Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

Shephelah The Shephelah or Shfela, lit. "lowlands" ( hbo, הַשְּפֵלָה ''hašŠǝfēlā'', also Modern Hebrew: , ''Šǝfēlat Yəhūda'', the "Judaean foothills"), is a transitional region of soft-sloping rolling hills in south-central Israel str ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Lakhish River Lakhish River ( he, נחל לכיש, ''Naḥal Lakhish'') is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the city of Ashdod. It is also known as Wadi Kabiba (inland section) and Wadi Sukhrir (Ashdod section) in Arabic. History The b ...

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' tell'' (ruin) by that name, known as Tel Lachish ( he, תל לכיש) or Tell ed-Duweir (),, has been identified with the biblical Lachish. Today, it is an Israeli national park operated and maintained by the

Israel Nature and Parks Authority The Israel Nature and Parks Authority ( he, רשות הטבע והגנים ''Rashut Hateva Vehaganim''; ar, سلطة الطبيعة والحدائق) is an Israeli government organization that manages nature reserves and national parks in Israel, ...

. The park was established on lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of Qobebet Ibn ‘Awwad which was north of the Tel. It lies near the present-day moshav of Lakhish. Lachish was first mentioned in the Amarna letters. In the Book of Joshua, Lachish is mentioned as one of the cities destroyed by the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

for joining the league against the

Gibeonites Gibeon ( he, , ''Gīḇəʻōn''; grc-gre, Γαβαων, ''Gabaōn'') was a Canaanite and, later, an Israelite city which was located north of Jerusalem. According to and , the pre-Israelite-conquest inhabitants, the Gibeonites, were Hivite ...

(). The territory was later assigned to the

tribe of Judah According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...

() and became part of the United Kingdom of Israel. Following the kingdom's partition, Lachish emerged one of the most important cities in the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. C ...

, second only to the capital,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Lachish is best known for its siege and conquest by the Neo-Assyrians in 701 BCE, an event famously depicted on the

Lachish Reliefs The Lachish reliefs are a set of Assyrian palace reliefs narrating the story of the Assyrian victory over the kingdom of Judah during the siege of Lachish in 701 BCE. Carved between 700 and 681 BCE, as a decoration of the South-West Palace of Sen ...

, which can be seen today in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. One of the

Lachish letters The Lachish Letters or ''Lachish Ostraca'', sometimes called ''Hoshaiah Letters'', are a series of letters written in carbon ink containing Canaanite inscriptions in Ancient Hebrew on clay ostraca. The letters were discovered at the excavations at ...

, written in 597-587 BCE, warns of the impending Babylonian destruction. It reads: "Let my lord know that we are watching over the beacon of Lachish, according to the signals which my lord gave, for

Azekah Azekah ( he, עֲזֵקָה, ''ʿazēqā'') was an ancient town in the Shfela ("lowlands of Judea") guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron. The current '' tell'' (ruin) by that name, ...

is not seen." According to the prophet Jeremiah, Lachish and Azekah were the last two Judean cities to fall before the conquest of Jerusalem (). This pottery inscription can be seen at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

History

Neolithic

Occupation at the site of Lachish began during the

Pottery Neolithic In the archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the Chalcolithic. It is some ...

period (5500–4500 BCE). Flint tools from that period have been found.

Early Bronze

Major development began in the Early

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

(3300–3000 BCE). By the end of the Early Bronze, Lachish had become a large settlement. Most of the recovered pottery is of Khirbet Kerak Ware.

Middle Bronze (Levels VIII–IX)

The MBA period has not been extensively excavated at the site. During the Middle Bronze (2000–1650 BCE), the settlement developed. In the Middle Bronze I, the mound was resettled. Remains of a cult place and an assemblage of votive cultic vessels were found in Area D. In the Middle Bronze IIA, the development continued. In the Middle Bronze IIB-C, Lachish became a major city in the Southern Levant. An impressive glacis-like structure was constructed around the city, which shaped its present steep slopes and sharp corners. The proposed glacis fronted a city wall built of massive stones. In Area P, a large mudbrick fortress was excavated. Finds from the fortress include 4 scarabs and a number of scarab sealings. These were of "both the local Canaanite MB IIC style and the Hyksos style". Radiocarbon dating produced a date in the mid-16th century BC. By the end of Middle Bronze IIC the city was destroyed by fire. Some features originally ascribed to the Iron Age by the early excavators have now been redated to the MBA and LBA.

