It is now more than seven years since my first report to BAR readers on the excavation at Biblical Lachish (“Answers at Lachish,” BAR 05-06). At that time, I primarily discussed Iron Age Lachish, the Lachish of the Judean monarchy. Judean Lachish was twice conquered and destroyed. Lachish Level III was conquered and destroyed in 701 B.C. by the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib. Lachish was rebuilt (Level II) and then conquered again and destroyed again in 588/6 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian, as is known from the Bible (see Jeremiah 34-7) as well as from the excavations and from the famous Lachish letters found in the city gate.a

Now we have dug deeper. We have reached the levels of the Canaanite city and of Joshua’s time and earlier.

My previous article was titled “Answers at Lachish” and I was tempted to call this article “Answers at Lachish II,” because we have found many answers in our excavations of Late Bronze Age Lachish. But the fact is that this time some of our answers, especially our historical reconstructions, are less sure.

Read the rest of Lachish—Key to the Israelite Conquest of Canaan? in the online Biblical Archaeology Society Library.