A Lord at Megiddo
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A Lord at Megiddo
Viscount Michael Jaffray Hynman Allenby of Megiddo, nephew of the
legendary British general who liberated Palestine from the Turks and
namesake of one of Tel Aviv’s busiest shopping streets, visited the TAU
archeological excavations at Megiddo recently.
Viscount Allenby, 65, inherited the title from his uncle, who was awarded the
title “Viscount of Megiddo” for his victory over the Turks at the battle of
Megiddo in 1918. In 1992 the present-day Viscount retired from the British
Army after 35 years of service. He serves as President of the Anglo-Israeli
Archeological Society and is patron of the British-Israel World Federation.
At Megiddo, Viscount Allenby met with TAU’s Prof. David Ussishkin,
director of the excavations at the site and co-director Prof. Israel Finkelstein.
Megiddo, settled continuously for six millenia and associated with Biblical
history, King Solomon and Ahab, is also significant for Christians as
Armageddon, the location of the final battle between good and evil.
The excavations are being conducted by researchers, students and volunteers
from all over the world, under the supervision of TAU’s Sonia and Marco
Nadler Institute of Archeology. New and important findings at the site include
the discovery of a large Bronze Age structure with fortifications, bronze
weapons, icons, pottery and a necklace which is estimated to be 5,000 years
old.
Latest Findings
Monumental remains of a gigantic ritual area from the end of the fourth
millennium BCE were uncovered this summer at the TAU-led Megiddo
excavations. The new findings reinforce assumptions that Megiddo was one of
the central cities of Canaan during that period.
For thousands of years inhabitants of the site remained loyal to the sacred
compound--constructing temples and ritual altars on top of former groups’
ruins until the end of the Bronze Age in the 12th century BCE. The compound
consists of a system of gigantic walls up to 4 meters thick and built of semi-
hewn stones arranged in lines. Forty meters of walls have already been
uncovered. The highlight of this summer’s dig was the discovery of a 30 cm.
thick layer of thousands of animal bones in the passageways between the walls
of the ritual structure--remnants of sacrifices on the temple altar.
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