Late Bronze (Levels VI–VII)

In the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), Lachish was re-established and developed slowly, eventually becoming one of the large and prosperous cities of the Southern Levant. It is first attested as Rakisha in a New Kingdom text, the Papyrus Hermitage 1116A. It came under the 18th Dynasty of Egypt who built an Egyptian empire, especially following the military campaigns of

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 2 ...

. During the Egyptian Amarna Period (c. 1350 BC), a number of letters were written to the pharaoh and were discovered as part of the Amarna archive. It is mentioned in the Amarna letters as Lakisha/Lakiša (EA 287, 288, 328, 329, 335). During the 20th Dynasty of Egypt, the Egyptian Empire started to lose its control in the

Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region encompassing the southern half of the Levant. It corresponds approximately to modern-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan; some definitions also include southern Lebanon, southern Syria and/or the Sinai P ...

. While Lachish had prospered under Egyptian hegemony, it was completely destroyed by fire around 1150 BC. It was rebuilt by Canaanites who built two temples. However, this settlement was soon destroyed by another fire around 1130 BC (cf. nearby fortified Eglon,

Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...

). The site then remained sparsely occupied for a long period of time (Level V). The reasons for these destruction may have been rebellions and invasions by the

Sea Peoples The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...

. Four mass graves were found at the site with over 1500 individuals interred, about half women and children. The tombs themselves dated to the Late Bronze Age but the burials contained few dateable elements so it is uncertain if the burials date to the LBA or later.

Iron Age (Levels II–IV)

Rebuilding of the city began in the Early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE when it was part of the

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah ( he, , ''Yəhūdā''; akk, 𒅀𒌑𒁕𒀀𒀀 ''Ya'údâ'' 'ia-ú-da-a-a'' arc, 𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤃𐤅𐤃 ''Bēyt Dāwīḏ'', " House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. C ...

. The unfortified settlement may have been destroyed c. 925 BCE by Egyptian Pharaoh Sheshonk I. In the first half of the 9th century BCE, under the Judahite kings

Asa ASA as an abbreviation or initialism may refer to: Biology and medicine * Accessible surface area of a biomolecule, accessible to a solvent * Acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin * Advanced surface ablation, refractive eye surgery * Anterior spinal ar ...

and

Jehoshaphat Jehoshaphat (; alternatively spelled Jehosaphat, Josaphat, or Yehoshafat; ; el, Ἰωσαφάτ, Iosafát; la, Josaphat), according to 1 Kings 22:41, was the son of Asa, and the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, in succession to his fathe ...

, Lachish became an important city in the kingdom. It was heavily fortified with massive walls and ramparts and a royal palace was built on a platform in the center of the city. Lachish was the foremost among several fortified cities and strongholds guarding the valleys that lead up to Jerusalem and the interior of the country against enemies which usually approached from the coast.

Siege by Sennacherib, Assyrian rule

In 701 BCE, during the revolt of king

Hezekiah Hezekiah (; hbo, , Ḥīzqīyyahū), or Ezekias); grc, Ἐζεκίας 'Ezekías; la, Ezechias; also transliterated as or ; meaning "Yahweh, Yah shall strengthen" (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the 13th king of Kingdom of Jud ...

against

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

, it was

besieged Besieged may refer to: * the state of being under siege * ''Besieged'' (film), a 1998 film by Bernardo Bertolucci {{disambiguation ...

and captured by

Sennacherib Sennacherib ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynas ...

despite the defenders' determined resistance. Some scholars believe that the fall of Lachish actually occurred during a second campaign in the area by Sennacherib ca. 688 BCE. The site now contains the only remains of an Assyrian siege ramp discovered so far. Sennacherib later devoted a whole room in his "Palace without a rival", the South-west palace in Nineveh, for artistic representations of the siege on large

