The name Lavnin is a reflection of popular etymology, the modern Hebrew name being a crude translation of the Arabic word Beida, meaning "white." Others say that its modern name represents "the hill of bricks," hence: Tell Livnin, based on a different pronunciation of the Hebrew that is typically written without vowels. Archaeologists are divided as to the site's original name, some holding the view that it may have been the biblical Libnah, based on its Arabic name, while others thought it to have been the Chezib of Judah, or the Azekah mentioned by Epiphanius. Depending on whether the site was the same as Lobana, as described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon as "now being a village in Eleutheropolitana", the town would have still been settled and occupied as late as the 4th-century CE. Archaeologist Boaz Zissu rejects the notion that the site could have been Chezib of Judah, saying that "since Khirbet Tell el-Bēḍā / Tel Lavnīn was clearly occupied during the Byzantine Period, it is questionable whether this site is the same as Eusebius’ ruined Chasbi." Others proposed that Libnah may have been at the ruin now known as Tell eṣ-Ṣāfi, a view now largely rejected. Travellers C.W.M. van de Velde and H.B. Tristram, both, thought to place the ancient ruin of Libnah at the ruin now called ʻIrâq el-Menshiyeh, where is now built the city of Kiryat Gat, a view that is also now largely rejected.
Flora and fauna
The Mediterranean plants endemic to the area are the Palestine oak, terebinth, lentisk, buckthorn, and strawberry tree. Some of these trees have protected status. The area abounds also in fowl such as the partridge, the honey-sucker, the bulbul, the black-headed bunting, and the titmouse. The species of agamid lizard, Stellagama, and hares are also common to this region. Although more rare, the region is home to the mongoose and to the honey-badger.
Archaeology
of the Palestine Exploration Fund visited the site between the years 1874–1875 and noted many caves, in one of which there were 120 niches in the wall, apparently used for urns. The site is similar to many of those in the region, having a network of underground hiding complexes, thought to date back to the Bar Kokhba revolt. During an archaeological survey of the site in 1998, IAA archaeologist Boaz Zissu described what appeared to be a "lion's den" at Tel Lavnin, a Second Temple periodritual bath, burial tombs from the same period, fortifications, and Byzantine era graffiti on the walls. In 2001 Zissu, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, conducted a second survey of the site. The site abounds with burial caves, and contains a columbarium, along with water cisterns carved into the bedrock. A decorated lintel rests at the top of the hill. A small area containing two pits and a room with an arched vault built of ashlar stones was exposed in the northeastern part.
