Tel Lachish

Neolithic Occupation at the site of Lachish began during the Pottery Neolithic period (5500–4500 BCE). Flint tools from that period have been found. Early Bronze Major development began in the Early Bronze IB (3300–3000 BCE). 18th Dynasty Lakhish came under the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, which expelled the Hyksos by Ahmose I and his successors, and established an empire that was most powerful following the military campaigns of Thutmose III. In the Amarna Period (), Lachish was a city-state and petty kingdom, part of the Egyptian Empire. During a period of political turmoil, it was in conflict with neighboring rivals. The toponym Lakiša (Akkadian: urula-ki-siki) has 7 references in the Amarna Archive. Lakiša appears in five letters sent from Gath (EA 335), Jerusalem (EA 287, 288) and Lachish (EA 328, 329, 332). • EA 336: Abdi-Ashirta of Gath complained that Lakish was hostile. • EA 287: The ruler of Jerusalem complains about Lakish, Gezer and Ashkelon providing support to his enemies. Ṯipti-Baʿlu/Haddu of Lachish is mentioned five times in the Amarna Archive, in letter from Egypt (EA 333), Lachish (EA 330, 331, 332). He holds the title "Man of Lachish" (Akkadian: LU₂ urula-ki-šaki, petty king, cf. LU-GAL "Great Man, King"). Zimri-Haddu of Lachish is mentioned 5 times in the Amarna Archive, in letters from Egypt (EA 333), Jerusalem (EA 288), Lachish (EA 329) and Unknown location (EA 294). He was eventually killed by his servants allied to the Habiru. 20th Dynasty During the early 20th Dynasty of Egypt, at the final part of the Late Bronze, the empire of the New Kingdom of Egypt started to lose its control in the Southern Levant. A bronze object bearing the cartouche of Ramesses III may be associated with the city gate. While Lachish had prospered under Egyptian hegemony, fire destroyed it around 1150 BCE. Four mass graves were found at the site with over 1500 individuals interred, about half women and children. The tombs themselves dated to the Late Bronze Age but the burials contained few dateable elements so it is uncertain if the burials date to the LBA or later. Iron Age I The Iron Age I (IA I) can be subdivided into IA IA (corresponding with late 20th Dynasty of Egypt) and IA IB (corresponding with 21st Dynasty of Egypt centered on Zaon/Tanis), following the Collapse of the Late Bronze Age and Fall of the Egyptian Empire in the Southern Levant. This was a transitional period from LBA to IA with exceptionally dry climate (3.2 ka event). Lachish was rebuilt by the Canaanites, who built two cultic places. However, this settlement was soon destroyed by another fire around 1130 BCE (cf. nearby fortified Eglon, Canaan). The site then remained unfortified and sparsely occupied for a long time (Level V). Continuity or discontinuity? A question has been if the population at Lachish continued from LBA into IA, or if they were replaced (discontinuity). A study showed significant population continuity. Iron Age II (Levels II–IV) Kingdom of Yehuda During the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, Lachish was part of the Kingdom of Judah. The previous unfortified settlement may have been destroyed by the pharaoh Shoshenq I, founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt. Some scholars believe that the fall of Lachish occurred during a second campaign in the area by Sennacherib ca. 688 BCE. The site now contains the only remains of an Assyrian siege ramp discovered. Sennacherib later devoted a whole room in his "Palace without a rival", the southwest palace in Nineveh, for artistic representations of the siege on large alabaster slabs, most of which are now on display in the British Museum. They hold depictions of Assyrian siege ramps, battering rams, sappers, and other siege machines and army units, along with Lachish's architecture and its final surrender. Combined with the archaeological finds, they give a good understanding of siege warfare of the period. Modern excavation of the site has revealed that the Assyrians built a stone and dirt ramp up to the level of the Lachish city wall, thereby allowing the soldiers to charge up the ramp and storm the city. Excavations revealed approximately 1,500 skulls in one of the caves near the site, and hundreds of arrowheads on the ramp and at the top of the city wall, indicating the ferocity of the battle. The city occupied an area of . Babylonian period Lachish fell to the Neo-Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar II in his campaign against Judah in 586 BCE. The city was finally destroyed in 587 BCE. Residents were exiled as part of the Babylonian captivity. During Babylonian occupation, a large residence was built on the platform that had once supported the Israelite palace. Classical Age Persian period In the Persian period, following the Babylonian Exile, some exiled Jews returned to Lachish and built a new city with fortifications (Nehemiah 11:30). Under the Achaemenid Empire (Level I), a large altar known as the Solar Shrine on the east section of the mound was built. The shrine was abandoned after the area fell in the hands of Alexander the Great. The tell has been unoccupied since then. ==Identification==

