Hazor was the largest city in Palestine in the Canaanite period and cultural and a commercial centre of some consequence in the Fertile Crescent, as well as being an important bastion of the Israelite Kingdom. Professor Yigael Yadin conducted extensive excavations on the site of the town between 1955 and 1969 as Director of the James Rothschild Hebrew University Expedition. Professor Yadin's 1970 Schweich Lectures first describe the history of Hazor as recorded in the Egyptian Execration Texts, the Mari archives, Egyptian New Kingdom documents, the "Armarna Letters", and finally the Old Testament. They proceed to give an authoritative account of the fascinating results achieved in the five seasons of excavation. These include the large lower city with its earthen fortifications, the many temples, the Solomonic City, the Israelite water-system, as well as a chapter on the author's discoveries of the corresponding periods at Megiddo.

IN THIS ISSUE INSIGHT Rethinking the "Halls of Hades" by James Wiseman MULTIMEDIA Alexander's Epic March by Eugene N. Borza AT THE MUSEUMS Playground for the Human Spirit by Ellen Herscher BOOKS Yahoos in Arabia by Neil Asher Silberman FORUM Alas, Poor Ramses by Dale M. Brown NEWSBRIEFS Mirrors to Japanese History, Statue Snatched from the Sea, Twilight of the Clans, First Mariners, Ancient Cityscape, Thessaloniki Brothel, Remapping Angkor, Cahokia Surprise, Gold Goes Home, Iceman Returns to Italy, Copán Tomb Looted, Ghoulish Boutique LIFE AND DEATH IN A MAYA WAR ZONE Within a Yucatán pyramid lie the grim traces of a violent change in rulership--the remains of a slaughtered royal family. by Charles Suhler and David Freidel THE BURNING OF HAZOR The charred ruins of a Late Bronze Age palace may yield the historical truth behind the biblical account of the conquest of the Promised Land. by Abraham Rabinovich and Neil Asher Silberman CASE OF THE GOLDEN PHIALE How a million-dollar bowl, spirited out of Italy, ended up in a packing case at U.S. Customs by Andrew L. Slayman ITALY FIGHTS BACK Aggressive efforts to staunch the flow of stolen antiquities