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68-403: It is named for the nearby ruins of the biblical city of Megiddo , also known as Armageddon , and the sites of several historic battles . Adjacent to the junction is the large Megiddo Prison  [ he ] (formerly a military prison ), and less than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the northwest is kibbutz Megiddo . The 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) stretch of Highway 65 east towards Afula

136-564: A transliteration of the Hebrew Har Megiddo "Mount Megiddo". From this surreal appearance in a well-known eschatological text, the term "Armageddon" has come to signify any world-ending catastrophe. Megiddo was important in the ancient world. It guarded the western branch of a narrow pass on the most important trade route of the ancient Fertile Crescent , linking Egypt with Mesopotamia and Anatolia and known today as Via Maris . Because of its strategic location, Megiddo

204-487: A century and a half later to the time of Ahab . A water system consists of a square shaft 35 metres (115 ft) deep, the bottom of which opens into a tunnel bored through rock for 100 metres (330 ft) to a pool of water. Megiddo's 5,000-year-old "Great Temple", dated to the Early Bronze Age IB (ca. 3000 BC), has been described by its excavators as "the most monumental single edifice so far uncovered in

272-486: A complaint by Tushratta to Akhenaten about the situation: I...asked your father Mimmureya [i.e., Amenhotep III] for statues of solid cast gold, ... and your father said, 'Don't talk of giving statues just of solid cast gold. I will give you ones made also of lapis lazuli. I will give you too, along with the statues, much additional gold and [other] goods beyond measure.' Every one of my messengers that were staying in Egypt saw

340-582: A cylinder seal) was found. It was inscribed with "Amarna Cuneiform" and held a letter which appears to be part of the Amarna correspondence. "To Lab'aya, my lord, speak. Message of Tagi: To the King (Pharaoh), my lord: "I have listened carefully to your missive to me ...(illegible traces)" Amarna Letters are politically arranged in a rough counterclockwise fashion: Amarna Letters from Syria/Lebanon/Canaan are distributed roughly: Early in his reign, Akhenaten ,

408-680: A figurine, and flint items. The Chalcolithic period came next, with significant content around 4500–3500 BCE, as part of the Wadi Rabah culture , at the following base level of Tel Megiddo, as other large tell sites in the region, was located near a spring. Megiddo's Early Bronze Age I (3500–2950 BCE) was originally worked in 1933–1938 by the Oriental Institute, now the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures . Decades later,

476-522: A main corridor, paved with lime. The buildings were about twenty-one meters long by eleven meters wide. Separating the main corridor from outside aisles was a series of stone pillars. Holes were bored into many of these pillars so horses could be tied to them. The remains of stone mangers were found in the buildings. These mangers were placed between the pillars to feed the horses. It is suggested that each side could hold fifteen horses, giving each building an overall capacity of thirty horses. The buildings on

544-525: A square or a trench because they must leave something for future archaeologists with better techniques and methods. During these excavations, it was discovered that there were around eight levels of habitation. Many of the uncovered remains are preserved at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures . The East Slope area of Megiddo was excavated to

612-463: A temple from the end of this period was found and dated to Early Bronze Age IB (ca. 3000 BCE) and described by its excavators, Adams , Finkelstein, and Ussishkin, as "the most monumental single edifice so far uncovered" in the early Bronze Age Levant and among the largest structures of its time in the Near East . Samples, obtained by Israel Finkelstein's Megiddo Expedition, at the temple-hall in

680-966: Is a World Heritage Site . Megiddo was known in the Akkadian language used in Assyria as Magiddu, Magaddu. In Egyptian , it was Maketi, Makitu, and Makedo. In the Canaanite-influenced Akkadian used in the Amarna letters , it was known as Magidda and Makida. It was Koinē Greek : Μαγεδών/Μαγεδδώ , Magedón/Mageddó in the Septuagint ; Latin: Mageddo in the Vulgate . The Book of Revelation describes an apocalyptic battle at Armageddon in Revelation 16 :16: Koinē Greek : Ἁρμαγεδών , romanized:  Harmagedōn ,

