Archaeomagnetic Dating of the Outer Revetment Wall at Tel Lachish

Abstract

The fortifications of Lachish, a key site in archaeology of the Iron Age Southern Levant, are the focus of ongoing debate. The Outer Revetment Wall, encircling nearly the entire site, was traditionally associated with Levels IV–III and was thought to have been in use during the Assyrian campaign in 701 BCE. It has recently been suggested that it was built a millennium earlier. Here we present archaeomagnetic dating of a mudbrick tower incorporated in this wall, indicating that it was burnt during the Iron Age and was most likely built during this period. Combining archaeological, historical and archaeomagnetic data reveals the intense fire that occurred during the 701 BCE Assyrian siege. This fire could have been set by the people of Lachish, in a desperate attempt to damage the Assyrian siege engines or siege ramp, as depicted in the well-known Lachish relief, or by the Assyrians as part of their siege tactics.

Keywords:

• Archaeomagnetic dating
• Tel Lachish
• Outer Revetment Wall
• Mid-Slope Wall
• Siege ramp

Acknowledgements

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 804490). We are grateful to Saar Ganor and Vladik Lipshits for their support in the fieldwork. We appreciate the very fruitful discussions regarding this research with David Ussishkin, Yosef Garfinkel, Yehuda Dagan and Igor Kreimerman. We further acknowledge three anonymous reviewers, whose constructive comments significantly improved this paper.

Disclosure statement

The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 LC stands for Lachish and 08 is a running number out of all archaeomagnetic samples from Tel Lachish.

2 Field orientation is the orientation in which the bricks were unearthed.

3 There is a debate regarding fired bricks that were exposed in the MB III fortress at Tel Lachish mentioned above (Area BB). The British expedition interpreted these bricks to be ‘kiln-fired red bricks’ (Tufnell 1953: Pl. 11:12), whereas the HUJI expedition interpreted the firing of the bricks to be the result of conflagration (Garfinkel et al. 2021b: 429).

4 According to a recent study, the siege ramp was even longer than suggested by Ussishkin and its construction began far from the city and gradually approached it (Garfinkel et al. 2021a).

5 Note the significant amount of wood used during the construction of the Roman siege ramp at Masada (Liphschitz, Lev-Yadun and Waisel 1981; Lev-Yadun, Lucas and Weinstein-Evron 2010).

6 According to wind measurements in 2001–2012 in the Netiv HaLamed He meteorological station, located ca. 18 km northeast of Tel Lachish.

7 A similar practice is portrayed in the story of Abimelech, son of Gideon, who besieged the Tower of Shechem, cut down brushwood, put it against the tower and set the tower on fire (Judg 9:49). This biblical narrative ends when a woman in the besieged tower in Thebez managed to kill Abimelech when he approached the tower in an attempt to set it on fire as well (Judg 9:50–54). We thank Yosef Garfinkel for the reference to the Abimelech narrative.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yoav Vaknin

Yoav Vaknin: The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, and Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Ron Shaar

Ron Shaar: Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; email: [email protected]

Erez Ben-Yosef

Erez Ben-Yosef: The Jakob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University; email: [email protected]

Oded Lipschits

Oded Lipschits: The Jakob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University; email: [email protected]