Area B Excavations

View looking north along the eastern slope of Kh. al–Ra'i.  To the left of center is Garfinkel's excavation in area "B."  The Lachish Valley flows from right to left (east to west).

According to Garfinkel and others, the Lachish Valley provided access to Hebron in the Hill Country of Judah via the Shephelah site of Lachish—and the village at Kh. al–Ra'i guarded the west entrance to this valley.

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In a one hour Lanier Theological Library lecture, Searching for the Historical King David: Khirbet Qeiyafa and Khirbet al–Ra'i, Yosef Garfinkel describes Kh. al–Ra'i for 4 minutes, beginning at the 49th minute.  He describes the site and provides helpful photos and labeled ones as well.  According to Garfinkel, it was inhabited in the 11th, 10th, 8th, 7th centuries and later.