| Sumario: | "The Socoh Intensive Survey was initiated in 2010 by the Institute of Archaeology, Southern Adventist University, and the Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the intent to conduct a large-scale excavation of the site beginning in 2011. The goal of the anticipated project was to expand the work of the Khirbet Qeiyafa Archaeological Project into a regional study focusing on the history of the Elah Valley and the expansion of Judah in the Early Iron Age. Specific research questions to be addressed were (1) the geopolitical interplay between the cities of Tell Zakariya-Azekah, Khirbet Qeiyafa-Sha'arayim and Khirbet Shuweikeh-Socoh within Judah and the border of Philistia; (2) Socoh's stratigraphic and historical occupation; (3) its fortification history as a border garrison town; (4) its relationship to the major military history of the region (Philistine, Assyrian and Babylonian incursions); and (5) its larger significance in the development of the Shephelah"--
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