Lavnin

The name Lavnin is a reflection of popular etymology, the modern Hebrew name being a crude translation of the Arabic word Beida, meaning "white."[2] Others say that its modern name represents "the hill of bricks," hence: Tell Livnin (livanim), based on a different pronunciation of the Hebrew that is typically written without vowels.[3] Archaeologists are divided as to the site's original name, some holding the view that it may have been the biblical Libnah (Joshua 15:42; 21:13),[4] based on its Arabic name, while others thought it to have been the Chezib of Judah,[5] or the Azekah (Joshua 10:10-11) mentioned by Epiphanius.[3]

Depending on whether the site was the same as Lobana, as described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon as "now being a village in Eleutheropolitana" (in the vicinity of Beit Gubrin), the town would have still been settled and occupied as late as the 4th-century CE.[6] Archaeologist Boaz Zissu rejects the notion that the site could have been Chezib of Judah, saying that "since Khirbet Tell el-Bēḍā / Tel Lavnīn was clearly occupied during the Byzantine Period, it is questionable whether this site is the same as Eusebius’ ruined Chasbi."[7] Others proposed that Libnah may have been at the ruin now known as Tell eṣ-Ṣāfi,[8] a view now largely rejected.[9] Travellers C.W.M. van de Velde and H.B. Tristram, both, thought to place the ancient ruin of Libnah at the ruin now called ʻIrâq el-Menshiyeh, where is now built the city of Kiryat Gat,[10] a view that is also now largely rejected.

Lt. Col. Conder of the Palestine Exploration Fund professed to be uncertain about the site of the biblical Libnah, and was equally unfamiliar with the connection between the Arabic name el-Beida and Libnah (= "white"), although acknowledging that "it (Libnah) indicates the 'white' chalk of the Southern Shephelah, and it was taken by Joshua (Joshua x, 30) after Makkedah and before Lachish and Hebron."[11]

The Mediterranean plants endemic to the area are the Palestine oak (Quercus calliprinos), terebinth (Pistacia atlantica), lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus), buckthorn (Rhamnus lycioides), and strawberry tree (Arbutus andrachne). Some of these trees have protected status. The area abounds also in fowl such as the partridge (Alectoris chukar), the honey-sucker, the bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthopygos), the black-headed bunting, and the titmouse. The species of agamid lizard, Stellagama, and hares (Lepus) are also common to this region. Although more rare, the region is home to the mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) and to the honey-badger (Mellivora capensis).

Lieut. H. H. Kitchener of the Palestine Exploration Fund visited the site between the years 1874–1875 and noted many caves, in one of which there were 120 niches in the wall, apparently used for urns.[12] The site is similar to many of those in the region, having a network of underground hiding complexes, thought to date back to the Bar Kokhba revolt.[13] During an archaeological survey of the site in 1998, IAA archaeologist Boaz Zissu described what appeared to be a "lion's den" at Tel Lavnin (having a side-entrance and an observation point from above), a Second Temple period ritual bath (mikveh), burial tombs from the same period, fortifications, and Byzantine era graffiti on the walls.[14] In 2001 Zissu, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), conducted a second survey of the site.[15] The site abounds with burial caves, and contains a columbarium, along with water cisterns carved into the bedrock. A decorated lintel rests at the top of the hill. A small area containing two pits and a room with an arched vault built of ashlar stones was exposed in the northeastern part.

• Libnah

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  Deep cistern at the Lavnin ruin
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  Cave entrance at Lavnin
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  Open pit at the Lavnin ruins
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  Gaping hole of pit
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  General ruins at Lavnin (Kh. Tell el-Beida)
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  Stone relics at Lavnin ruin
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  View of valley below Kh. Tell el-Beida
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  Wall structure at Lavnin
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  Hilltop ruin of Tell el-Beida (Lavnin)

• Klein, Eitan; Shai, Itzhaq (2016). "Burial Caves from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages at Horvat Lavnin in the Judean Shephelah". Tel Aviv. Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. 43 (2): 221–238. doi:10.1080/03344355.2016.1215554. S2CID 133071420.

• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21: IAA, Wikimedia commons