Tel Yarmuth (original) (raw)

Tel Yarmuth (also Tel Yarmouth and Tel Yarmut; Hebrew name) or Khirbet Yarmuk (Arabic name) is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Israel located 25 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem and near modern Beit Shemesh. It is a large single-period (EB II/III) site and has been suggested as possibly being the city of Jarmuth, being only a tentative identification, as it is based solely on the similarity of the Hebrew name with the Arabic name and its areal location. Chronologically the city reached its peak at the same time as the Old Kingdom in Egypt and the Early Dynastic III period in Mesopotamia. After that the city was fully abandoned, with occasional modest occupation in later periods.