Gehenna Garbage Dump a Myth?

[Homer]

This statement seems to be rather common in study bibles, etc., regarding the Valley of Hinnom (gehenna):

A valley in Jerusalem where refuse was burned, later becoming a symbol for the place of punishment in the nether world.

Yesterday I was reading in G. R. Beasley-Murray's "Jesus and the Kingdom of God" and came across the following:

"The Valley of Hinnom" lay south of Jerusalem, immediately outside its walls. The notion, still referred to by some commentators that this city's rubbish was burned in this valley, has no further basis than a statement by the Jewish scholar Kimchi made about A. D. 1200, it is not attested in any ancient source.

Having heard the "garbage dump" idea spoken of as fact numerous times I was most curious about Beasley-Murray's statement. I consulted articles on gehenna in the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Zondervan Bible Encyclopedia, Catholic Encyclopedia, Interpreters Bible Dictionary, Dictionary of New Testament Theology, and Harpers Bible Dictionary. None of them mention the garbage dump idea. Is this a myth on par with the "eye of a needle" being a small gate in the walk of Jerusalem? What evidence is there for the this garbage dump?

[steve]

Beasley-Murray is apparently correct about the earliest attestation for this belief. At least he is not the only scholar making this claim. I have heard it at least two other places. It seems we have nothing earlier than this Jewish writer's statements in the 12th century. Of course, it may be presumed that he got the idea somewhere. What his sources were, or how far back they may have gone into antiquity, we may never know.

However, the identification of Gehenna with the Valley of Hinnom remains on the same footing with or without the garbage dump story. It is clear that, whether or not Josiah ever turned the place into a garbage dump, Jeremiah referred to it as the place of mass burial (or, perhaps, non-burial) for those slain by the Babylonian invaders. It is Jeremiah's usage, not that of the rabbis, that informs this understanding of Gehenna.