748-455: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about transport in Israel is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tel Megiddo Tel Megiddo (from Hebrew : תל מגידו ) is the site of the ancient city of Megiddo ( Greek : Μεγιδδώ ), the remains of which form a tell or archaeological mound, situated in northern Israel at the western edge of

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816-567: Is as plentiful as dust. May my brother cause me no distress. May he send me much gold in order that my brother [with the gold and m]any [good]s may honor me. Note: Many assignments are tentative; spellings vary widely. This is just a guide. William L. Moran summarizes the state of the chronology of these tablets as follows: Despite a long history of inquiry, the chronology of the Amarna letters, both relative and absolute, presents many problems, some of bewildering complexity, that still elude definitive solution. Consensus obtains only about what

884-682: Is called Kvish HaSargel , lit. 'the Ruler Road', since it is very flat and straight. This is an important junction for the residents of the northern district of Israel , because it sits at the entrance to the Wadi Ara mountain pass which connects the North to the Trans-Israel Highway ( Highway 6 ) and other highways in Israel's coastal plain and, by that, to the rest of the country. Its importance slightly diminished when Highway 6

952-513: Is mentioned in the corpus from the city of 'Kumidu', the Kamid al lawz. This indicates that there were relations between Megiddo and Kumidu. Megiddo's Stratum VIIB lasted until slightly before or in the reign of Ramesses III (c. 1184–1153 BCE). Iron Age I (c. 1150–950 BCE) began in Tel Megiddo around 1150 BCE. Egypt's control of this Canaanite region ended around 1130 BCE, as Stratum VIIA

1020-426: Is obvious, certain established facts, and these provide only a broad framework within which many and often quite different reconstructions of the course of events reflected in the Amarna letters are possible and have been defended. ...The Amarna archive, it is now generally agreed, spans at most about thirty years, perhaps only fifteen or so. From the internal evidence, the earliest possible date for this correspondence

1088-573: Is the final decade of the reign of Amenhotep III , who ruled from 1388 to 1351 BC (or 1391 to 1353 BC), possibly as early as this king's 30th regnal year ; the latest date any of these letters were written is the desertion of the city of Amarna , commonly believed to have happened in the second year of the reign of Tutankhamun later in the same century in 1332 BC. Moran notes that some scholars believe one tablet, EA 16, may have been addressed to Tutankhamun's successor Ay or Smenkhkare . However, this speculation appears improbable because

1156-875: The Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru , or neighboring kingdom leaders, during the New Kingdom , spanning a period of no more than thirty years in the middle 14th century BC. The letters were found in Upper Egypt at el-Amarna , the modern name for the ancient Egyptian capital of Akhetaten , founded by pharaoh Akhenaten (c. 1351–1334 BC) during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt . The Amarna letters are unusual in Egyptological research, because they are written not in

1224-585: The Jezreel Valley about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Haifa near the depopulated Palestinian town of Lajjun and subsequently Kibbutz Megiddo . Megiddo is known for its historical, geographical, and theological importance, especially under its Greek name Armageddon . During the Bronze Age , Megiddo was an important Canaanite city-state . During the Iron Age , it was a royal city in

1292-653: The Kingdom of Israel . Megiddo's strategic location at the northern end of the defile of the Wadi Ara , which acts as a pass through the Carmel Ridge , and its position overlooking the rich Jezreel Valley from the west gave it much of its importance. Excavations have unearthed 20 strata of ruins since the Neolithic phase, indicating a long settlement period. The site is protected as Megiddo National Park and

1360-894: The Pushkin Museum in Moscow; and 1 in the collection of the Oriental Institute in Chicago . A few tablets are at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. The archive contains a wealth of information about cultures, kingdoms, events and individuals in a period from which few written sources survive. It includes correspondence from Akhenaten's reign ( Akhenaten who

