Editing Tel Hazor (section)

==Excavations==
[[File:Hazor - Royal fortress gate.jpg|thumb|Royal fortress gate found at Hazor, now in the [[Israel Museum]]]]
The site of Hazor is around {{convert|200|acre|km2}} in area, with an upper city making up about 1/8 of that. The upper mound has a height of about 40 meters. Initial soundings were carried out by [[John Garstang]] in 1926.<ref>John Garstang, "History in the Bible," ''American Journal of Economics and Sociology'', vol. 3, no. 3, Essays in Memory of Franz Oppenheimer 1864–1943, pp. 371–385, 1944</ref>

Major excavations were conducted for four seasons from 1955 to 1958 by a [[Hebrew University]] team led by  [[Yigael Yadin]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Yadin|first=Yigael|author-link=Yigael Yadin|date=February 1956|title=Excavations at Hazor|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume=19|issue=1|pages=2–11|doi=10.2307/3209263|jstor=3209263|s2cid=133750909 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Yadin|first=Yigael|author-link=Yigael Yadin|date=May 1957|title=Further Light on Biblical Hazor: Results of the Second Season, 1956|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume=20|issue=2|pages=33–47|doi=10.2307/3209148|jstor=3209148|s2cid=188952326 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Yadin|first=Yigael|author-link=Yigael Yadin|date=May 1958|title=The Third Season of Excavation at Hazor, 1957|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume=21|issue=2|pages=30–47|doi=10.2307/3209155|jstor=3209155|s2cid=134086184 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Yadin|first=Yigael|author-link=Yigael Yadin|date=February 1959|title=The Fourth Season of Excavations at Hazor|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|volume=22|issue=1|pages=2–20|doi=10.2307/3209103|jstor=3209103|s2cid=135358907 }}</ref>
Yadin returned to Hazor for a final season of excavation in 1968.<ref>Yigal Yadin, The Fifth Season of Excavations at Hazor 1968–1969, The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 50-71, 1968</ref> The excavations were supported by [[James A. de Rothschild]], and were published in a dedicated five volume set of books by the [[Israel Exploration Society]].

Excavation at the site by Hebrew University, joined by the [[Complutense University of Madrid]], resumed in 1990 under Amnon Ben-Tor. Those excavations continue to the present. The work from 1990 to 2012 is detailed in two IEF books.<ref>Ben-Tor, Amnon, Doron Ben-Ami, and Debora Sandhaus, Hazor VI. The 1990 - 2009 Excavations. ''The Iron Age''. Israel Exploration Society: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2012</ref><ref>Ben-Tor, Amnon, Sharon Zuckerman, Shlomit Bechar, and Débora Sandhaus, HAZOR VII. The 1990-2012 Excavations. ''The Bronze Age'', ed. Tsipi Kuper-Blau. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society, 2017</ref>

In the 2010 excavation season, two [[cuneiform]] tablet fragments, made of local clay, were discovered dating to the [[Old Babylonian period]] of the Middle Bronze Age. The 2nd fragment is small, containing only 7 signs. They are inscribed with laws in the style of [[Hammurabi's Code]], the [[Laws of Eshnunna]], the Book of Exodus, and Hittite laws, seven in total. The fragments include laws pertaining to body parts and damages including those of slaves.<ref>Horowitz, Wayne, Takayoshi Oshima, and Filip Vukosavović,  "Hazor 18: Fragments of a Cuneiform Law Collection from Hazor.", ''Israel Exploration Journal'' 62, pp. 158–76, 2012</ref><ref>Vukosavović, Filip. "THE LAWS OF HAZOR AND THE ANE PARALLELS.", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 108, 2014, pp. 41–44</ref><ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/hammurabi-like-cuneiform-discovered-at-tel-hazor-1.304266 'Hammurabi-like' cuneiform discovered at Tel Hazor - Asaf Shtull-Trauring - Jul. 27, 2010], ''[[Haaretz]]''</ref>

The 2013 excavation season involved the [[Late Bronze Age]] (LBA) area M-East, and M-West. M-East included small elements of MBA and represented a major destruction event with extensive burning.<ref>Ben-Tor, Amnon, and Sharon Zuckerman., "Tel Hazor — 2013: Preliminary Report." Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 126, 2014,</ref> In the 2014 and 2015 seasons the Iron Age II thru 8th century BCE layer of area M3  and the Iron age M4 area were worked. A number of unbaked loom weights were found there.<ref>Ben-Tor, Amnon, et al., “Tel Hazor – 2014: Preliminary Report.” Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 127, 2015</ref><ref>Ben-Tor, Amnon, and Shlomit Bechar., “Tel Hazor - 2015: Preliminary Report.” Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 128, 2016</ref> The excavation of 2016 was in the LBA administrative palace [[destruction layer]] of area M3. Finds included fragments of an Egyptian statue. The 10 century BCE standing stone complex and 9th century BCE fortifications, built on top of the LBA destruction layer, were also further explored.<ref>Bechar, Shlomit, and Amnon Ben-Tor., “Tel Hazor – 2016: Preliminary Report.” Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 129, 2017,</ref> In 2017 excavation work concentrated in the LBA M3 area containing an administrative palace with a basalt monumental entrance stair. Work also continued on the Iron Age II fortifications.<ref>Bechar, Shlomit, and Amnon Ben-Tor. “Tel Hazor – 2017: Preliminary Report.”, Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 130, 2018</ref> In the 2018 excavation season, the 29th season, from June to July 2018, areas worked were the LBA M3, the 8th century BCE and Persian M4, and the 8th and 10th century BC M68.<ref>Bechar, Shlomit, and Amnon Ben-Tor. “Tel H̱aẕor – 2018: Preliminary Report.”,  Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 132, 2020</ref> In the 2019 season, the 13th of the current excavation, areas M4 and M68 were worked, both Iron Age.<ref>Bechar, Shlomit, and Amnon Ben-Tor. "Tel H̱aẕor – 2019." Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel, vol. 133, 2021</ref>

In total, Hazor has provided more cuneiform tablets than any other site in the Southern Levant. They fall into two groups. Those from the Middle Bronze period are in standard Old Babylonian [[Akkadian language]] while those from the Late Bronze Age are in a local dialect typical of [[New Kingdom Egypt]]ian times.<ref>Wayne Horowitz. "Hazor: A Cuneiform City in the West." ''Near Eastern Archaeology'', vol. 76, no. 2, 2013, pp. 98–101</ref>

Finds from the dig are housed in a museum at [[Kibbutz]] [[Ayelet HaShahar]]. In 2008, some artifacts in the museum were damaged in an earthquake.<ref name="haaretz">{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/images/printed/P020308/a.a.0203.430.1.9.jpg|title=Image: a.a.0203.430.1.9.jpg, (245 × 163 px)|work=Haaretz|access-date=2015-09-03}}</ref>