Life and Land

By Gordon Franz

The 2006 Season
This past summer was the 17th season of the renewed excavations of Hazor in memory of Professor Yigel Yadin.  ABR had a group of 11 volunteers, lead by Larry Fuller (ABR president) and myself. We joined about 50 other volunteers from Israel and abroad (Scotland, Poland, Romania, America, Denmark, and England) in order to excavate this important site.  The ABR team toured around Israel as part of the actual digging at Tel Hazor.  Our people worked in two areas: A-4 and the renewed Area M.

The main concentration of work for this season was Area M.  It is in this area that Dr. Sharon Zuckerman, the area supervisor, has suggested that the administrative palace of Hazor was and the Canaanite archive of the Late Bronze level would be located (2006: 28-37).  But before the Late Bronze Age is reached, we must go through the Persian period level and the Iron Age levels.  For a report of the previous seasons of Area M, see Ben-Tor and Rubiato 1999: 32-34.

In the spring, a bulldozer removed the top half meter of a road that had been put in by the National Parks Authority to allow tourists to drive to the top of the site.  Nine 5 x 5 meter squares were opened this season.  Immediately underneath this road were several stone walls of the Persian period (4th century BC), apparently making the corner of two rooms.  The walls and the restorable pottery that were found were an important contribution to our understanding of Hazor because the excavations in the 1950’s and 1960’s by Prof. Yigel Yadin yielded very little Persian period architecture.

Two of the ABR volunteers worked in the corners of the rooms.  Michael Lassiter found a cylindrical seal with two dancing animals on it.  After it was cleaned, it was identified as being from the Persian period.  He also found an intact Persian period storage jar.  Hazor is a scientific excavation so Mike spent the better part of a morning removing the packed dirt from the jar in order to do “flotation” on the soil.  This process collects the seeds that were originally in the jar so they could be analyzed and identified.

Joyce Morril worked in the other room.  She found lots of restorable vessels of the Persian period.  One square over, James Muehling found a bronze object that looked like a battery, but after cleaning, it turned out to be part of a dagger’s handle, possibly of the Persian period or Iron Age.  Unfortunately the blade is in the blaulk that separates the two squares and time did not allow it to be removed.

In four of the squares, a cobble stone pavement was reached, apparently part of a courtyard from the Iron Age.  In a fifth square there were remains of a hewn water channel that lead to the entrance of a cistern in the courtyard.  Unfortunately the excavation was stopped prematurely, thus leaving lots of questions unanswered, just when we were beginning to find things and the area started to make sense.

The restoration projects at Hazor continued this season as well.  Orna Cohen and her restorers have beautifully reconstructed the Late Bronze palace on the top of the tel.  Tourists will now be able to sense some of the power and glory of the Canaanite kings of Hazor in this ceremonial reception hall.

We’re Outa Here!
On the next to the last day (Thursday) that the ABR group was scheduled to dig at Hazor, trouble broke out in the area.  Our Israeli staff had our best interest and safety in mind and within 15 minutes, a bus was on the site to evacuate us.  We had an early breakfast and returned to the hotel to get what we needed and were taken to Tiberius.  On Saturday morning our bus picked us up, as scheduled, from the Tiberias hotel and were went to Jerusalem to shop and tour and then returned to the United States on Sunday night.

The Prospects for the 2007 Season
Due to the troubles in the Middle East, the 2006 season was cut short by a few weeks and left many unanswered questions.  Hopefully, next year some of these questions will be answered.
Dr. Zuckerman has made a compelling case for the archives to be found in Area M.  When the archive(s) are found at Hazor, it/they will be a major contribution to Biblical studies and go a long way to resolve some of the thorny issues in Biblical Archaeology.

Bibliography

Ben-Tor, Amnon, and Rubiato, Maria Teresa
1999    Did the Israelites Destroy the Canaanite City?  Biblical Archaeology Review 25/3: 22-39.

Zuckerman, Sharon
2006    Where is the Hazor Archive Buried?  Biblical Archaeology Review 32/2: 28-37.

Hazor Excavations Project

By Gordon Franz

INDIANA JONES AND HAZOR

Someone shouted, “Bucket chain!”  All the volunteers and area supervisors took their positions and passed 200 plus buckets from one to another across Area A-5, up the ladder and into waiting wheelbarrows.  Others pushed the wheelbarrows to the dump a few meters away.  Last summer (2005), we literally moved tons of dirt and rocks at the excavations at Tel Hazor by doing 10-15 bucket chains per day for six weeks.
We accomplished a lot as far as moving dirt was concerned, but had little to show for it with regard to small finds.  I came to the startling realization that Indiana Jones and his clones are purely fictional characters.  Real archaeology is a lot of donkey work!

