Beit Guvrin
Bet Guvrin is south of Beth Shemesh in Israel. Some areas are unexcavated and many treasures from the Byzantine era have been unearthed At Beit Gurvin.
Many archaeological items from Beit Guvrin can be found in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Tell Sandahannah, located about 1.5 km. south of Beit Guvrin and 39 km. east of Ashkelon has been identified by researchers as the site of ancient Maresha. This identification is based on biblical references and the writings of Josephus and Eusebius, and has since been confirmed by modern excavations. Ancient Maresha occupied the high mound and a lower city with cave complexes and a necropolis.
The Mound
Tell Maresha was first excavated in 1900 when a planned and fortified Hellenistic city 
encircled by a town wall with towers was discovered. Two Hellenistic and one Israelite strata were identified too.
During the 1980‘s Amos Kloner cleared the northwestern tower of the Hellenistic city on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, revealing two Hellenistic phases of construction. The earlier tower, dated to ca. 300 BCE, was built into the debris of the Persian period.
A new tower, dated to ca. 200 BCE and built directly over the earlier Hellenstic tower, was probably destroyed toward the end of that century. Beneath these fortifications, Kloner identified Persian and Iron Age levels of occupation.
Finds from the Israelite (Iron Age) stratum discovered during the excavations include seventeen la-melekh (to/for the king) seal impressions. Finds from the Hellenistic period include 328 stamped Rhodian amphora handles and three inscriptions. Sixteen small lead figurines and 51 limestone execration tablets attest to the practice of magic in Hellenistic Maresha.
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