Kadesh

Kadesh, or Kadesh-barnea, was Israel's main encampment in the wilderness of Zin on the southern edge of Canaan, the base from which Moses sent twelve spies into the land and where, decades later, Miriam died and Moses struck the rock in disobedience that cost him entry into Canaan. It is usually identified with the oasis of Ain el-Qudeis or nearby Ain el-Qudeirat, where excavations have uncovered an Israelite period fortress. A different Kadesh, on the Orontes River in Syria, was a Hittite stronghold and the site of a major battle between Ramesses II of Egypt and the Hittite king Muwatalli II, an inconclusive clash later settled by one of the oldest surviving peace treaties in history.