Historic sites in Gedera
Gedera is in the Book of Chronicles I 4:23 and the Book of Joshua 15:36 as a town in the territory of Judah.[2] Its identification with the site of modern Gedera was proposed by Victor Guérin in the 19th century,[4] but was dismissed as “impossible” by William F. Albright who preferred to identify it with al-Judeira.[5][6] Biblical Gedera is now identified with Khirbet Judraya, 1 km (0.6 mi) south of Bayt Nattif.[7][8]
Tel Qatra, which lies at the northern edge of Gedera, is usually identified with Kedron, a place fortified by the Seleucids against the Hasmonaeans (1 Macc. 15:39-41, 16:9).[9] It has also been identified with Gedrus, a large village in the time of Eusebius (fourth century).[9] Eusebius identified Gedrus with biblical Gedor, which is a name also appearing on the Madaba map, but several other sites for Gedor have been proposed.[9]
Tel Qatra was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age to at least the early Islamic period.[9] Sometime between then and the Medieval period, settlement moved to the southern foot of the tell, where the Palestinian village of Qatra existed until 1948.[9] Its peak was in the Byzantine period, when the tell had at least one large public building.[9]
