A 3,400-year-old mystery: Who burned the palace of Canaanite Hatzor?

Archaeological News, 23-07-2012

Israeli archaeologists have recently unearthed a palace at the Tel Hatzor National Park in Upper Galilee, revealing rare findings – jugs containing scorched wheat from some 3,400 years ago. The find provides still more tangible evidence of the destruction of Canaanite city of Hatzor, an event dated at the mid-13th century B.C.E. The jugs were found during the excavation of storerooms in what archaeologists say was a palace. In addition to the jugs, many other artifacts found at the site testify to a large fire that raged through the palace – sooty walls, bricks that burned and became rock-hard from the extreme heat, a ceiling that collapsed and burnt cedar wood beams. The excavations are being conducted by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, headed by Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman.