Canaanite temple uncovered in biblical city destroyed by Joshua

Chris

Chris

Administrator
Staff member
Canaanite temple uncovered in biblical city destroyed by Joshua
The layout of the square-shaped building featured numerous side rooms, as well as a compound in the front marked by two columns and two towers leading to a large room.
By ROSSELLA TERCATIN
FEBRUARY 17, 2020

A Canaanite temple and many artifacts have been uncovered in a city that, according to the Bible, was destroyed by the Israelites when they entered the Land of Israel after 40 years in the desert. The discovery shed light on the extensive ruins of a structure dating back to the 12th century BCE in Lachish, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced Monday. The team was led by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel from the university’s Institute of Archaeology and Prof. Michael Hasel from Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. It presented its findings in The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant.

“Joshua proceeded with all Israel to Lachish; he encamped against it and attacked it. God delivered Lachish into the hands of Israel. They captured it on the second day and put it and all the people in it to the sword,” reads Joshua 10:31-32. Among the crucial findings were a pottery shard featuring the Hebrew letter samekh, which represents the oldest-known engraving of the letter, gold artifacts and cultic figurines, including figurines depicting the warrior god Ba’al, who is mentioned dozens of times in the Bible – including several instances where the Israelites turn to its cult in spite of the commandments of God.

The site of Lachish was first identified in 1929 by William Foxwell Albright, who is considered the founding father of Biblical archaeology, Garfinkel told The Jerusalem Post. “The city was a major Canaanite center city, as we know from historical sources,” he said. “There is no other site in this region as prominent. It is the right location, the right place, and the name ‘Lachish’ was found on some inscriptions found there.” Garfinkel’s team first started excavating the site in 2013.

“We uncovered the temple and we dedicated three or four years to it, because it is very rare to find Canaanite sites in Israel,” Garfinkel said. “This kind of structure was only discovered in Megiddo, Nablus and Hazor. But this is the first time we revealed such a large monumental symmetrical kind of temple.” The square-shaped layout of the building featured a compound in the front marked by two columns and two towers leading to a large room, as well as an inner sanctum with four supporting columns and several unhewn “standing stones” that might have represented the different gods worshiped. In addition, it presented numerous side rooms.

One of the research questions the team pursued in Lachish was connected to the time of the Kingdom of Judah, specifically whether the Bible contains historical memories about the 10th century BCE and whether King David can be considered an historical figure. “The Bible says that Rehoboam, the grandson of David, fortified 15 cities, including Lachish,” Garfinkel said. The first researchers examining the site did not manage to uncover fortifications from the period, prompting many scholars to doubt the validity of the description presented in the Biblical book of Chronicles II, he said.

However, Garfinkel’s team was able to locate the fortification from the relevant period, also discovering houses, floors and pottery inside the city, whose dating was confirmed by carbon dating at around the late 10th century BCE. “This is why we went to Lachish. It was our goal,” Garfinkel said. His team also managed to locate some inscriptions at the site for the first time in 40 years, along with an especially rich collections of objects such as daggers and ax-heads adorned with bird images, bronze cauldrons, jewelry, scarabs and a gold-plated bottle featuring the name of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II.

The Book of Joshua states that the Canaanite city was destroyed by the Israelites. Garfinkel did find traces of destruction, the first time by the Egyptians around 1550 BCE and then twice more, until Lachish succumbed for good around 1150 BCE. “The Bible says that the city was destroyed by the people of Israel, Garfinkel told the Post. “But it doesn’t talk specifically about a palace, a temple or what was in the city.” Nor does it give specific dates, he added.

“We know that the destruction of Canaanite tribes was a long process which took about a hundred years. In the site we found traces of destruction at two levels, one dating back to the end of the 13th century BCE and another one to the middle of the 12th century. There are therefore about 50 years between the two events. Which of the two destructions is the one that was carried out by Joshua remains a big question,” Garfinkel said.

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/C...d-in-biblical-city-destroyed-by-Joshua-617870
 
Chris

Chris

Administrator
Staff member
Rare ‘smiting gods’ among artifacts found at 12th century BCE Canaanite temple
Once-in-a-career Bronze Age findings from Lachish described as ‘breathtaking’ by archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel, who published a comprehensive report on 2013-2017 excavations
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
17 February 2020

A pair of smiting gods and other rare ritual artifacts are among the fascinating discoveries described in a recently published comprehensive report of the 2013-2017 excavations of the archaeology-rich Lachish site. The report digs deep into 12th century BCE Canaanite worship practices, from the modest temple structure, to ritual items discovered inside.

