Building 7050 at the Acropolis of Late Bronze Hazor: A Palace After All

Abstract

Building 7050, located at the centre of the acropolis of Hazor, was constructed in the mid-14th century BCE and, like the rest of the city, was ravaged by fire sometime in the middle of the 13th century. Was this building a temple, as suggested by some, or a ceremonial palace, as advocated by the author? The plan of Building 7050 is clearly different from that of contemporaneous temples in the region and very similar to that of Niqmepah’s palace at Alalakh. Details of the plans of the two structures place them as forerunners of the Bit-Hilani type of palace, typical of Iron Age edifices in Syria, such as at Zinjirli and Tell Tayinat. A large number of pithoi was found in Building 7050, as well as in the administrative palace located nearby, yet none was found in any of the four temples uncovered at Hazor. Storage facilities containing a large number of pithoi and storage jars are typical of palaces all over the ancient Near East. Other finds, such as inscribed clay tablets and Egyptian statue fragments, originated from Building 7050 and the administrative palace, but none was found in any of the four Hazor temples. It is suggested here that one of the main functions of Building 7050 was to stage banquets for the local elite where profuse food and drink were offered. Such feasts were an important part of the political, religious and social life of the palaces of Canaan in the second millennium BCE.

Keywords:

• Hazor
• Late Bronze Age
• Temple 7050
• Ceremonial palace
• Storage facility
• Hilani
• Alalakh
• Banquet

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Paolo Matthiae, excavator of Ebla, and Peter Pfälzner, excavator of Qatna, for their kindness, and Debora Sandhaus-Reem, who graciously helped me locate the graphics for this article.

Notes

* This article is dedicated to Nadav Na’aman for 60 years of friendship.