page_title: Tel Erani
section_title: Discovery and history of investigations
hierarchical_section_title: Tel Erani / Discovery and history of investigations
caption_attribution_description: English: Excerpt of map sheet 20 from Conder and Kitchener's Survey of Western Palestine (1880), showing the area around en:Iraq al-Manshiyya and en:Tel Erani (modern-day Kiryat Gat).
context_page_description: Tel Erani or Tell esh-Sheikh Ahmed el-ʿAreini is a multi-period archaeological site on the outskirts of Kiryat Gat in the Southern District of Israel. It is also known by the name ʻIrâq el-Menshiyeh, although thought to have borne the original Arabic name of Menshiyet es-Saḥalīn. The tell was first occupied in the Chalcolithic period, but its most notable remains are from the Bronze Age and Iron Age, when it was the site of a substantial Philistine city with links to Egypt. It has been identified with the biblical cities of Libnah, Gath, Mmst, Eglon and Makkedah, but none of these identifications are certain. The city was destroyed in the 6th century BCE, possibly by the Babylonians. In the Persian period, it was the site of a temple. There are also signs of settlement in the Hellenistic, Byzantine, and Mamluk periods. The Palestinian village of Iraq al-Manshiyya was located at the foot of the tell until it was depopulated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
context_section_description: Tel Erani was first documented by Claude Reignier Conder and Herbert Kitchener in their 1872–1877 survey for the Palestine Exploration Fund. They described the contemporary village of Iraq al-Manshiyya and remarked that the site was "evidently ancient and important, and seems possibly to represent the ancient Libnah." The identification of Tel Erani with the biblical city of Libnah was based on the chalk in the hills nearby – the name of the city meaning 'the white' in ancient Hebrew.
  In 1921, William F. Albright argued that the site was a poor fit with Libnah, and instead proposed it was the major Philistine city of Gath. He placed Libnah at Tell es-Safi, which most scholars of the time identified with Gath. When the Palestinian population was forced out of the area in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Albright's theory was the basis for naming the new Israeli settlements of Kiryat Gat and Kibbutz Gat.
caption: Excerpt from mao sheet 20 of Conder and Kitchener's Survey of Western Palestine showing Tel Erani (Sh. Ahmed el-ʿAreini)
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