Initially, Lachish was identified by Flinders Petrie with Tell el-Hesi, an identification supported when a relevant cuneiform tablet was found there. The tablet mentions Zimredda of Lachish, a governor of who is known from one of the Amarna Letters (EA 333). The current identification of Tell ed-Duweir as Lachish was first suggested by William F. Albright in 1929 and subsequently accepted by many scholars. This suggestion is strong but circumstantial, based primarily on the site's geographic location, Eusebius's account, the royal reliefs of Sennacherib, archaeological excavations, and an ostracon found there. Israeli archaeologist and historical geographer, Michael Avi-Yonah, thought to place Lachish at the ancient ruin of al-Qubayba, Hebron, near the former Palestinian Arab village by the same name, rather than at Tell ed Duweir. The place has been extensively excavated. ==Archaeological exploration==

Starkey-Tufnell expedition (1932–1939) The first expedition at Lachish, then Tell ed-Duweir, from 1932 to 1939, was the Starkey-Tufnell British expedition which included James Leslie Starkey as expedition leader, Olga Tufnell, Gerald Lankester Harding and Charles Inge. It was funded by Charles Marston and Henry Wellcome with the aim of finding the Biblical city of Lachish. They succeeded in finding Lachish, with a "wealth of well-stratified pottery", a "key part of the ceramic corpus of Palestine", Aharoni expedition (1966, 1968) The second was an Israeli expedition directed by Yohanan Aharoni that took place over two seasons in 1966 and 1968. Aharoni published the findings in his 1975 publication, Investigations at Lachish: The sanctuary and the residency. Ussishkin expedition (1973 to 1994) The third expedition, 1973 until 1994, by a Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology and Israel Exploration Society team was led by David Ussishkin. Excavation and restoration work was conducted between 1973 and 1994 by a Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology and Israel Exploration Society team led by David Ussishkin. The excavation focused on the Late Bronze (1550–1200 BCE) and Iron Age (1200–587 BCE) levels. A Linear A inscription was also found at the site. Garfinkel expedition (2013) In 2013, a fourth expedition to Lachish was begun under the direction of Yosef Garfinkel, Michael G. Hasel, and Martin G. Klingbeil to investigate the Iron Age history of the site on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Institute of Archaeology, Southern Adventist University. Other consortium institutions include Virginia Commonwealth University, Oakland University and Korea Biblical Geography Research Institute. The excavations were concentrated in the northeast corner of the site near the location of the Middle Bronze Age gate and fortress. In the topsoil, unstratified, was found a dark blue diorite scarab of the Egyptian New Kingdom period. In 2014, during the Fourth Expedition to Lachish, led by archaeologist Saar Ganor, a small potsherd with letters from a 12th-century BCE alphabet, was found in the ruins of a Late Bronze Age temple. One researcher called it, a "once in a generation" find. A fifth expedition, running from 2015 to 2016, was conducted as part of developing the site as a national park. A gate shrine of Level III, destroyed during the Assyrian assault and a toilet installation were found. It has been suggested that the toilet, in a gate shrine, was part of Hezekiah's campaign against idolatry. Two altars in the shrine also had their horns damaged in possible desecration. The Korean Lachish Excavation Team led by Hong Soon-hwa, reported that they had "uncovered a wide range of 10th century BCE items, from houses with earthenware items and cooking stoves, to animal bones, olive seeds, spearheads, fortress walls and other objects" on July 5, 2017. Since 2017, the Austro-Israeli excavation is exploring the Middle and Late Bronze Age strata at the site. The project is conducted a joint project of Hebrew University and the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and is co-directed by Felix Höflmayer and Katharina Streit. The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund. In 2018 a pottery sherd, dated to the 15th century BCE, was found with alphabetic text. This fills a gap in the development history of alphabetic writing. In 2019 a hieratic ostracon was found, dated to the time of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty. It is described by the excavators as a name list with allocated provisions in Canaanite. ==Select inscriptions==