1428-542: The Temple of Karnak . However, recalibration of radiocarbon datings, using calibration curve (IntCal20), supports Finkelstein's view that the destruction of Stratum V was due to Hazael 's campaign, c. 835 BCE (9th century BCE). Rulers of the Israelite Northern Kingdom improved the fortress from around 900 to 750 BCE. The palaces, water systems and fortifications of the site at this period were among

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1496-529: The University of Chicago , financed by John D. Rockefeller Jr. , continuing until the outbreak of the Second World War . The work was led initially by Clarence S. Fisher , and later by P. L. O. Guy , Robert Lamon, and Gordon Loud. The Oriental Institute intended to completely excavate the whole tel, layer by layer. Money ran out before they could do so. Today, excavators limit themselves to

1564-502: The Amarna archives were closed by Year 2 of Tutankhamun , when this king transferred Egypt's capital from Amarna to Thebes. A small number of the Amarna letters are in the class of poetry . An example is EA 153 , entitled: "Ships on hold" , from Abimilku of Tyre . This is a short, 20-line letter. Lines 6–8 and 9-11 are parallel phrases, each ending with "...before the troops of the king, my lord." -('before', then line 8, line 11). Both sentences are identical, and repetitive, with only

1632-517: The EB I Levant and ranks among the largest structures of its time in the Near East." The structure includes an immense 47.5 by 22 meters sanctuary. The temple was more than ten times larger than a typical temple of that era and was determined to be the site of ritual animal sacrifice . Corridors were used as favissae (deposits of cultic artifacts) to store bones after ritual sacrifice. More than 80% of

1700-557: The Early Bronze IA and IB periods, when most settlements in the region only covered a maximum area of 5 hectares, but that excavations suggest large sites like Tel Megiddo were "sparsely built, with dwellings disorderly distributed and separated by open spaces." Tel Megiddo was still among the large fortified sites, between 5 and 12 hectares, during the Early Bronze II-III period, when its palace testifies that it

1768-831: The Egyptian Empire. The city still prospered, and a massive and elaborate government palace was constructed in the Late Bronze Age. Thutmose III's campaign is attested in Stratum IX at Tel Megiddo, a well fortified site in Late Bronze Age I. In the Amarna Period (c. 1353–1336 BCE), Megiddo was a vassal of the Egyptian Empire . The Amarna Letter E245 mentions local ruler Biridiya of Megiddo. Other contemporary rulers mentioned were Labaya of Shechem and Surata of Akka, nearby cities. This ruler

1836-533: The German Society for the Study of Palestine, excavating one main north-south trench and some subsidiary trenches and probes. Techniques used were rudimentary by later standards, and Schumacher's field notes and records were destroyed in World War I before being published. After the war, Carl Watzinger published the remaining data from the dig. In 1925, digging was resumed by the Oriental Institute of

1904-680: The Jezreel Valley within Israel's coastal plain. In 1964, during Pope Paul VI 's visit to the Holy Land , Megiddo was the site where he met with Israeli dignitaries, including President Zalman Shazar and the Prime Minister Levi Eshkol . Famous battles include: A path leads up through a six-chambered gate, considered by some archaeologists to have been built by Solomon , but which Israel Finkelstein dates to

1972-570: The Late Bronze and the beginning of a new culture forming the Northern Kingdom. Scholars debate the exact timing of this transition. The city represented by Stratum VI is considered completely Canaanite by Israel Finkelstein . It is thought to have a mixed Canaanite and Philistine character by archaeologists Yigael Yadin and Amihai Mazar (2005). It fell victim to fire, when the earliest fragmentary Gate 3165 from Stratum VIA in

2040-571: The Late Iron Age I (c. 1050–950 BCE) was destroyed along with the whole city at the end of this period, marking the end of Iron I in the Jezreel Valley and of Canaanite culture there. This destruction was "caused by the growing proto-Israelite power in the central hill country, out of which [emerged] the Northern Kingdom of Israel [that] should be dated to the first half of the 10th century BCE," related to "the biblical narrative of

