Image Details

Twin peaks frame the crater of the extinct volcano that marks Tel Qarnei Hittin, or the Horns of Hattin, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Archaeologist Zvi Gal recently conducted a small excavation at Tel Qarnei Hittin as part of an archaeological survey of Lower Galilee. On the southern summit, he found a small walled city destroyed by fire in the late 13th century B.C.E., perhaps by Israelite settlers. From the tenth to the eighth centuries B.C.E., a large fortified city, probably an Israelite one, encompassed both peaks. From the eighth century B.C.E. on, the city—like the other Lower Galilee sites explored by Gal—was deserted. The archaeological evidence, or lack of evidence, indicates a break in occupation and supports the Biblical claim that following the invasion of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, many Israelites were exiled to Assyria.