“This excavation has been breathtaking,” said lead archaeologist Professor Yosef Garfinkel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology in a press release on Monday. The excavation report, “The Level VI North-East Temple at Tel Lachish,” was recently published in the academic journal Levant: The Journal of the Council for British Research in the Levant.

“Only once every 30 or 40 years do we get the chance to excavate a Canaanite temple in Israel. What we found sheds new light on ancient life in the region. It would be hard to overstate the importance of these findings,” said Garfinkel, who led the excavation along with Professor Michael Hasel of Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. The temple structure, called the “North-East Temple” by the archaeologists, was uncovered in National Park Tel Lachish, near today’s Kiryat Gat, and is similar in plan to contemporary temples discovered in northern Israel at ancient Nablus, Megiddo, and Hazor.

During the middle and late Bronze Ages, the people of Lachish controlled large parts of the Judean lowlands and the city was among the foremost Canaanite cities in the Land of Israel. Mentioned in the Bible, Lachish was built around 1800 BCE and later destroyed by the Egyptians around 1550 BCE. The city rose and fell twice more, “succumbing for good around 1150 BCE,” according to the press release. The 12th century BCE Canaanite temple, while not a massive compound, is a once-in-a-lifetime find for archaeologists. The Levant article writes that, “in comparison to the plan of other temples of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I, the North-East Temple of Lachish is modest in its dimensions and can be defined as medium-sized.”

According to the press release, the compound was divided into a front area that was marked by two columns and two towers, which led into a large hall. From there, an inner sanctum was delineated by four supporting columns “and several unhewn ‘standing stones’ that may have served as representations of temple gods,” stated the press release. The two “standing stones” are quite large: the bigger of the pair measures 60 cm (some 23 inches) wide and 90 cm long (approximately 35 inches) and the smaller is also 60 cm wide and only 70 cm (nearly 28 inches) long.

In a departure from the typical Canaanite temple structure, the compound also includes side rooms. “The presence of side rooms in that structure is one of the main points that has fueled the dispute over its characterization as a temple or a ceremonial palace,” write the authors. “It is possible that the addition of side rooms to a temple with ‘Syrian’ characteristics is a precursor of Iron Age temples like the temple of Motza and the biblical Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.” The schematic drawing illustrating the Levant article indicates there were some eight or nine areas to the large temple compound, including a “Holy of Holies.”

In addition to the standing stones, the press release lists a plethora of other ritual items that were discovered, such as “bronze cauldrons, jewelry inspired by the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor, daggers and axe-heads adorned with bird images, scarabs, and a gold-plated bottle inscribed with the name Ramses II, one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs.”

Perhaps the most fascinating finds are a pair of smiting gods, which were discovered inside the temple’s inner sanctum, comparable to the Jerusalem Solomonic Temple’s “Holy of Holies.” Labeled Room H in the article, it “is located in the innermost part of the structure and on its central axis, directly opposite the main entrance.” Smiting gods are found in the Levant in temples from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I. The authors write that the figurines are commonly identified with two Canaanite gods, Baal or Resheph, who are both known as war gods, “although it is impossible to identify our figurines with either due to the lack of clear attributes.”

According to the article, the smiting gods measure a scant 10 cm (4 inches) and 8.5 cm (3.3 inches). The two little male figurines are made of bronze and were originally coated with silver. Both are marching with their right hands raised and are wearing short kilts and tall hats, one of which, the article writes, recalls the White Crown of Upper Egypt. One of the gods is still holding a weapon, a mace or club that is attached to the figure’s forehead, writes the article. “Below their feet are pegs that were used to attach the figurines to wooden stands, as attested by the remains of wood.” According to other remains found on one of the gods — beads and indications of a necklace — one may have been worn as a pendant.

The history of Lachish was littered with ups and downs and, according to the Levant article, there are several indications uncovered in the main hall “which represent a secondary phase of construction that seems to reflect a crisis state preceding the destruction of the temple.” Among the most headline catching finds that were reporting during the excavation is the discovery of what researchers are calling the first known account of the Semitic letter “samech.” Reported in 2015, the letter was found on a “potsherd slightly larger than a business card,” as The Times of Israel wrote then, which was found inside the temple’s ruins.

The inscription, three lines containing nine early Semitic letters, was discovered during excavations at the site in 2014 and is believed to date from around 1130 BCE. It’s the first Canaanite inscription found in a Late Bronze Age context in over 30 years.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rare-...s-found-at-12th-century-bce-canaanite-temple/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top