The 2005 Season

This past summer was the 16th season of the renewed excavations in memory of Professor Yigael Yadin.  ABR had a group of 21 volunteers, lead by Larry Fuller (ABR president) and myself.  We had tours around Israel as well as actual digging at Tel Hazor.  Our people worked in two areas: A-4 and A-5.
A-4 was divided into two sections, south and north respectively.  The last of the 10th century BC Solomonic remains were removed in the southern section in order to penetrate into the Bronze Age.  In this section, a plaster floor from the Early Bronze IV period emerged.  This discovery, plus other information, demonstrated that the Upper City of Hazor was densely populated.  Underneath these remains was a room from the Early Bronze III period.  In the northern section, a massive stone was discovered, possibly of a palace (?) from the Middle Bronze II period.
A-5 is an East-West trench located in front of the Solomonic Gate.  This area was also divided into two sections, south and north respectively.  In previous seasons we found large walls with mudbrick preserved to the height of 4 meters on top of stone foundations that are placed on bedrock.  The function of these walls is elusive.  I jokingly refer to them as the “Canaanite rat maze!”  We have two large “halls” that seemingly do not have entrances.
As Amnon Ben-Tor, the excavator of Hazor has observed: “The remains exposed in Area A-5 raise three main issues: 1) the nature of the exposed hall, 2) the date of the structure, and 3) the question how the mudbrick walls survived to almost their original height of over 4 m., until the halls were filled the Iron Age II” (Ben-Tor 2005).
The restoration projects at Hazor continued this season as well.  Orna Cohen and her restorers have beautifully reconstructed the Late Bronze palace on the top of the tel.  Tourists will now be able to sense some of the power and glory of the Canaanite kings of Hazor in this ceremonial reception hall.

The Prospects for the 2006 Season

One question that is asked of Dr. Ben-Tor is: “Have you found the Canaanite archives yet?”  It is known that at least two Canaanite archives existed at Hazor, one in the Middle Bronze Age and the other in the Late Bronze Age.  In the 2006 season there will be an attempt to answer this question.  One of the staff members, Dr. Sharon Zuckerman, has suggested that the administrative palace of Hazor was near the gate from the Lower City to the Upper City.  She will set forth her case in a forthcoming issue of “Biblical Archaeology Review.”  In order to test this hypothesis, the 2006 season will concentrate on a reopened Area M that Dr. Zuckerman directed for a number of years (Ben-Tor and Rubiato 1999: 32-34).  There are still several little projects to be completed in Areas A-4 and A-5, including finding the elusive entrances to the halls.
When the archive(s) are found at Hazor, it/they will be a major contribution to Biblical studies and go a long way to resolve some of the thorny issues in Biblical Archaeology.

Bibliography

Ben-Tor, Amnon
2005    Notes and News: Tel Hazor, 2005.  Israel Exploration Journal.  Forthcoming.

Ben-Tor, Amnon, and Rubiato, Maria Teresa
1999    Did the Israelites Destroy the Canaanite City?  Biblical Archaeology Review 25/3: 22-39.

Hazor Excavations Project

By Gordon Franz

What I Did on My Summer Vacation … I Dug Hazor!

A Day at the Dig

The knock came at 4:15 in the morning. Shauel, the excavation trouble-shooter, was knocking on the doors in order to wake up all the volunteers of the Hazor excavation. I must admit, I do not normally get up at 4:15, so I moved a bit slow. But each day was filled with excitement. What would we find today? How hot was it going to be outside? Would we have a breeze? Will we ever find that elusive Canaanite archive?

Before we rode the bus to Hazor, we had a light breakfast of bread and jelly, and sometimes peanut butter, along with coffee, tea or whatever else was put out. At five minutes to five, the bus arrived to take us to the site. It was a short, three-minute ride from our hotel to the dig.

Work began before sunrise. Looking to the east, one could see the silhouette of Mt. Hermon and the volcanic peaks of the Golan Heights. On some mornings we had spectacular sunrises as the sun peaked over the Heights. But with the appearance of the sun, the temperature increased. How hot was it going to be today?

This season the Hazor excavation worked primarily in two locations. The Canaanite palace / temple complex was called A4 and a trench just east of the Solomonic gate called A5. The purpose of this trench is to understand the Israelite and Canaanite fortifications. I was digging in A5.

By seven in the morning we were ready for our first break. We had tea and coffee along with cookies provided by each digger. The tea usually had mint in it. The coffee, well what can I say, when we got down to the bottom of the pitcher, it looked like the Canaanite mud brick from the palace! I do not drink coffee, but I am told it tasted pretty good. After this break, the suntan lotion came out. Even though we had a net over the area that kept out much of the sun, but allowed the breeze to blow through, it was wise to put on the sunscreen.

There was always the constant reminder to drink water. On some days, I would drink between three and four liters of water! One works up a good sweat on an excavation.

Breakfast came around at 9:30. Fortunately A5 was right next to our dining area. This meal consisted of the usual Israeli fare for breakfast: tomatoes, cucumbers, yogurt, cottage cheese, bread, rolls, fish of one sort or another, juice, water and halva. Every once and awhile, Shauel would come through with scrambled eggs cooked in olive oil. It was great!

