Main entry:

Yadin, Yigael, 1917-1984.

Title & Author:

Hazor, the rediscovery of a great citadel of the Bible.

Edition:

[1st American ed.].

Publication:

New York, Random House [1975]

Description:

280 pages illustrations 26 cm

Notes:
1. Why Hazor? Hazor and the Bible -- the Maccabees and Josephus -- Hazor and Haamurabi -- Where was Hazor? -- our excavations -- retrieving the data -- 2. The First Confrontation -- Why area C? -- the first major discovery -- a city! -- square 210, a 'clincher' -- 3. Site of Three Major Discoveries -- Area C -- a mazzeboth (stelae) temple -- an earlier phase of the temple -- the clay mask -- a hidden standard -- what mean these stones? -- 4. A Huge Altar and Mysterious Tunnels -- Area F -- the altar and its vicinity -- caves and burial -- the square temple -- the double temple -- enigmatic underground tunnels -- 5. The Last of Four Temples, Area H -- a chance discovery -- orthostats! -- the holy of holies -- the other parts of the temple -- a prototype of the Solomonic temple -- 6. Three More Below! -- the IB temple -- the third temple, stratum 2 -- the origin of the orthostats -- the temple court -- the oldest temple
7. Cisterns and Dwellings -- Areas D and E -- area D -- the 'porcupine cave' -- kilns or furnaces -- the cisterns -- an alphabetical inscription -- area E, more cisterns -- 8. The Lower City's Fortifications -- the Middle Bronze fortifications -- the ramparts -- the lower-city gates -- the revetment wall -- another gate, area P -- summing up -- 9. The Rise and Downfall of the Lower City 00 far-reaching implications -- Hazor and chronology -- ties with the north -- Hazor's destruction and Joshua -- Deborah and Solomon -- 10. Israelite Hazor after Solomon -- Ahab to Pekah -- area A, a row of pillars -- the destruction by Tilgath-pileser III -- city VI destroyed by an earthquake -- destruction by the Aramaeans -- Ahab's grandeur -- 11. More of Israelite Hazor -- the citadels, area B -- Ahab's fortifications -- stratum VI, Jeroboam II -- the beginning of the end -- the fall -- not the end of Hazor -- 12. The Search for Salomon -- the elusive Solomon -- the Bible as an archaeological guide -- the casemate wall
13. Gezer -- Excavations in a Book -- 'Solomon did indeed re-biuld Gezer!' -- a fly in the ointment -- following the archaeological trail -- 14. Megiddo -- Post Mortem Excavations -- Solomon the builder as wrecked? -- the first surprise, another palace -- farewell to Solomon's stables -- checking Solomon's stratum from below -- a hidden water-supply system, Israelite or Canaanite? -- 15. The Source -- a deduction from comparative evidence -- two clues -- how to dig? -- a stumbling block -- the turning point -- the whole and its parts -- 16. The Enigma of Joshua and Deborah -- the problem -- solutions proposed before our excavations -- the semi-nomadic Israelites -- the archaeological answer -- 17. Prologue -- The Beginning -- a self-maintained palace -- Hazor in the times of Hammurabi -- a prefortified Middle Bronze settlement -- the first Hazor -- epilogue.

Summary:

In the beginning there was a great mound of earth overgrown with weeds and stubble, with occasional rocks jutting our above its surface - the tell of Hazor and the adjacent 'enclosure' (whose exact nature was still undetermined). At the end of five seasons of painstaking excavations, the largest ever undertaken in Israel, a team of archaeologists under the direction of Professor Yigael Yadin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem had uncovered the remains of no less than twenty-two cities of antiquity, and in the process had literally dug up the answers to some of the most irksome problems of biblical archaeology. The first and most intriguing problem was the character of the 'enclosure'. Was it really, as a previous excavator had proposed, no more than a 'chariot parking-lot'? Or could it be that this heavily fortified area immediately next to the tell was also a city? If so, it would have been by far the largest city in Canan prior to the Israelite conquest and among the major population centres of the Near East! And who destroyed this thriving Canaanite city? The Bible ascribes this act to the forces of both Joshua and Deborah (during the later period of the Judges), and thousands of years later only the spade could unravel this literary enigma. The excavators also validated the biblical testimony that Solomon rebuilt Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer and corrected the erroneous conclusions of previous excavators about the Solomonic remains at these other two sites. Along the way, the finds at Hazor brought to light a wealth of information about the Canaanite culture of the pre-Israelite era and proved repeatedly that the 'historical' books of the Bible (Joshua through Chronicles) provide an amazingly accurate historical record. By the time the excavators had reached bedrock, they were able to compile a comprehensive history of the site from the Early Bronze Age to the Hasmonean period in the 2nd century B.C. Hazor is Yigael Yadin's dramatic account of the layer-by-layer revelations that these excavations yielded, It is a combination adventure in archaeology and portrait of the archaeologist as detective, searching our clues from literary sources; placing together pieces of information from other excavations, near and far; bringing the past to life with everything from a spade to a mechanical shovel and much imagination and ingenuity. All the archaeologists' excitement and enthusiasm permeates the writing of this narrative, and Professor Yadin makes a point of taking the reader step by step in a clear and colourful style, augmented by an invaluable gallery of almost 400 colour and black-and-white photographs (taken during the excavations), maps and plans that serve as vivid and essential background to the finds.

ISBN:

0394494547
9780394494548

Subject:

Antiquities
Ausgrabung
Hazor (Extinct city)
Gezer Site (Israel)
Megiddo (Extinct city)
Hazor (Extinct city) Antiquities.
Ḥaẓor (Ville ancienne) Antiquités.
Gézer (Ville ancienne)
Megiddo (Ville ancienne)
Ḥaẓor (Ville ancienne)
Israel Gezer Site
Israel Hazor (Extinct city)
Israel Megiddo (Extinct city)
Hazor
Hatsor (Extinct city) (Israel)
Megiddo (Extinct city) (Israel)
Eretz Israel Antiquities, Biblical

Holdings:

Location: Library main 22660
Call No.: ID:87-B9576
Status: Available