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

slabs, most of which are now on display in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. They hold depictions of Assyrian siege ramps, battering rams, sappers, and other siege machines and army units, along with Lachish's architecture and its final surrender. In combination with the archaeological finds, they give a good understanding of siege warfare of the period. Modern excavation of the site has revealed that the Assyrians built a stone and dirt ramp up to the level of the Lachish city wall, thereby allowing the soldiers to charge up the ramp and storm the city. Excavations revealed approximately 1,500 skulls in one of the caves near the site, and hundreds of arrowheads on the ramp and at the top of the city wall, indicating the ferocity of the battle. The city occupied an area of .

Babylonian occupation

Lachish fell to Nebuchadnezzar in his campaign against Judah in 586 BCE. The city was finally destroyed in 587 BCE. Residents were exiled as part of the Babylonian captivity. During Babylonian occupation, a large residence was built on the platform that had once supported the Israelite palace. At the end of the captivity, some exiled Jews returned to Lachish and built a new city with fortifications. Under the Achaemenid Empire (Level I), a large altar (known as the Solar Shrine) on the east section of the mound was built. The shrine was abandoned after the area fell in the hands of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. The tell has been unoccupied since then.

Biblical references

The_fall_of_Lachish,_King_Sennacherib_reviews_Judaean_prisoners

Lachish ( he, לָכִישׁ) is mentioned in several books in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Book of Joshua refers to Lachish in Chapter 10 (verses ), describing the Israelite conquest of Caanan. Japhia, the King of Lachish, is listed as one of the Five

Amorite The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied la ...

Kings that allied to repel the invasion. After a surprise attack from the Israelites, the kings took refuge in a cave, where they were captured and put to death. Joshua and the Israelites then took the city of Lachish after a two-day siege, exterminating the populace. In , the King of Lachish is mentioned as one of the thirty-one kings conquered by Joshua. The city is assigned to the

Tribe of Judah According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...

in as part of the western foothills. Rehoboam son of Solomon's fortifications of Lachish are recorded in

II Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sect ...

. In

II Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

and , Amaziah of Judah flees to Lachish after he was defeated by

Jehoash of Israel Jehoash ( he, ''Yəhō’āš'' or ''Yō’āš''; Israelian Hebrew: *''’Āšīyāw''; Akkadian: 𒅀𒀪𒋢 ''Yaʾsu'' 'ia-'-su'' la, Joas; fl. c. 790 BC), whose name means "Yahweh has given,""Joash, Jehoash;" ''New Bible Dictionary'' ...

, where he is captured and executed. The

Book of Micah The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' ( he, מִיכָיָ֫הוּ), meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century BCE prophet fro ...

warns the residents of Lachish that the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians will soon spread to Judah. mentions the Siege of Lachish; Hezekiah sends a message there offering tribute to Sennacherib in exchange for the city. In verse , the Assyrians leave Lachish and head to Jerusalem to begin an unsuccessful siege of the city. This is also mentioned in and

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

. The Israelites learn of the departure of the Assyrians from Lachish in and . The

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewi ...

lists Lachish as one of the last three fortified cities in Judah to fall to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. In the Book of Nehemiah Lachish is mentioned as an area where the people of Judah settled in the

Persian period Yehud, also known as Yehud Medinata or Yehud Medinta (), was an administrative province of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the region of Judea that functioned as a self-governing region under its local Jewish population. The province was a part ...

.

Identification

Initially, Lachish was identified by

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

with

Tell el-Hesi Tell el-Hesi ( he, תל חסי), or Tell el-Hesy, is a 25-acre archaeological site in Israel. It was the first major site excavated in Palestine, first by Flinders Petrie in 1890 and later by Frederick Jones Bliss in 1891 and 1892, both sponsored ...

, an identification supported when a relevant cuneiform tablet was found there. The tablet mentions Zimredda a governor of who is known from one of the Amarna Letters (EA 333). The current identification of ''Tell ed-Duweir'' as Lachish is strong but circumstantial, based mostly on the writing of

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

, the royal reliefs of Sennacherib, the site excavations, and an

ostracon An ostracon (Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ston ...

found there. Israeli archaeologist and historical geographer, M. Avi-Yonah, thought to place Lachish at the ancient ruin of Qubeibe, near the former Palestinian Arab village by the same name, rather than at ''Tell ed Duweir''. The place has been extensively excavated.

