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After Ruhama Bonfil

Yadin’s excavations on the bottle-shaped acropolis of Tel Hazor only scratched the surface of the last Canaanite city in the Late Bronze Age (Stratum XIII) because he spent much of his time digging through the thick Iron Age layers of the later Israelite city (Strata X–V). The Iron Age six-chamber gate (1) can be seen prominently on the plan. He did, however, uncover remains of a Canaanite temple (2), most of which underlies the six-chamber gate. He also uncovered the northeastern corner of a structure (3)—that he identified as a palace but the renewed excavations identified as a temple—and remnants of a city wall (4), all in Area A of the upper city. In Area G at the northeast corner of the tell, Yadin also exposed 100 feet of fortifications, including a thick stone wall and a deep fosse (a ditch or moat), which he dated to the Middle Bronze Age.