2108-608: The Levant". To the South of this temple there is an unparalleled monumental compound. It was excavated by the Megiddo Expedition in 1996 and 1998, and belongs to the later phase of Early Bronze IB, ca. 3090–2950 BCE. It consists of several long, parallel stone walls, each of which is 4 meters wide. Between the walls were narrow corridors, filled hip-deep with the remains of animal sacrifice. These walls lie immediately below

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2176-718: The Omrides, found in Stratum VA-IVB, late Iron IIA period. It overlooks the excavations of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. A solid circular stone structure has been interpreted as an altar or a high place from the Canaanite period. Further on is a grain pit from the Israelite period for storing provisions in case of siege. There are stables, originally thought to date from the time of Solomon but now dated

2244-413: The animal remains were young sheep and goats. The rest were cattle. In 2010, a collection of jewelry pieces was found in a ceramic jug. The jewelry dates to around 1100 BC. The collection includes beads made of carnelian stone, a ring and earrings. The jug was subjected to molecular analysis to determine the contents. The collection was probably owned by a wealthy Canaanite family, likely belonging to

2312-424: The bedrock to serve as a spoil area. The full results of that excavation were not published until decades later. Amarna letters The Amarna letters ( / ə ˈ m ɑːr n ə / ; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets , and cited with the abbreviation EA , for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets , primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between

2380-989: The collections of various museums. The initial group of letters recovered by local Egyptians have been scattered among museums in Germany , England , Egypt , France, Russia, and the United States. Either 202 or 203 tablets are at the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin ; 99 are at the British Museum in London; 49 or 50 are at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo; 7 at the Louvre in Paris; 3 at

2448-633: The culture and language of the Canaanite peoples in this time period. Though most are written in Akkadian, the Akkadian of the letters is heavily colored by the mother tongue of their writers, who probably spoke an early form of Proto-Canaanite , the language(s) which would later evolve into the daughter languages of Hebrew and Phoenician . These "Canaanisms" provide valuable insights into the proto-stage of those languages several centuries prior to their first actual manifestation. These letters, comprising cuneiform tablets written primarily in Akkadian –

2516-435: The gold for the statues with their own eyes. ... But my brother [i.e., Akhenaten] has not sent the solid [gold] statues that your father was going to send. You have sent plated ones of wood. Nor have you sent me the goods that your father was going to send me, but you have reduced [them] greatly. Yet there is nothing I know of in which I have failed my brother. ... May my brother send me much gold. ... In my brother's country gold

2584-571: The history and the chronology of the period. Letters from the Babylonian king, Kadashman-Enlil I , anchor the timeframe of Akhenaten's reign to the mid-14th century BC. They also contain the first mention of a Near Eastern group known as the Habiru , whose possible connection with the Hebrews —due to the similarity of the words and their geographic location—remains debated. Other rulers involved in

2652-563: The huge ‘megaron’ temples of the Early Bronze III (2700–2300 BCE). The megaron temples remained in use through the Intermediate Bronze period. Magnetometer research, before the 2006 excavations, found that the entire Tel Megiddo settlement covered an area of ca. 50 hectares, being the largest known Early Bronze Age I site in the Levant. In 2014, Pierre de Miroschedji stated that Tel Megiddo had around 25 hectares in

2720-427: The language of ancient Egypt, but in cuneiform , the writing system of ancient Mesopotamia . Most are in a variety of Akkadian sometimes characterised as a mixed language , Canaanite-Akkadian ; one especially long letter—abbreviated EA 24 —was written in a late dialect of Hurrian , and is the longest contiguous text known to survive in that language. The known tablets total 382 and fragments (350 are letters and