Archaeological exploration

Starkey-Tufnell expedition (1932-1939)

The first expedition at Lachish, then Tell ed-Duweir, from 1932 to 1939, was the Starkey-Tufnell British expedition which included

James Leslie Starkey James Leslie Starkey (3 January 1895 – 10 January 1938) was a noted British archaeologist of the ancient Near East and Palestine in the period before the Second World War. He was the chief excavator of the first archaeological expedition t ...

as expedition leader,

Olga Tufnell Olga Tufnell (26 January 1905 – 11 April 1985) was a British archaeologist who assisted on the excavation of the ancient city of Lachish in the 1930s. She had no formal training in archaeology, but had worked as a secretary for Flinders Petri ...

, G.L. Harding and C. Inge. It was funded by Charles Marston and

Henry Wellcome Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (August 21, 1853 – July 25, 1936) was an American pharmaceutical entrepreneur. He founded the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Company with his colleague Silas Burroughs in 1880, which is one of the fo ...

with the aim of finding the Biblical city of Lachish. They succeeded in finding Lachish, with a "wealth of well-stratified pottery", a "key part of the ceramic corpus of Palestine", and the

Lachish Letters The Lachish Letters or ''Lachish Ostraca'', sometimes called ''Hoshaiah Letters'', are a series of letters written in carbon ink containing Canaanite inscriptions in Ancient Hebrew on clay ostraca. The letters were discovered at the excavations at ...

, c. "written to the commander of the garrison at Lachish shortly before it fell to the Babylonians in either 589 or 586 B.C." Starkey was murdered in 1938 while travelling to Jerusalem to open the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum. Tufnell, Harding and Inge remained for the 1938–9 season. Tufnell returned to London and over the next two decades, worked at the Institute of Archaeology in London, "sorting, collating, studying and presenting the material found at Lachish". She completed her final publication ''Lachish IV'' in 1957. She had already become a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

in 1951.

Aharoni expedition (1966, 1968)

The second was an Israeli expedition directed by

Yohanan Aharoni Yohanan Aharoni (Hebrew:יוחנן אהרוני)(7 June 1919 – 9 February 1976) was an Israeli archaeologist and historical geographer, chairman of the Department of Near East Studies and chairman of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel-Aviv Unive ...

that took place over two seasons in 1966 and 1968. The dig, which focused mainly on the "Solar Shrine", was worked on behalf of

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

and

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. Aharoni published the findings in his 1975 publication, ''Investigations at Lachish: The sanctuary and the residency''.

Ussishkin expedition (1973 and 1994)

The third expedition, 1973 and 1994, by a

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

Institute of Archaeology and

Israel Exploration Society The Israel Exploration Society (''IES'') (Hebrew:החברה לחקירת ארץ ישראל ועתיקותיה - Hakhevra Lekhakirat Eretz Yisrael Va'atikoteha), originally the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, is a society devoted to historic ...

team was led by

David Ussishkin David Ussishkin (Hebrew: דוד אוסישקין; born 1935) is an Israeli archaeologist and professor emeritus of archaeology. Biography David Ussishkin was born in Jerusalem. Ussishkin is the grandson of the Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin. H ...

. Excavation and restoration work was conducted between 1973 and 1994 by a

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

Institute of Archaeology and

Israel Exploration Society The Israel Exploration Society (''IES'') (Hebrew:החברה לחקירת ארץ ישראל ועתיקותיה - Hakhevra Lekhakirat Eretz Yisrael Va'atikoteha), originally the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, is a society devoted to historic ...

team led by

David Ussishkin David Ussishkin (Hebrew: דוד אוסישקין; born 1935) is an Israeli archaeologist and professor emeritus of archaeology. Biography David Ussishkin was born in Jerusalem. Ussishkin is the grandson of the Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin. H ...