People sometimes have the wrong impression of archaeology and think it is a treasure hunt. In reality, it is usually tedious “donkey work” of moving dirt. Usually one would use a pick to loosen up the dirt and then scrap it into buckets, all the while looking for any man made objects like pottery, worked flint, or metals. Once all the buckets were filled (in A5 we usually had about 120 of them) the diggers would form a bucket chain and remove all the buckets from the area. Once on top, they were unloaded in wheelbarrows and hauled off to the dump. When a floor level was reached, then the work became a bit more interesting.

A one o’clock, work was over. We piled on the bus with our pottery buckets and returned to the hotel. Lunch awaited us. Since the hotel restaurant was kosher, lunch was the meat meal. After lunch, we would wash the pottery that was uncovered that day. With that task completed, it was time for a nap. Sleeping in a nice air-conditioned room was a welcomed change after working for eight hours in the heat. At 5:30 it was time for pottery reading and supper at 7:30. This meal was the “dairy meal”, or vegetarian meal. After dinner there was usually a lecture or video until about 9 PM. Soon after, one was fast asleep, waiting for Shauel to knock on your door at 4:15 the next morning!

Weekends were free to do as you pleased. Unlike most excavations, the diggers were allowed to stay at the hotel on weekends. Some weekends the diggers just relaxed for the weekend and read a good book, or did laundry in the hotel washing machine. Some diggers would rent a car for a day and visit other archaeological sites in the area, Tel Dan, Caesarea Philippi, Nimrod’s Castle, the Golan Heights, Gamla or the Sea of Galilee. The real energetic diggers would rent a car for the weekend and go further a field, to Jerusalem or Akko.

The excavation had a distinct international flavor. There were a number of Israeli students from Hebrew University as well as other Israelis. There were also people from Romania, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Australia. Dr. Ben-Tor pointed out to me one week that one area had eleven people in it and nine different languages spoke! The common language was English.

Why Dig Hazor?

Hazor is an important and impressive site. In fact, Hazor is the largest archaeological site in Israel. This 200-acre city consists of two parts, the Upper City, or Acropolis, and the Lower City. The next largest cities, apart from Jerusalem, are Gezer and Lachish at 18 acres. Hazor is eleven times the size of these cities!

For the student of the Bible, Hazor has an impressive amount of Biblical history and the archaeological remains to go along with it.

The first mention of Hazor in the Bible is in Joshua 11. “Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire. … But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only, which Joshua burned” (11:10,11,13, cf. 12:19). The first Israeli excavator of Hazor, Yigel Yadin, and the present excavator, Amnon Ben-Tor, believes the burn level of the Late Bronze II period is evidence of Joshua’s destruction.

Hazor was allotted to the tribe of Naphtali (Josh. 19:36) and is mentioned in the account of Judges 4 and 5, the story of Deborah and Barak (Judges 4:2,3,24).

Yadin excavated a very impressive six-chambered gate dating to the 10th century BC and built by King Solomon. Similar gates from this period were discovered at Megiddo and Gezer. Yadin connected this phenomenon with a passage in the Scriptures, “And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised to build: to build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer” (I Kings 9:15).

In the mid-8th century BC an extraordinary earthquake hit the Middle East. Amos (1:2) as well as Isaiah predicted this earthquake (2:19, 21). Yadin discovered evidence for this earthquake in the 1950’s in Area A. This summer, I believe there was more archaeological evidence for this earthquake in A5. Walls were uncovered that tilted to the south or east and floors collapsed. As I looked at those walls, I contemplated the reason for this earthquake. The prophets warned the people to humble themselves because they were proud and haughty. If they did not, the prophets said, God would humble them with an earthquake (Isa. 2). Several years ago I wrote an article on the archaeological evidence for, and the geological implications of, this earthquake with two geologists, Dr. Steve Austin and Dr. Eric Frost. Based on the archaeological evidence, it was determined that the magnitude of this quake measured at 8.2 on the Richter scale! That was a big quake.

Israel, the Northern Kingdom, did not heed the words of the prophets. Amos predicted that a greater judgment would fall on Israel if they did not return to the Lord. That judgment was an invasion by the Assyrians. In 732 BC, the Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser III invaded Israel. “In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria” (II Kings 15:29; cf. Isa, 9:1).

At one point during the excavation I was clearing a street level, the area supervisor called it a junkyard. Among other things, I found five arrowheads, one spear point and a sickle, all possibly associated with the Assyrian attack on the city in 732 BC. As I was digging, I was wondering to myself, why would God allow the Assyrians to attack Israel? I recalled the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is my indignation. I will send him against and ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath” (10:5,6a). God used the Assyrians to chasten Israel in order to bring them back to Himself. They did not respond positively to the message of the prophets so they were taken into captivity (Lev. 26:32-39; Deut. 28:58-67).

Interestingly enough, Yadin discovered partially eaten pigs underneath the Assyrian destruction level. This indicates that the Israelites were eating pork just prior to the destruction of the city, something the prophet Isaiah condemned because the Mosaic Law forbade it (Isa. 65:1-4; 66:17, cf. Lev. 11:7).

There are other Biblical connections that the Bible student would find fascinating and would help to better understand the Scriptures, but these remain for another time.

Hope to see you next summer at Hazor. Shauel would love to wake you up at 4:15!

Hazor Excavations Project