2788-761: The last king of the Israelite Northern Kingdom, was vassal to Tiglath-Pileser III. The site was rebuilt as an administrative center for Tiglath-Pileser III's occupation of Samaria . In 609 BCE, Megiddo was conquered by Egyptians under Necho II , during the Battle of Megiddo . Its importance soon dwindled, and it was thought as finally abandoned around 586 BCE. Since that time it would have remained uninhabited, preserving ruins pre-dating 586 BCE without settlements ever disturbing them. Archaeologist Eric Cline considers that Tel Megiddo came to an end later, around 350 BCE, during Achaemenid times . Then,

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2856-489: The late 20th Dynasty of Egypt. The Transitional Iron IA/IB may reflect the end of the Egyptian Empire in the Southern Levant. Stratum VIA (Iron IB; Late Iron I) correspond with the 21st Dynasty in Egypt and ends with destruction at the transitional Iron I/II. The Iron I/II transition saw a fierce conflagration that consumed Stratum VIA. The transition saw the end of the old culture which had lingered since

2924-432: The latest 2020 calibration curve (IntCal20), and concluded that the initial establishment of Stratum VB belongs to the 10th century BC, during the time of the possible United Monarchy , based on two radiocarbon samples. These two samples are RTT-5498 and RTK-6755, dated to 961 cal BC (median) and 928 cal BCE (median) respectively. Four other samples from Stratum VA-IVB, which are RTK-6408, 6760, 6429, and RTT-3948, belong to

2992-497: The letters include Tushratta of Mitanni, Lib'ayu of Shechem, Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem, and the quarrelsome king, Rib-Hadda , of Byblos , who, in over 58 letters, continuously pleads for Egyptian military help. Specifically, the letters include requests for military help in the north against Hittite invaders, and in the south to fight against the Habiru. During excavation in 1993 a small, damaged, clay cylinder (first thought to be

3060-566: The most elaborate Iron Age constructions found in the Levant. There is a putative "Solomonic gate" (Gate 2156), which belongs to Stratum VA-IVB, dated by recent excavations and new radiocarbon analysis by Megiddo Expedition, led by Israel Finkelstein, during the time of the Omrides , (c. 886–835 BCE), in the Late Iron Age IIA (around 900–780 BCE). Hendrik J. Bruins recalibrated Israel Finkelstein's radiocarbon available samples, using

3128-616: The northern side of the city were similar in their construction. There was no central courtyard. The capacity of the buildings of the north was about three hundred horses altogether. Both complexes could hold from 450 to 480 horses combined. The buildings were found during excavations between 1927 and 1934. The head excavator initially interpreted the buildings as stables. Since then, his conclusions have been challenged by James B. Pritchard , Dr Adrian Curtis of Manchester University Ze'ev Herzog , and Yohanan Aharoni , who suggest they were storehouses, marketplaces or barracks. In February 2023,

3196-458: The period of the Omrides, dated to 865, 858, 858, and 857 cal BCE (median) respectively. Tel Megiddo became an important city, before being destroyed, possibly by Aramaean raiders. The Aramean occupation was around 845–815 BCE. Jeroboam II (c. 789–748 BCE) reigned over Megiddo. Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria conquered Megiddo in 732 BCE, turning it to the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire 's province of Magiddu. Hoshea (c. 732–721 BCE),

3264-468: The pharaoh of Egypt, had conflicts with Tushratta , the king of Mitanni , who had courted favor with his father, Amenhotep III , against the Hittites. Tushratta complains in numerous letters that Akhenaten had sent him gold-plated statues rather than statues made of solid gold; the statues formed part of the bride-price that Tushratta received for letting his daughter Tadukhepa marry Amenhotep III and then later marry Akhenaten. An Amarna letter preserves

3332-437: The political history of the Early Iron Age excavation layers. The destruction of Stratum V was attributed, by Yadin and Mazar, to Shoshenq I , the first pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt , who would have taken Megiddo sometime around 926 BCE, which is attested in a cartouche on a stele fragment, found in a spoil heap of the Shumacher excavation by the Oriental Institute team, and in a partial and damaged list of toponyms at

