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Where Is the Hazor Archive Buried?

By Sharon Zuckerman

An archive of clay tablets written in cuneiform signs has never been found in what was to be the Land of Israel, although at numerous other sites in the ancient Near East archives holding hundreds and sometimes even thousands of tablets have been discovered. The illustrious Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin, who excavated Hazor for four seasons between 1955 and 1958 and a fifth season in 1968, was sure that a cuneiform archive was buried somewhere at the site, and he was determined to find it. But Hazor is a very large site. In fact, it is by far the […]

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Footnotes

1.

“BAR Interviews Yigael Yadin,” BAR 09:01.

2.

“BAR Interviews Yigael Yadin,” BAR 09:01.

3.

“American Tourist Returns ‘Hazor’ Tablet to Israel After 13 Years,” BAR 02:02.

4.

“BAR Interviews Yigael Yadin,” BAR 09:01.

5.

“Yigael Yadin—1917–1984,” BAR 10:05.

6.

Amnon Ben-Tor and Maria Teresa Rubiato, “Did the Israelites Destroy the Canaanite City?” BAR 25:03, pp. 32–33; Avraham Biran, “Sacred Places: Of Standing Stones, High Places, and Cult Objects at Tel Dan,” BAR, 24:05.

7.

“Yigael Yadin on Hazor—the Head of All Those Kingdoms,” BAR, 01:01.

Endnotes

1.

Amnon Ben-Tor, current excavation director of Hazor, thought it was indeed the Israelites who destroyed it. See Amnon Ben-Tor and Maria Teresa Rubiato, “Excavating Hazor—Part Two: Did the Israelites Destroy the Canaanite City?” BAR, 25:03. However, more recent dating of this destruction places it too early for the Israelites. Yet Ben-Tor is right in excluding the Sea Peoples (who included the Philistines), the Egyptians and rival Canaanite cities. Who is left? I believe it was an internal revolt within the city that was responsible for the destruction. The city was then abandoned until the arrival of the Israelites. I hope to develop this point in a future article.

2.

Amnon Ben-Tor and Maria Teresa Rubiato, “Did the Israelites Destroy the Canaanite City?” BAR, 25:03.

3.

Yigael Yadin, Hazor: The Rediscovery of a Great Citadel of the Bible (London: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1975), pp. 101–119.