of excavations that took place some 30 years ago at Horvat Tov, a late Iron Age fortress in the northeastern Negev. The finds suggest that Horvat Tov was established in the transitional period from the Iron IIB and IIC, and was destroyed like most of the other sites in the region at the end of the 7th or early 6th century BCE. The study reconstructs the historical framework of Judah’s southern frontier, with an emphasis on the Arad–Beer-sheba Valley during the 7th century BCE, and examines the ties between Horvat Tov, the nearby fortress at Tel Arad, and other fortresses in the region at the end of the Iron Age.