3400-422: The possible existence of an Indo-Mediterranean trade. Sesamum protein ( sesame ), another South Asian product, was found in individual MGD011 (c. 1688–1535 BCE). Late Bronze age, as per radiocarbon datings in areas H and K of Tel Megiddo, began in the first half of the 16th century BC, (c. 1585–1545 BCE). At the Battle of Megiddo the city was subjugated by Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 BCE), and became part of

3468-403: The regional language of diplomacy for this period – were first discovered around 1887 by local Egyptians who secretly dug most of them from the ruined city of Amarna, and sold them in the antiquities market. They had originally been stored in an ancient building that archaeologists have since called the Bureau of Correspondence of Pharaoh . Once the location where they were found was determined,

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3536-487: The remains of two elite brothers buried with Cypriot pottery , food and other valuable possessions were found in a Bronze Age tomb . Bioarchaeologists identified the early evidence of a Bronze Age cranial surgery called trepanation in one of the brothers. The study published in PLOS One , reports that the younger brother died in his teens or early 20s, most likely from an infectious illness like leprosy or tuberculosis . The older brother, who died immediately after

3604-621: The rest literary texts and school texts), of which 358 have been published by the Norwegian Assyriologist Jørgen Alexander Knudtzon in his work, Die El-Amarna-Tafeln , which came out in two volumes (1907 and 1915) and remains the standard edition to this day. The texts of the remaining 24 complete or fragmentary tablets excavated since Knudtzon have also been made available. Only 26 of the known tablets and fragments were found in their archaeological context, Building Q42.21. The Amarna letters are of great significance for biblical studies as well as Semitic linguistics because they shed light on

3672-408: The ruins were explored for more. The first archaeologist who successfully recovered more tablets was Flinders Petrie , who in 1891 and 1892 uncovered 21 fragments. Émile Chassinat , then director of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo , acquired two more tablets in 1903. Since Knudtzon's edition, some 24 more tablets, or fragments, have been found, either in Egypt, or identified in

3740-445: The ruling elite. The Megiddo ivories are thin carvings in ivory found at Tel Megiddo, mostly excavated by Gordon Loud. The ivories are on display at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures in Chicago and the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. They were found in the stratum VIIA or Late Bronze Age layer of the site. Carved from hippopotamus incisors from the Nile , they show Egyptian stylistic influence. An ivory pen case

3808-424: The southern Levant. Large urban centers served as political power in city-states. By the later Middle Bronze Age, the inland valleys were dominated by regional centers such as Megiddo, which reached a size of more than 20 hectares, including the upper and lower cities. A royal burial was found in Tel Megiddo, dating to the later phase of the Middle Bronze Age, around 1700–1600 BCE, when the power of Canaanite Megiddo

3876-427: The surgery, had angular notched trephination and was thought to be between the ages of 20 and 40. A 30-millimetre (1.2-inch) square-shaped hole was created on the frontal bone of the skull after his scalp was cut with a sharp instrument with a bevelled edge. Megiddo has been excavated three times and is currently being excavated. The first excavations were carried out between 1903 and 1905 by Gottlieb Schumacher for

3944-407: The town of al- Lajjun , not to be confused with the al-Lajjun archaeological site in Jordan , was built up near to the site, but without inhabiting or disturbing its remains. The Megiddo church is next to Megiddo Junction , inside the precinct of the Megiddo Prison . It was built within the ancient city of Legio . It is believed to date to the 3rd century, making it one of the oldest churches in

