Endnote 1 – Lachish—Key to the Israelite Conquest of Canaan?

Since the beginning of the renewed excavations, we have followed Starkey’s system of labeling the archaeological strata of the mound. This worked very well in the upper strata, labeled by him “Levels I–VI.” However, once we penetrated into earlier levels, it became apparent that Starkey’s Levels VIII–VII would have to be radically modified. Thus Level VII as uncovered and labeled by us in Area S is not identical with Starkey’s Level VII. Starkey’s Levels VIII–VII were still used by us in the chronological table published in “Answers at Lachish,” BAR 05:06, which must therefore be used with caution.