The Earliest Settlement at Kadesh Barnea

Abstract

One of the interesting pottery groups presented in the newly-published excavation report of Kadesh Barnea is Painted Qurayyah Ware, labelled there as Midianite Ware. Most of this painted pottery, mainly sherds, was notfound in situ and could not be stratigraphically connected to one of the occupation levels. The paper suggests that the Painted Qurayyah Ware should be related to the settlement of Substratum 4c—the earliest settlement that predates the oval 'fortress'—which should be dated to the 12th century BCE.

It follows that the Substratum 4c settlement in Kadesh Barnea is contemporary with several other settlements, e.g., Tel Masos Stratum III, Khirbet en-Nahas and Timna, which were associated with trade and copper production. It seems that Kadesh Barnea served as a way station on the copper trade route leading to the Mediterranean coast.