Overview

Bibliography

Megiddo has been identified with Tell el-Mutesellim, located at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley. It sits along the Via Maris as it entered from the Sharon Plain into the Jezreel Valley. This strategic position along the major trade routes of the ancient world explains the importance of the city in antiquity.

Although Megiddo does not appear in any ancient text until the Late Bronze period, the site attests to occupation as early as the Neolithic period. By the Early Bronze II period the site was a fortified city with monumental architecture. Throughout the Middle and Late Bronze periods, Megiddo was one of the major political centers in northern Israel, and apparently a dependency on Egypt during much of the periods. During the Iron period, Megiddo was an administrative center of the Israelite kingdom, and then the center of an Assyrian province. The occupation of the site came to an end in the Persian period.

Megiddo has been extensively excavated. G. Schumacher conducted the first excavations of the site from 1903-1905, during which time he dug a 20-25 meters wide trench across the center of the site, running north-south. The major excavations of the site were conducted by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago from 1925-1939 under the direction of C. S. Fisher, P. L. O. Guy, and G. Loud. Intending to excavate the entire mound to bedrock, the excavations succeeded in uncovering the top four strata of the site. The excavations then concentrated their efforts in two primary areas: the area west of the northern city gate (Area A-A) and the eastern section of the city were numerous temples and palaces were uncovered (Area B-B, the so-called "sacred precinct). In the latter area, the excavations reached bedrock (Stratum XX), with the first building remains dating to the Early Bronze I period. Area C-C in the south and Area D-D on the eastern side of the gate were also excavated to Stratum VI. In the 1960's Yigal Yadin launched a series of excavations to reassess the strata of several key areas around the site. He also launched a more extensive excavation in Area B along the northeast side of the site (north of Area B-B and east of Area D-D). In the 1990's excavations were renewed at Megiddo under the direction of David Ussishkin, Israel Finkelstein, and Baruch Halpern. In addition to reassessing the stratigraphy of earlier excavations, they have launched excavations in new areas.

The archaeological strata uncovered at the site, as illustrated in the site plan, date to the following periods:

	Stratum III
	Stratum IVA
	Stratum VA–IVB
	Stratum VB
	Strata X–VIII
	Strata XIII
	Strata XVII–XV
	Stratum XIX