Dating the Destruction of Canaanite Hazor without Mycenaean Pottery?
Sharon Zuckerman

The chronology of the final destruction of Late Bronze Age Hazor has been an important issue in the research of the site ever since the first excavations in the lower city directed by Garstang. Following Yadin's excavation seasons at Hazor and the accumulation of rich finds from the period, the issue became a cornerstone in the archaeology of Canaan. The main dating criteria were the Mycenaean sherds found at the site on the one hand, and the interpretation of the biblical narrative concerning the destruction of Hazor on the other hand.

The different suggestions for dating the event can be categorized under two separate "schools". The first one (represented by Yadin, Aharoni, Drews and Ben-Tor) dates the violent destruction to the second half of the 13^th century BC, sometime during the last years of the reign of Ramsses II or even his heir Merneptah. Scholars belonging to this "school" tie the destruction of Canaanite Hazor to the biblical descriptions in Joshua and see the Israelites as responsible for this event. Proponents of the second school (such as Tufnell, Kenyon, Beck and Kochavi and Finkelstein) support an earlier date in the first half of the 13^th century BC. They base their suggestions on the preliminary study of the pottery of Hazor and its connection to the ceramic assemblages of dated LB sites.

This paper summarizes the results of a detailed analysis of the rich ceramic assemblages from the renewed excavations. These assemblages belong to the final destruction level of two monumental buildings excavated on the acropolis of Hazor (areas M and A). The results of this analysis, together with a critical evaluation of other lines of dating evidence (such as imported pottery, Egyptian sources and finds and cuneiform tablets), makes possible a re-assessment of the date which is supported by the archaeological evidence.