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Vital signs. Circular pits, cut through a layer of ash, provide the first evidence of renewed life at Hazor after devastating fires destroyed the Canaanite city in the 13th century B.C.E. Measuring 3 to 5 feet in diameter and in depth, the pits contain domestic wares, including bowls, jars, cooking pots and grinding stones. Such pits, found at several sites in Israel, were originally identified as hovels dug as early as the 12th century B.C.E. by the first Israelites emerging in Canaan. But renewed excavations at Hazor indicate that the pits remained in use for only 50 to 100 years, in the 11th or the 12th century B.C.E.; their use remains uncertain.