Canaan and the Twelve Tribes

This inscription is written in the Akkadian language that used a cuneiform (literally, 'wedge-shaped') script for letters. The earliest examples of writing from Israel/Palestine are in this script and language. This particular fragment is from…

This stone-lined pit is 21 feet deep and 34 feet across and was a municipal grain storage silo between ca. 780-650 BCE. There were two winding staircases that went down into it (one of which is visible on the right side of the photograph). Though no…

This close-up of the name 'Israel,' written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, comes from an inscription written on granite during the reign of the Egyptian king Merneptah (1213-1203 BCE). This is the earliest preserved inscriptional evidence of Israel and…

This aerial photograph shows the site of ancient Megiddo, the most important city of Lower Galilee in antiquity. It sits at a major crossroads at the western end of the Jezreel Valley. Megiddo was inhabited from the Pre-pottery Neolithic period until…

This aerial photograph shows a huge outdoor altar, up to 5 feet high, that was built in the Early Bronze Age (2850-2650 BCE). The altar was accessed via the steps on the left side of the photo, and excavators found pottery and bones surrounding the…

The round stone mound in this photo—a Canaanite outdoor altar—is also referred to as a 'high place'. It was built around 2,700 BCE and used up to around 1,800 BCE. A 'high place' ('bamah' in the Hebrew Bible) was a place used for worship, in part…

This photograph shows an intact shrine from inside the Holy of Holies of a small broadhouse temple (i.e., the entrance is on the broad side of the building). It dates to the 13th century BCE. The stones were all cut from basalt, a local rock. Eight…

This large rectangular building with its double row of pillars was a royal storehouse from the 9th century BCE. Other storehouses like it have been discovered at Megiddo and at Tel Be'er Sheva.

Hazor, an ancient city and tel that sits at the southern end of the Huleh Valley in eastern upper Galilee, was one of the largest and most important cities in the region from ca 1,900 BCE until 732 BCE when it was destroyed by the Assyrian king…

This photograph shows an underground tunnel that was part of Megiddo's water system, which was built in the 9th century BCE. Water was a precious defensive commodity - if a city had any hope of surviving a siege, they had to make sure that their…

The area with pillars in this photo shows the ancient ruins of a storehouse that dates to the 9th century BCE. The large rooms in the foreground date to the time of Jeroboam II (793-753 BCE). In the background is the snow-covered peak of Mt. Hermon.

The Merneptah Stele, pictured here, is an inscription written in hieroglyphs on granite during the reign of the Egyptian king Merneptah (1213-1203 BCE). It contains the earliest preserved inscriptional evidence of the name Israel (and perhaps…