Kuntillet Ajrud
Kuntillet Ajrud (Arabic: كونتيلة عجرود) or Horvat Teman (Hebrew: חורבת תימן) is a late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE site in the northeast part of the Sinai Peninsula. It is frequently described as a shrine, though this is not certain. The Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions discovered in the excavations are significant in biblical archaeology.
كونتيلة عجرود | |
Image on pithos sherd found at Kuntillet Ajrud below the inscription "Yahweh and his asherah" | |
Shown within Sinai | |
| Alternative name | (חורבת תימן) |
|---|---|
| Region | Sinai |
| Coordinates | 30°11′10″N 34°25′41″E |
| History | |
| Material | Stone |
| Periods | Iron Age |
| Cultures | Israelite |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1975–76 |
| Archaeologists | Ze’ev Meshel |
Kuntillet Ajrud is in north Sinai; carbon-14 dating indicates occupation in the period 801–770 BCE, and the eponymous texts may have been written c. 800 BCE. As a perennial water source in this arid region it constituted an important station on an ancient trade route connecting the Gulf of Aqaba (an inlet of the Red Sea) and the Mediterranean, and was in addition located only 50 kilometers from the major oasis of Kadesh Barnea.