A magnificent set of stairs was discovered at Tel Hazor

In archaeological excavations in the Tel Hazor National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), a rare staircase was discovered. The project is led by researchers from the Hebrew University, among them the winner of the Israel Prize for Archeology Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Shlomit Bacher. "The staircase system is unique and impressive and hints at the grandeur expected to be revealed"

These days the 30th excavation season at Tel Hazor is ending. On the northern slopes of the upper city facing the lower city, the work of uncovering the city's administrative palace is being carried out as parts of this palace have already been uncovered in previous seasons. This year, the work of uncovering a magnificent set of stairs was completed that led from the spacious paved courtyard to the interior of the palace. This is a system of stairs that has no example in the ancient East that was built about 3,500 years ago. It is about 4.5 meters wide and consists of basalt slabs intended for building stairs. So far seven steps have been exposed, but the entire staircase has not yet been fully exposed and it continues to climb west. This set of stairs led, apparently, to the main entrance to the palace itself. The walls of the palace were preserved to a height of over 2 meters, and it was destroyed in the tremendous fire in which all of Canaanite Hazor was destroyed - a destruction described in the story of the conquest of the land (Joshua 10:13-XNUMX).

The excavations are conducted under the leadership of leading researchers from the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University, winner of the Israel Prize in Geography, Exploration of the Land of Israel and Archeology Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Shlomit Bacher, Ben-Tor's partner in the excavations in recent years. Prof. Ben-Tor pointed out that "as far as the biblical sites are concerned, the stairs that were uncovered in Hazor again show that there is Hazor and there are all the other sites." Dr. Bachar added that "the stairs show the strength of the palace itself, when it is revealed. Although we know that the palace of Hazor (the largest and most important Canaanite city in the southern Levant) will have architectural power, but this set of stairs is unique and impressive and hints at the splendor expected to be revealed." They were both joined during this season by about 90 people who assisted in the excavations, including a team of students from the Institute of Archaeology, a group of students from France, a group of National Service girls, a group of teenagers from patrol circles, and individual volunteers from England, Germany, Spain, the United States, Canada, Finland, Australia and China, most of them "returning volunteers", those who have already excavated with the expedition in previous years.

In the parts of the palace that were uncovered, finds of utmost importance were discovered such as Egyptian scarab prints, about 40 huge storage vessels that indicate the ability to store on a large scale, many basalt vessels, raw materials related to the palace's workshops as well as four royal inscriptions (three inscriptions in Egyptian hieroglyphs and one in Akkadian) .

Among these inscriptions it is worth noting two Egyptian statues discovered in recent years. One is a fragment of a sphinx of the Egyptian king Mikrinus (who ruled Egypt around 2500 BC) - the largest Egyptian royal sculpture discovered so far in the Levant. The second is a fragment of a statue of an Egyptian official named Neb-Po, who worked in Egypt during the "Middle Kingdom" in the 18th-19th centuries BC, a time period when Hazor did not yet exist. This is the largest private Egyptian sculpture discovered in the Levant from the period of the second millennium BC.

In another excavation area, this year the remains of the last Israeli city of Hazor, the city that was destroyed during the journey of Tiglath Plaser III (29 Kings, chapter 30, verses XNUMX-XNUMX), were also uncovered. A considerable amount of smashed pottery is archaeological evidence of this destruction. In the following excavation seasons, the excavation expedition is expected to uncover additional parts of the city's administrative palace.

Tel Hazor can rightfully be considered the "flagship" of the Hebrew University's archaeological excavations, and of Israeli archeology in general. A delegation from the Hebrew University led by the late Professor Yigal Yedin began extensive excavations at the site in 1955, they continued continuously until 1958 and were renewed in 1968 - 1970. The excavations were attended by researchers who are considered the "fathers" of Israeli archeology such as Yochanan Aharoni, Truda and Moshe Dotan, Ruth Amiran and others. . Over the years, archeology students of the Hebrew University participated in the excavations of the Yadin expedition, who over the years were involved in teaching at the various universities, the Antiquities Authority, the Nature and Gardens Authority and museums throughout the country.

Excavations at the site were resumed in 1990 under the leadership of Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor. In fact, these days the 30th excavation season of the "Zaltz Foundation Excavations in Yigal Yedin" is taking place at the site, within the Tel Hazor National Park and under the auspices of the Society for the Exploration of the Land of Israel and its Antiquities. The site is used, among other things, as a field archeology school of the Hebrew University and today the fourth generation of the institute's students receives its training in this field, the students of Yigal Yedin's students train the new students and provide them with scientific excavation methods.

Tel Hazor is the largest and most important of Israel's biblical mounds and as such has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. The importance of the site is evidenced by the statement that after its conquest by the tribes of Israel (the battle between the cities of the north of the country under the leadership of Yavin the king of Hazor and the tribes of Israel under the leadership of Joshua), the way was opened for the settlement of the tribes of Israel in "all this land... from the smooth mountain that rises to Sheir to Baal Gad In the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon" (Joshua 17:XNUMX). The Israeli Hazor is a key site for testing the reliability of biblical historiography. The city had cultural and commercial ties with both Egypt and Babylon, and written records discovered in Hazor clearly testify to this. Along with the written documentation, various artistic findings were also revealed, including those that were brought to Khor from near and far.

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