Nachson Sneh, Kibbutz Gat

Guards at watch in the Aqrav fortress atop this prominent hill could look in all directions across the surrounding Central Negev desert. Any threat to the settlement, seen in the foreground as excavated remains, would have been quickly spotted. The author believes that King Solomon built the Aqrav fortress in the tenth century B.C. as one of a chain of fortresses protecting the southern border of his kingdom.