4012-637: The war led by Deborah and Barak in Judges 4–5." Ben-Dor Evian and Finkelstein (2023), based on an updated Bayesian model and recent radiocarbon datings , proposed that Stratum VIA ended sometime between 999 and 974 BCE, not due to the conquest of Shoshenq I but by "the expansion of the highlanders into the valley, a development that soon brought about the emergence of the Israelite Northern Kingdom ." Applying Bayesian model inference (OxCal v.4.4 software), archaeologist Enrique Gil Orduña (2024) considers this destruction took place sometime around 986 to 983 BCE. There have been several contradictory proposals for

4080-421: The world. It was a few hundred yards from the Roman base camp of Legio VI Ferrata . A centurion donated one of the mosaics found in the church. Megiddo is south of Kibbutz Megiddo by 1 kilometre (0.62 mi). Today, Megiddo Junction is on the main road connecting the center of Israel with lower Galilee and the north. It lies at the northern entrance to Wadi Ara , an important mountain pass connecting

4148-419: The year 2000, provided calibrated dates from the 31st and 30th century BCE. The temple is the most monumental Early Bronze I structure known in the Levant, if not the entire Ancient Near East. Archaeologists' view is that "taking into account the manpower and administrative work required for its construction, it provides the best manifestation for the first wave of urban life and, probably, city-state formation in

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4216-457: Was a real city-state "characterized by a strong social hierarchy, a hereditary centralized power, and the functioning of a palatial economy." The town declined in the Early Bronze Age IV period (2300–2000 BCE) as the Early Bronze Age political systems collapsed at the last quarter of the third millennium BCE. Early in the second millennium BCE, at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1950 BCE), urbanism once again took hold throughout of

4284-450: Was also titled Amenhotep IV ), as well as his predecessor Amenhotep III 's reign. The tablets consist of over 300 diplomatic letters; the remainder comprise miscellaneous literary and educational materials. These tablets shed much light on Egyptian relations with Babylonia , Assyria , Syria , Canaan , and Alashiya ( Cyprus ) as well as relations with the Mitanni , and the Hittites . The letters have been important in establishing both

4352-445: Was at its peak and before the ruling dynasty collapsed under the might of Thutmose's army. In mortuary contexts, in a dental calculus of individual MGD018 (c. 1630–1550 BCE), at Tel Megiddo, turmeric and soybean proteins were found, which are South Asian products, suggesting he may have been a merchant or trader who "consumed foods seasoned with turmeric or prepared with soy oil in the Levant, in South Asia, or elsewhere," indicating

4420-506: Was completed all the way to the Ein Tut interchange near Ramot Menashe in 2009. The junction and Highway 66 can now be used as an alternate route for reaching Highway 6 via another mountain pass, Wadi Milek , located northwest of Wadi Ara. On June 5, 2002, 17 people lost their lives and 43 people were injured in the Megiddo Junction bus bombing 32°34′23″N 35°11′31″E  /  32.57306°N 35.19194°E  / 32.57306; 35.19194 This geography of Israel article

4488-434: Was destroyed around this date or shortly thereafter, attested in the palace and adjacent Level H-11 building. A Canaanite dynasty still controlled the city after the Egyptians abandoned the region. The beginning of Philistine Bichrome pottery at Megiddo was after 1124 BCE, or in the period (c. 1128–1079 BCE), based on radiocarbon datings with a confidence of 95.4%. Stratum VIB (Iron IA; Early Iron I) can be aligned with

4556-404: Was found inscribed with the cartouche of Ramses III . At Megiddo two stable complexes were excavated from Stratum IVA, one in the north and one in the south. Stratum VA-IVB has also been proposed for this area. The southern complex contained five structures built around a lime paved courtyard. The buildings were divided into three sections. Two long stone paved aisles were built adjacent to

4624-432: Was the site of several battles. It was inhabited approximately from 5000 to 350 BCE, or even, as Megiddo Expedition archaeologists suggest, since around 7000 BCE. Archaeological Stratum XX in Tel Megiddo began around 5000 BCE during the Neolithic . The first Yarmukian culture remains were found at this level in 1930s excavations, but they were not recognized as such then. These remains, found in Area BB, were pottery,

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