The Level VI North-East Temple at Tel Lachish

Abstract

During the recent excavations at Tel Lachish a previously unknown Canaanite temple of the 12th century BCE was uncovered in the north-eastern corner of the mound. This article describes its possible place in the urban fabric of the city, the plan of the temple and its parallels, and some of the more special finds that were found in it. Based on the temple’s plan and the finds and installations uncovered in it, we wish to offer a glimpse into the cults that were associated with the temple, as well as a reconstruction of the temple’s life cycle.

Keywords:

• Lachish
• Canaanite cult
• temple
• figurines
• crisis architecture

Notes

1 The Fourth Expedition to Lachish was conducted in 2013–2017 with a team of about 110 staff and volunteers each season from more than 18 different countries and from the following consortium institutions: The Adventist Institute of Advanced Studies (Philippines), Helderberg College (South Africa), Oakland University (USA, Jon Carroll and Michael Pytlik), Seoul Jangsin University (Korea, Hoo-Goo Kang), Universidad Adventista de Bolivia (Bolivia), and Virginia Commonwealth University (USA, Jon Waybright). The excavation work was carried out in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, the National Parks Authority and the Israel Exploration Society, and is affiliated with the American Schools of Oriental Research.

2 For example the temples of Tel Mevorakh (Strata XI–X), Tell Qasile (Stratum X) and the Fosse Temple of Lachish.

3 ‘Tower Temples’ were found at Shechem, Megiddo and Pella, as well as Hazor (Area H and the Northern and Southern Temples and possibly also Building 7050 in Area A).

4 ‘Smiting god’ (Collon 1972); ‘Male warriors in smiting pose’ (Negbi 1976); ‘Standing armed figures’ (Seeden 1980).

5 For cauldrons from Cyprus and the Aegean see Catling (1964) and Matthäus (1980; 1985).

6 The mask from Gezer was attributed by Macalister to the ‘Second Semitic Period’, which corresponds roughly to the later part of the Middle Bronze Age II (Seger 2013: table 1.1). However, based on the parallels it seems reasonable that this mask too should be dated to the Late Bronze Age.

7 See for example Louvre E.25980.

8 Penn. 29-107-958.

9 See for example IAA 1972.562–565; Hecht Museum H-845.

10 This may relate to a growing Egyptian influence in Lachish at the time of Level VI, as can also be seen in other features of the material culture such as the anthropoid coffins (Tufnell 1958: 131–32, 248–49, pl. 45:1–3, pl. 46), hieratic inscriptions on local bowls (Sweeney 2004; Tufnell 1958: 132, pl. 47:1–5), Egyptian-style architecture in the Acropolis Temple (Ussishkin 2004d: 261–67) and dietary habits (Koch 2014).

11 ʽnṣb skn ilibh - bqdš ztr ʻmhʼ — ‘someone to raise up the stela of his personal god, in the sanctuary the votive emblem of his clan’ (KTU 1.17.I.27; Pardee 2003b: 344).

12 See also the cultic activity performed on a roof by King Kirta in ‘The Kirta Epic’ (KTU 1.14 II 20–22, 27; Pardee 2003a: 334).

13 An exceptional later appearance of a ‘lamp and bowl’ deposit was uncovered recently in an Iron Age IIA stratum at Azekah (Lipschitz et al. 2018: 96).

14 See, for example, cult sites in Hittite Anatolia (Ökse 2011: 219–20), in Minoan Crete (Peatfield 2009: 251–53), in the ancient Greek culture (Pedley 2005: 39) and in Palestinian Arab traditions (Canaan 1927: 3, 6–7, 63).

15 Also known as the Royal or Palatial Temple, and ‘the temple with the Mitannian axe’.

16 To the east of the Orthostat Temple is a fold of land, currently occupied by a dirt road. It is possible that this fold hints at the location of the city’s northern gate. Furthermore, the entrance to the temple’s courtyard in Stratum 1B (Late Bronze Age II) is from the east, perhaps pointing to a gate plaza east of the temple.