ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS - Rare Canaanite Temple Excavated // Biblical Archaeology // Bronze Age History

it isn't often that a complete untouched temple from the ancient world is uncovered by archaeologists let alone a site with biblical associations as well as the historical record this particular site in modern-day Israel excavated over the last six years is so rare that it's the only one of its type discovered in the last 50 years dating to the 12th century BC around the time of the Israelite invasions of the Levant sites like this Canaanite temple of the potential to revolutionize our understanding of this mysterious epoch at the end of the Bronze Age a time when almost every major civilization in the Middle East collapsed some at least put to the torch by the infamous Sea Peoples now in 2020 the initial analysis of this site is finally complete allowing us real insights into this long gone by time just to the southwest of Jerusalem upon a vast mound of earth within a national park lie the ruins of a vast engine city seated upon an imposing tell made up of the refuse of thousands of years of subsequent occupation this is tell Mukesh in its time one of the most important cities for the canaanites of this region during the Late Bronze Age the city was first discovered and excavated by William Albright in 1929 often called the founding father of Biblical Archaeology Albright's work shed light on an era of history long considered unknowable and lost excavations have continued on the site for nearly a hundred years uncovering much about the ancient people who once lived here the Canaanites mysterious inhabitants of the Levant who may have first invented the alphabet during the 2010s the fourth expedition to lock ish under professor Yosef Garfinkel of the university of jerusalem was begun astonishingly on the second day of digging whilst looking for iron age 10th century BC remains in the northeastern corner of the tell a previously unknown and completely unexpected building was found dating to a much earlier era in the process shedding new light on ancient life and religion in the region during the Late Bronze Age just prior to the destruction of the site much like other cities all over the Mediterranean and beyond during this tumultuous time it was only due to severe erosion that had taken away five layers of the city that the discovery was made within a few days small models of the Canaanite gods ball and reshef were found in the earth smiting their enemies with hands held high temples like this had been discovered before in other Canaanite sites like Megiddo Nablus and has all but often looters get to the sites before the archaeologists for years this site would be excavated and now finally the findings have been released today all that remains here is a vast mound of barren earth yet long ago during the middle and late bronze age the city of la Kish was one of the most important of all Canaanite strongholds destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries with occupation beginning as early as the pre pottery Neolithic of the 6th millennium BC the site remains a prime example of both the opportunities and difficulties that have long accompanied life in the Levant situated on the periphery between empires and powerful kingdoms major developments at the site began during the early Bronze Age and by around 2,000 BC the unique culture we can identify as Canaanite came to rule the entire region the remains of a cult center along with religious offerings have been found from this era as well as a palace and vast sloping wall surrounding the Citadel a testament to the warlike times these people lived through in 1550 BC one of the most powerful empires long situated near to Canaan came crashing into the region destroying the city and occupying the entire area for centuries to come of course this foe was Imperial Egypt under the Pharaoh took most the third of the 18th dynasty newly ascendant and reunified after a period of outside invasion interestingly one of those peoples who had invaded Egypt the mysterious Hyksos are thought to have been Semitic in origin perhaps a people sharing common ancestors with the Canaanites when the city was rebuilt it was by a pro Egyptian government a mutual relationship that would influence both regions over the centuries to come and one that explains many Egyptian style items found at this 12th century BC temple [Music] during this period of Egyptian rule la kesh is mentioned in the Amarna lettuce a series of correspondence between Egyptian high officials and regional governess of their vast empire and finally in the Bible with the account of the sack of the city by the Israelite leader Joshua though of course the details remain obscure and ever difficult to pin down archeology tells us that the city was destroyed in around 1300 BC before being rebuilt once more as one of the only Canaanite settlements to survive into the 12th century BC by that time seeming to control large swathes of territory [Music] finally in the 12th century BC around the time of the late bronze age collapse the city was destroyed for good suffering the same fate was nearly every other Canaanite settlement being abandoned entirely when it was rebuilt it was done so by an entirely different culture [Music] most temples from the ancient world a robbed of their artifacts before archeologists ever have a chance to examine them whether in antiquity or in recent times it was precisely the severity of the sacking in the 12th century BC that means we can still see the contents of this temple today the walls and ceilings having collapsed here very quickly in a firestorm which swept through the city sealing them in for over 3,000 years the temple here isn't in itself particularly spectacular being similar in size to other Canaanite temples found at Nablus Megiddo and Hazor of course what was found inside is of most interest [Music] the front of the compound is flanked by two columns and two towers leading to a large inner hall the inner sanctum has four supporting columns and several unhewn standing stones nearly ten feet high which may have served as representations of gods interestingly this temple is square in shape than usual typical of later religious buildings including Solomon's Temple a treasure trove of artifacts was found within including bronze cauldrons an array of jewellery daggers axe heads adorned with bird images Egyptian scarabs and a gold-plated bottle inscribed with the name ramses ii a powerful Egyptian pharaoh but there is influence from other areas besides Egypt the temple has small rooms along the sides that would have been used for storage hinting at Syrian influence such as at Iron Age sites like matzo inside the temple the team found an amulet inspired by the Egyptian goddess Hathor who was said to welcome the dead to the afterlife but it wasn't just Egyptian gods worshipped here they found statues seeming to represent Baal and fresh f Canaanite deities this inner sanctum was a place where people brought tribute and prayed in the Holy of Holies thought to be a divine spiritual opening to the other world where priests could speak directly with the heavens in this place sacrifices would have been made to the gods Baal and reshef War gods depicted smiting their enemies [Music] but another fascinating find was made here to a pottery shard engraved with ancient Canaanite script the first Canaanite inscription found in a Late Bronze Age setting in over 30 years this is the oldest known example of the letter Samak and a unique specimen in the study of ancient alphabets before they state there is cuneiform writing and hieroglyphics in Egypt but these were extremely complicated systems only utilized by scribes who spent their entire lives mastering these techniques the scripts of the Levantine coastline however used by Canaanites and their cultural descendants the Phoenicians were much easier to learn eventually spreading all over the world becoming the primary form of writing today you can read the official reports from the deck online and more research is still being done only time will tell what treasures still remain to be uncovered in the ruins of this ancient city you've been watching archeology news don't forget to Like and subscribe tell me what you think in the comments and I'll see you on the next one [Music] [Music]

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Keywords: iMovie, canaan, canaanite, ancient temple, archaeology, archaeological, israel, biblical history, biblical archaeology, mystery, ancient mystery, ancient jeriucho, ancient Jericho, ancient israle, ancient israel, histoyr, history, history documentary, archaeology news, tel lachish, lachish, iron age, bronze age, israelites, late Bronze Age collapse, late bronze age

Id: pQPzRyig3WQ

Length: 12min 43sec (763 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 16 2020