Tel Lachish 1997 Overview

Tel Lachish and Its Importance
David Ussishkin

Tel Lachish is one of the largest, richest and most important archaeological sites from the Old Testament period in southern Palestine. It covers an area of nearly 40 acres. The site is located in the Shephelah, near one of the main routes leading from the coastal plain to the Judean hills. Lachish was continuously settled from the Chalcolithic period in the 4th millennium BCE till the end of the Persian period in the middle of the first millennium BCE. The accumulation of debris in parts of the mound reaches 12 m. (about 35 feet).

Lachish was apparently an important centre already in the Early Bronze Age, but very little is known about the site at that time. By the Middle Bronze Age, in the first half of the second millennium BCE, it was a large, rich royal city, protected by massive fortifications. A huge palace was built in its centre. By the Late Bronze Age it became one of the most imprtant Canaanite city-states in southern Canaan. It was dominated by the Egyptian pharaohs, and prospered till its final destruction in the 12th century BCE in the hands of the "Sea Peoples" or the Israelites.

In the ninth century BCE Lachish was built and fortified by the kings of Judah, turning it into a royal Judean stronghold - second in importance to Jerusalem. In 701 BCE, when Sennacherib king of Assyria invaded Judah, he turned first to Lachish, assaulted its walls and destroyed the city. This event is recorded in several different but complementary sources: The Old Testament and the Assyrian records; A series of stone reliefs erected by Sennacherib in his palace at Nineveh, the data from the city-level attacked by the Assyrians which was identified and excavated; the remains of the siege and battle uncovered in the excavations.

In the seventh century BCE Lachish was rebuilt as a royal Judean stronghold. It was attacked and destroyed in 587/6 BCE by Nebuchadenazar king of Babylon. The famous ostraca written in ancient Hebrew, known as the "Lachish Letters", date to this time. During the Persian period Lachish was rebuilt and fortified as a district centre, and then, at the beginning of the Hellenistic period, the site was abandoned.

Click here for information about The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish (1973-1994) Volumes I - V by David Ussishkin