High Place?

View of the “room” located just to the left (south) of the city gate.  Yigal Yadin believed that this was where the sacrificial altar had been located.  In the center of the image note the staircase.  Yadin argued that the priests used this to ascend to manipulate the fire and sacrifices on the altar.  The altar, according to Yadin, was located just beyond this staircase.

To see the sacrificial altar, that Yadin believed was from this spot, Click Here. Yadin based his belief upon the description of the religious reform of the Judean king Josiah (640–609 B.C.).

“Then he [Josiah] brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate.”  (2 Kings 23:8)

To see the place that Yohanan Aharoni proposed for the placement of the altar Click Here.

For a map and brief introductory comments about Beersheba Click Here.