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The Tel Rehov Excavations - 2008 |
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About the Dig The Beth-Shean Valley was a fertile, densely inhabited region in antiquity, scattered with numerous mounds that mark the sites of ancient cities and towns. The valley is located about two hours north of Jerusalem by automobile, and a half-hour south of the Sea of Galilee, on the western edge of the Jordan River Valley. Beginning in 1989, our project focused on Tel Beth-Shean , a fabulously productive mound that served for several centuries as the stronghold of the Egyptian New Kingdom in northern Israel. In 1997 we began excavation at Tel Rehov, the location of the largest ancient Canaanite and Israelite site in the Beth-Shean valley and one of the largest tels in the Holy Land. |
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The first eight seasons of excavations, from 1997-2007, revealed successive occupational layers from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I (12th - 11th centuries BCE). Large and well-preserved buildings from three occupation layers were dated to the 10th - 9th centuries BCE (the time of the United Monarchy of David and Solomon and the Divided Monarchy under Omri and Ahab). Two of these cities suffered a destruction. Remains of the 8th century BCE city that was violently destroyed by the Assyrians in 732 BCE include an 8 m-wide mudbrick wall around the acropolis. Evidence of Assyrian slaughter was found in the destroyed 8th century BCE houses.
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