. The excavation focused on the Late Bronze (1550–1200 BCE) and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

(1200–587 BCE) levels. The Ussishkin expedition's comprehensive 5-volume report set a new standard in archaeological publication. According to

Yosef Garfinkel Yosef Garfinkel (hebrew: יוסף גרפינקל; born 1956) is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Biography Yosef (Yo ...

, "The Starkey-Tufnell and Ussishkin expeditions set new standards in excavation and publication. They revolutionized our understanding of various aspects of Lachish, such as the later history of Judah and the pre-Israelite Late Bronze Age Canaanite city." Excavations of Tel Lachish continued in 2012 under the auspices of Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archaeology, conducted by Nissim Golding-Meir. A Linear A inscription was also found at the site.

Garfinkel expedition (2013)

In 2013, a fourth expedition to Lachish was begun under the direction of

Yosef Garfinkel Yosef Garfinkel (hebrew: יוסף גרפינקל; born 1956) is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology and of Archaeology of the Biblical Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Biography Yosef (Yo ...

, Michael G. Hasel, and Martin G. Klingbeil to investigate the Iron Age history of the site on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology, The

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

of Jerusalem, and the Institute of Archaeology,

Southern Adventist University Southern Adventist University is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Collegedale, Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the Southern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. It was founded in 1892 in Graysville, Tennessee, as G ...

. Other consortium institutions include

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

, Oakland University and Korea Biblical Geography Research Institute. The excavations were concentrated in the northeast corner of the site near the location of the Middle Bronze Age gate and fortress. In the topsoil, unstratified, was found a dark blue diorite scarab of the Egyptian New Kingdom period. In 2014, during the Fourth Expedition to Lachish, led by archaeologist

Saar Ganor Saar Ganor is an Israeli archaeologist. He was the director, along with Yosef Garfinkel, of excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, thought to be Biblical Sha'arayim. He is inspector for the Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Autho ...

, a small potsherd with letters from a 12th-century BCE alphabet, was found in the ruins of a Late Bronze Age temple. One researcher called it, a "once in a generation" find. A fifth expedition, running from 2015 to 2016, was conducted as part of developing the site as a national park. A gate shrine of Level III, destroyed during the Assyrian assault and a toilet installation were found. It has been suggested that the toilet, in a gate shrine, was part of Hezekiah's campaign against idolatry. Two altars in the shrine also had their horns damaged in possible desecration.

Digs since 2017

The Korean Lachish Excavation Team led by Hong Soon-hwa, reported that they had "uncovered a wide range of 10th century BC items, from houses with earthenware items and cooking stoves, to animal bones, olive seeds, spearheads, fortress walls and other objects" on July 5, 2017. Since 2017, the Austro-Israeli excavation is exploring the Middle and Late Bronze Age strata at the site. The project is conducted a joint project of

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

and the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and is co-directed by Felix Höflmayer and Katharina Streit. The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund. In 2018 a pottery sherd, dated to the 15th century BC, was found with alphabetic text. This fills a gap in the development history of alphabetic writing.

Select archaeological findings

Paleo-Hebrew letters on ostraca

The first archaeological expedition, the Starkey-Starkey-Tufnell (1932-9) uncovered the Lachish letters, which were "written to the commander of the garrison at Lachish shortly before it fell to the Babylonians in either 589 or 586 B.C." The Hebrew letters were written on pieces of pottery, so-called

ostraca An ostracon ( Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ...

. Eighteen letters were found in 1935 and three more in 1938, all written in

Paleo-Hebrew script The Paleo-Hebrew script ( he, הכתב העברי הקדום), also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew, is the writing system found in Canaanite inscriptions from the region of biblical Israel and Judah. It is considered to be the script ...

. They were from the latest occupational level immediately before the Babylonian siege of 587 BCE. At the time, they formed the only known

corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

of documents in classical

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

that had come down to us outside of the Hebrew Bible.

