Tzafririm

Horvat Midras (Hebrew: חורבת מדרס), or Khirbet Drūsye in Arabic, is an archaeological site located in the central Judaean Lowlands, in modern-day Israel. It contains the remains of an ancient settlement situated on the slopes of a spur near an ancient road that once connected Jerusalem with the southern coastal plain. Today, the site lies within the Adullam Nature Reserve. Continuous occupation at Horvat Midras is attested from the Hellenistic period. Following the Hasmonean conquest of Idumaea in the late 2nd century BCE, the site was briefly abandoned. It was re-established in the 1st century BCE and grew to become one of the largest and most affluent rural settlements in the Judaean Lowlands during the Second Temple period. The site, home to a Jewish population, remained inhabited through the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 CE) and up to the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 CE). Later in the same century, a cultic complex was established at the site. During the Byzantine period, Horvat Midras was home to a small Christian village, with an elaborate church. Following the Muslim conquest in the early 7th century, the church remained in use, but its crosses were intentionally plastered over, and access routes were altered to avoid the sanctuary. The church collapsed during the 749 earthquake, after which a rural settlement began to develop in the late 8th or 9th century. After several centuries of abandonment, the site was reoccupied in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (13th to 16th centuries) and functioned as a small agricultural village. In the early Ottoman period, it declined, becoming a seasonal settlement, with the ancient remains reused for herding and small-scale farming. One of the most notable finds at Horvat Midras is a monumental family tomb from the late Second Temple period, consisting of a podium topped by a stepped pyramid. Unique in the rural landscape of ancient Judea, it represents a rare example of a rural "display tomb"—a status symbol likely commissioned by a wealthy family, possibly one whose influence rose through ties with the Herodian dynasty. Other major finds include hiding complexes, rock-cut tombs, columbaria (structures intended to house pigeons), mikvehs (Jewish ritual baths), and the elaborate Byzantine church with well-preserved mosaics.

Givat Yeshayahu (Hebrew: גִּבְעַת יְשַׁעְיָהוּ, lit. 'Yeshayahu Hill') is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Valley of Elah around ten kilometres south of Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 807.

Adullam Grove Nature Reserve (Hebrew: שמורת טבע חורש עדולם) is a nature reserve in central Israel, south of Beit Shemesh, managed by the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority. The park is full with archaeological sites, including a number of ruins of rural villages with findings from the late Second Temple period and the Jewish–Roman wars, Byzantine-period Christian churches, as well as remains from earlier and later times.

Adullam-France Park (Hebrew: פארק עדולם-צרפת), also known as Parc de France-Adoulam, is a sprawling park of 50,000 dunams (50 km2; 19 sq mi)(ca. 12,350 acres) in the Central District of Israel, located south of Beit Shemesh. The park, established in 2008 for public recreation, features two major hiking and biking trails, and four major archaeological sites from the Second Temple period. It stretches between Naḥal Ha-Elah (Highway 375), its northernmost boundary, to Naḥal Guvrin (Highway 35), its southernmost boundary. To its west lies the Beit Guvrin-Beit Shemesh highway, and to its east the "green line" – now territories under joint Israeli-Palestinian Arab control – which marks its limit.

Srigim (Hebrew: שריגים. lit. Shoots), also known as Li On (Hebrew: לִי אוֹן), is a community settlement in central Israel. Located to the south of Beit Shemesh. It falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,044. It borders the British Park forest and the biblical Elah Valley where David fought Goliath.

Lavnin (Hurvat Libnah / Tel Lavnin / Kh. Tell el-Beida)(Hebrew: חורבת לבנין)(Arabic: خربة تل البيضة), is a late Bronze Age archaeological site situated in Israel's Adullam region, rising some 389 metres (1,276 ft) above sea level. The site lies 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northwest of Beit Gubrin, and about 1 kilometer west-north-west of Khirbat Umm Burj, directly south of Nehusha. In April 2019, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee announced that the site would be incorporated into a new national park in the Judean Shephelah, called the "Lavnin Ridge Nature Reserve and National Park," an area to span over 1,000 dunams (250 acres) within the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council.

The Battle of Ajnadayn (Arabic: معركة أجنادين) was fought in July or August 634 (Jumada I or II, 13 AH), in a location close to Beit Guvrin in the present-day Palestine region; it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the army of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory. The details of this battle are mostly known through Muslim sources, such as the ninth-century historian al-Waqidi.

Horvat 'Ethri (Hebrew: חורבת עתרי; alt. spellings: Hurvat Itri, Ethri, Atari), Hebrew for "Ethri ruin", Arabic name: Umm Suweid ("mother of the buckthorns"), is an archaeological site situated in the Judean Lowlands in modern-day Israel. Excavations at the site uncovered the remains of a now partially restored Jewish village of the Second Temple period, wherein are preserved an ancient synagogue, wine presses, cisterns, ritual baths and stone ossuaries, as well as an underground hideout system. The village was violently destroyed during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

The Valley of Elah or Ella Valley ("the valley of the terebinth"; from the Hebrew: עמק האלה‎ Emek HaElah), called in Arabic: وادي السنط, Wadi es-Sunt, so-named from its Acacia albida trees, is a long, shallow valley in the Levant best known as the place described in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament of Christianity) where the Israelites were encamped when David fought Goliath (1 Samuel 17:2; 1 Samuel 17:19). It is home to several important archaeological sites, including those identified as the ancient towns of Azekah and Socho (1 Samuel 17:1). Rising up from the valley on its extreme southeast end lies the hilltop ruin Adullam, and on its north lie the ruins of the ancient fortress city of Khirbet Qeiyafa, which is identified with the ancient town of Sha'araim (1 Samuel 17:52). The valley is named in Hebrew after the large and shady terebinth trees (Pistacia atlantica) which are indigenous to it. On the west side of the valley, near Socho, there is a very large and ancient tree of this kind, 55 feet (17 m) in height with a trunk 17 feet (5.2 m) in circumference and a canopy at least 75 feet (23 m) in diameter. This tree is notable for being one of the largest terebinths in the area, and marks the upper end of the valley.Since the early 1970s, the valley has also contained a large satellite relay station, with an antenna farm containing some 120 satellite dishes of various sizes. From 2010 to 2014, the region around the valley was believed to be threatened by shale oil extraction through the CCR ground-heating process, with the Green Zionist Alliance and the grassroots group Save Adullam, among others, working to stop exploitation of the region. The plan was ultimately blocked in 2014 by a zoning committee decision. In July 2019, the Elah Valley came under the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, owing largely to its historical importance and the desire to curtail the encroaching city limits of Beit Shemesh to its north.

Nehusha (Hebrew: נְחוּשָׁה, lit. 'Steadfast') is a moshav in central Israel. Located five kilometres north-east of Beit Guvrin, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,505.

'Ajjur (Arabic: عجّور) was a Palestinian Arab village of over 3,700 inhabitants in 1945, located 24 kilometres (15 mi) northwest of Hebron. It became depopulated in 1948 after several military assaults by Israeli military forces. Agur, Tzafririm, Givat Yeshayahu, Li-On, and Tirosh were built on the village lands.

Khirbat Umm Burj was a Palestinian Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict, sometimes designated in modern maps as Burgin. Its ruins are today located within the borders of Israel. It occupied an extensive site, stretching about 30 dunams (7.4 acres) on the crest of a hill, rising some 430 metres (1,410 ft) above sea level, and commanding a good prospect of the surrounding region. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War on October 28, 1948, during the third stage of Operation Yo'av under the command of Yigal Allon. The site is located 17 km northwest of Hebron.