Endnote 1 – Excavating Hazor, Part Two: Did the Israelites Destroy the Canaanite City?

Although today most scholars agree that the truth about the Israelite settlement probably lies somewhere between the Joshua and Judges accounts, in the 1950s and 1960s these conflicting accounts divided scholars—some of whom (led by Yigael Yadin and Abraham Malamat) accepted the conquest story found in Joshua, while others (led by Albrecht Alt and Yohanan Aharoni) leaned toward the model of peaceful infiltration found in Judges. For a summary of these and other approaches, see Adam Zertal, “Israel Enters Canaan—Following the Pottery Trail,” BAR 17:05; and “Israel’s Emergence in Canaan: BR Interviews Norman Gottwald,” Bible Review, October 1989; and Yigael Yadin, “Is the Biblical Account of the Israelite Conquest of Canaan Historically Reliable?” BAR 08:02.