LMLK seals

Another major contribution to

Biblical archaeology Biblical archaeology is an academic school and a subset of Biblical studies and Levantine archaeology. Biblical archaeology studies archaeological sites from the Ancient Near East and especially the Holy Land (also known as Palestine, Land o ...

from excavations at Lachish are the LMLK seals, which were stamped on the handles of a particular form of ancient storage jar, meaning "of the king". More of these artifacts were found at this site (over 400; Ussishkin, 2004, pp. 2151–9) than any other place in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

(

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

remains in second place with more than 300). Most of them were collected from the surface during Starkey's excavations, but others were found in Level 1 (

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

era), Level 2 (period preceding Babylonian conquest by Nebuchadnezzar), and Level 3 (period preceding

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

n conquest by

Sennacherib Sennacherib ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynas ...

). It is thanks to the work of

David Ussishkin David Ussishkin (Hebrew: דוד אוסישקין; born 1935) is an Israeli archaeologist and professor emeritus of archaeology. Biography David Ussishkin was born in Jerusalem. Ussishkin is the grandson of the Zionist leader Menachem Ussishkin. H ...

's team that eight of these stamped jars were restored, thereby demonstrating lack of relevance between the jar volumes (which deviated as much as 5

gallon The gallon is a unit of volume in imperial units and United States customary units. Three different versions are in current use: *the imperial gallon (imp gal), defined as , which is or was used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Austr ...

s or 12

litre The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3 ...

s), and also proving their relation to the reign of Biblical king

Hezekiah Hezekiah (; hbo, , Ḥīzqīyyahū), or Ezekias); grc, Ἐζεκίας 'Ezekías; la, Ezechias; also transliterated as or ; meaning "Yahweh, Yah shall strengthen" (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the 13th king of Kingdom of Jud ...

. (Chapter 29, Section B in the Lachish final excavation report) Ussishkin observed that "The renewed excavations confirmed Tufnell's suggestion that Level III had been destroyed in 701 BCE. All the royal storage jars, stamped and unstamped alike, date to the reign of Hezekiah, to shortly before the Assyrian conquest.' The 1898 Reference by Bliss, contains numerous drawings, including examples of

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n, etc. pottery, and items from pharaonic

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, and other Mediterranean, and inland regions.

Comb with alphabetic inscription

In 2016, an elephant ivory comb was found at Lachish. It is significant in that it is inscribed with the oldest sentence found written in the Canaanite alphabet.Daniel Vainstub, Madeleine Mumcuoglu, Michael G. Hasel, Katherine M. Hesler, Miriam Lavi, Rivka Rabinovich, Yuval Goren and Yosef Garfinkel, 2022. A Canaanite’s Wish to Eradicate Lice on an Inscribed Ivory Comb from Lachish. ''Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology'' 2: 76–119. ISSN: 2788-8819; https://doi.org/10.52486/01.00002.4; https://jjar.huji.ac.il The sentence on the comb reads, "May this tusk root out the lice of the hai and thebeard.”

References

External links

First sentence ever written in Canaanite language discovered: A plea to eradicate beard lice - Phys.org - November 8, 2022Jewish Encyclopedia: LachishPictures of Tel LachishA Late Bronze Age Potter's Workshop at Lachish, Israel
in Internet Archaeology {{authority control Populated places established in the 6th millennium BC Populated places disestablished in the 4th century BC 1932 archaeological discoveries Amarna letters locations Archaeological sites in Israel Canaanite cities National parks of Israel Hebrew Bible cities Former populated places in Southwest Asia Protected areas of Southern District (Israel)

Lachish Lachish ( he, לכיש; grc, Λαχίς; la, Lachis) was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Israel, on the South bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Th ...

Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea Neolithic sites of Asia

History

Neolithic

Early Bronze

Middle Bronze (Levels VIII–IX)

Late Bronze (Levels VI–VII)

Iron Age (Levels II–IV)

Siege by Sennacherib, Assyrian rule

Babylonian occupation

Biblical references

Identification

Archaeological exploration

Starkey-Tufnell expedition (1932-1939)

Aharoni expedition (1966, 1968)

Ussishkin expedition (1973 and 1994)

Garfinkel expedition (2013)

Digs since 2017

Select archaeological findings

Paleo-Hebrew letters on ostraca

LMLK seals

Comb with alphabetic inscription

See also

References

Further reading

External links