How to Date a City Wall? The Case Study of Middle Bronze Age Lachish

The so-called ‘Revetment’, is a massive wall that has been entirely exposed over a length of c. 2 km at Tel Lachish in the years 1933–4. Based on historical considerations and the well-known Sennacherib relief that depicts the Assyrian attack of 701 bc, the wall was dated to the Iron Age. This was decided in London in 1932, before the excavation had even begun. Current field observations, however, indicate that this fortification system was built in the Middle Bronze Age, about a millennium earlier than suggested so far. This study has two objectives: to summarise the available data on this wall, emphasising 21 points along its circumference, and to analyse the implications of the new data for the dating of this construction. This is one of the best exposed Middle Bronze Age fortifications in the Levant.