Eighteen seasons of excavations were carried out at Arad during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. During the Early Bronze Age, Arad was the only town in the Negev and an economic center which had commercial ties with Sinai and Egypt and which served as a gateway community between the desert and the sown. Following a 1,500 year gap, a new settlement was established at Arad, in the late 12th to early 11th centuries BCE, in which, subsequently, six consecutive Israelite citadels were constructed. Considerable numbers of 10th to 6th century BCE Hebrew ostraca and later Aramaic, Greek and Arabic inscriptions originated here and are published in the Arad Inscriptions volume.