Nahal Be'er Sheva

Nahal Be'er Sheva
Flooding of the stream in winter 2013 near Beersheba's Neve Noy neighbourhood
Native nameנַחַל בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע
Location
CountryIsrael
RegionSouthern Israel
SettlementsKuseife, Tel as-Sabi, Be'er Sheva
Physical characteristics
SourceDrijat
 • elevation570 m
Mouth 
 • location
Besor Stream
 • elevation
140 m
Length50 km (31 mi)
Basin size1,700 km2 (660 sq mi)

The Nahal Be'er Sheva (נַחַל בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע; Beersheba Stream) is a stream in southern Israel which originates just west of Tel Arad, southeast of the Yatir Forest, and is a tributary of the Besor Stream. Its tributaries are the Nahal Yatir, the Nahal Hevron and the Nahal Sakher.[1] It is named for the city of Beersheba, the largest city on its banks.

A major archeological site on its banks is Tel Be'er Sheva.[2] It contains many archeological finds, including a Bedouin livestock market at the Well of Abraham, which the Bedouin called the Suq al-Waqef,[3] a winepress and Byzantine-era tombs.[4] It converges with the Besor Stream at a location known as the Mifgash (מפגש; Meeting place),[5] just southeast of Tze'elim.

It rises on the Northern slope of Kina Mountain at the elevation of 570 m and flows into the Besor at the elevation of 140 m.[6][7]

Tributaries

The Nahal Be'er Sheva has three major tributaries.

  • The Nahal Sakher (or Nahal Secher), which originates west of Qasr al-Sir and drains into the Nahal Be'er Sheva just east of the Mifgash.
  • The Nahal Hevron (Arabic: Wadi al-Khalil (upstream), Wadi al-Samen (downstream)).
  • The Nahal Yatir.

References

  1. ^ Wener-Franka, Ilana; Tagger, Shirli; Reid, Ian; Powell, D. Mark; Laronne, Jonathan B.; Chocron, Matan; Bergman, Nati; Balaban, Noa; Alexandrov, Yulia (2008). "Differentiated suspended sediment transport in headwater basins of the Besor catchment, northern Negev". Israel Journal of Earth Sciences. 57 (3): 177–188. doi:10.1560/IJES.57.3-4.177.
  2. ^ Professor Ze’ev Herzog. "Tel Beer Sheva National Park" (PDF). Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 2, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  3. ^ Kressel, G. M.; Ben-David, J. (1995). "The Bedouin market -Corner stone for the founding of Be'er-Sheva: Bedouin traditions about the development of the Negev capital in the Ottoman period". Nomadic Peoples (36/37): 119–144. JSTOR 43123454.
  4. ^ Varga, Daniel; Talis, Svetlana (2021). "Byzantine Archaeological Remains in Beer Sheva, Israel". Athens Journal of History. 7 (3): 203–216. doi:10.30958/ajhis.7-3-2.
  5. ^ Goring-Morris, A.N.; Goldberg, P. (1990). "Late Quaternary dune incursions in the southern levant: Archaeology, chronology and palaeoenvironments". Quaternary International. 5: 115–137. Bibcode:1990QuInt...5..115G. doi:10.1016/1040-6182(90)90031-X.
  6. ^ ספי בן יוסף, ed. (2001). מדריך ישראל החדש: אנציקלופדיה, מסלולי טיול (in Hebrew). Vol. 14: הנגב הצפוני. pp. 153–154. ISBN 965-07-0894-4. Archived from the original on 2021-04-21.
  7. ^ אנציקלופדיה מפה (in Hebrew). Vol. 1. מפה. 2000. p. 124.

31°11′31″N 34°34′05″E / 31.19186°N 34.56812°E / 31.19186; 34.56812