 The biblical name is spelled variously as Abel-beth-maacah, Abel Beth Maacah, Abel Beth-Maacah, Avel Bet Ma'akha etc.The city is also called Abel Maim ("meadow of water") in .The tell was described by a number of prominent 19th-century and early 20th-century explorers, including Victor Guérin, Félix-Marie Abel and Edward Robinson, who was the first to identify the mound with biblical Abel Beth Maacah (Avel Bet Macakha).