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SKYVIEW/COURTESY OF YOSEF GARFINKEL

BOASTING MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE, this heavily fortified city excavated at Khirbet Qeiyafa about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem is believed to be Biblical Shaߵarayim in the Elah Valley, where the Bible says a juvenile shepherd battled Goliath. Because it appears to date from the 10th century B.C.E., this city provides unique archaeological evidence for a centralized government in the time of the Biblical King David. Located between Philistia and the Shephelah, it is actually the first Iron Age site found in the territory allegedly controlled by David.