Inscriptions in Proto-Canaanite As many as 12 purported Proto-Canaanite inscriptions had been discovered at Lachish by 2022. Six were discovered in the Starkey-Tufnell excavations, two during the renewed excavations by Ussishkin, and four in more recent excavations. At least three of the purported inscriptions are likely to have been merely figural pottery designs or pseudo-inscriptions Among the well-known legitimate inscriptions are the Lachish Ewer, Lachish Bowl, the Cypriot Bowl Fragment, and the Ivory Lice Comb. The few known inscriptions from the Late Bronze Age, the 13th and part of the 12th century BCE, show a certain "linearisation" when compared to the earlier, Proto-Sinaitic script, but the undergone process is not yet understood. The inscription consists of nine letters. The authors of the editio princeps offer to read two words on the inscription, ʿbd meaning "servant, slave" and npt meaning "honey, nectar." LMLK seals Another major contribution to Biblical archaeology from excavations at Lachish are the LMLK seals, which were stamped on the handles of a particular form of ancient storage jar, meaning "of the king". More of these artifacts were found at this site (over 400; Ussishkin, 2004, pp. 2151–2159) than any other place in Israel (Jerusalem remains in second place with more than 300). Most of them were collected from the surface during Starkey's excavations, but others were found in Level 1 (Persian and Greek era), Level 2 (period preceding Babylonian conquest by Nebuchadnezzar), and Level 3 (period preceding Assyrian conquest by Sennacherib). It is thanks to the work of David Ussishkin's team that eight of these stamped jars were restored, thereby demonstrating lack of relevance between the jar volumes (which deviated as much as 5 gallons or 12 litres), and also proving their relation to the reign of Biblical king Hezekiah. Ussishkin observed that "The renewed excavations confirmed Tufnell's suggestion that Level III had been destroyed in 701 BCE. All the royal storage jars, stamped and unstamped alike, date to the reign of Hezekiah, to shortly before the Assyrian conquest." ==Fake Darius inscription==

In 2022, Eylon Levy, an adviser to the Israeli president Isaac Herzog, found an inscribed potsherd while visiting Tel Lachish. The sherd bore an Aramaic inscription that read "Year 24 of Darius," which if genuine would have indicated a date of 498 BCE. The find appeared significant, because it would have been the first time that an inscription bearing the name of Darius the Great had been found in the territory of Yehud Medinata, then a province of the Achaemenid Empire ruled by Darius. Levy reported it to Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority—the director of excavations at Tel Lachish—who concluded after laboratory testing that the sherd was authentic, probably a receipt for goods received or shipped. This led to widespread coverage of the find in the international press. Subsequently, the Israel Antiquities Authority issued a statement saying that the sherd was not authentic and had been created by an expert demonstrating inscription techniques to her students. She had come forward after the publicity surrounding the find, and explained she had used an original scrap of worthless pottery from the site and engraved the writing on it. She then discarded it at the tourist section. ==Gallery==

File:Entrance to Tel Lachish National Park in Israel.jpg|Entrance to Park File:Tel Lachish siege ramp.jpg|Siege ramp File:The Thrones of Yehuda at Tel Lachish.jpg|The Thrones of Yehuda at Tel Lachish File:Remains of the Palace at Tel Lachish.jpg|Remains of the Palace File:Original wall below, reconstructed wall above at Tel Lachish.jpg|Original and reconstructed wall ==See also==