Excavate Megiddo

Megiddo • 18 miles southeast of Haifa

Volunteers look too relaxed to be at the site of Armageddon—Megiddo.

“Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16). Megiddo—the site, according to the Book of Revelation, of the last great battle at the end of history—is one of the most famous, and one of the largest, archaeological digs in the Near East. Towering more than 100 feet over the Jezreel Valley 18 miles south of Haifa, Megiddo has recently been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (as was Hazor). The scene of many battles, the latest during World War I, Megiddo contains more than six millennia of history buried in the remnants of more than 30 different settlements. The city was conquered by Joshua, built up by King Solomon and was the site of the death of King Josiah. This year’s dig will focus on the floor of a temple hall, the late Bronze Age wall and a monumental chamber tomb first discovered by the earliest excavator of Megiddo, Gottleib Schumacher, more than a century ago. The dig is run by directors Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin, both of Tel Aviv University, and co-directed by Eric Cline of the George Washington University.

2006 Season (minumum stay/application deadline)
June 11-July 27 (1 week); April 30

Dates of Occupation
Bronze & Iron Age

Important Finds
Bronze and Iron Age palaces, temples and gates; inscriptions and ivories

Goals for 2006
Continue investigating Early Bronze Temples and Late Bronze monuments; Iron Age stratigraphy

Room & Board
$260-330 per week

Accommodations
4-per room at Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet

Credit/Tuition/Institutions
Yes, 3-9 $125 per credit hour/ Tel Aviv University

Excavation Director
Israel Finkelstein

Contact & Web Site
Norma Franklin
megexc@post.tau.ac.il
Web site:Megiddo
fax: 011-972-3-640-7237

Coverage in BAS Publications
“The Battleground,” BAR 29:06, Nov/Dec 2003, Timothy P. Harrison
“Megiddo at A Glance,” BAR 29:06, Nov/Dec 2003
“Why Megiddo?,” BR 16:03, Jun 2000, Eric H. Cline
“Back to Megiddo,” BAR 20:01, Jan/Feb 1994, Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin
“Roads Not Taken: Thutmose III Argues with His Generals About How to Attack Megiddo,” BAR 20:01, Jan/Feb 1994
“Megiddo—Layer by Layer,” BAR 20:01, Jan/Feb 1994
“King Solomon’s Stables—Still at Megiddo?,” BAR 20:01, Jan/Feb 1994, Graham I. Davies
“Ambiguous Evidence: Storehouses or Stables?,” BAR 18:01, Jan/Feb 1992
“Scholars’ Corner: Is the Solomonic City Gate at Megiddo Really Solomonic?,” BAR 9:05, Sep/Oct 1983, Valerie M. Fargo
“I. The Debate Continues,” BAR 2:03, Sep 1976
“II. In Defense of the Stables at Megiddo,” BAR 2:03, Sep 1976, Yigael Yadin
“III. Afterword,” BAR 2:03, Sep 1976
“In Pharaoh’s Footsteps,” AO 1:02, Spring 1998, Eric H. Cline

Bilical Cites
1 Kings 9:15, “Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD's temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.”

See also: Joshua 12:21, 17:11; Judges 1:27, 5:19; 1 Kings 4:12; 2 Kings 9:27, 23:29-20; 1 Chronicles 7:29; 2 Chronicles 35:22; Zechariah 12:11; Revelation 16:16

from http://www.archaeologyodyssey.org/bswbDigBAR.html#Megiddo

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