Lachish, Beth Shemesh, and Duncan MacKenzie

On Wednesday, I took a break from the week of digging to go on the last Albright field trip to the sites of Lachish and Beth Shemesh. Most people are interested in Lachish because of a preserved Assyrian siege ramp on the other side of the Tel, but my interest is in the Canaanite temples, which have been dismantled since the time of their excavation. One photo shows our group ascending toward the Iron Age gate. There wasn't much to see at Beth Shemesh, but this trench around the fortification wall was excavated by Duncan MacKenzie who worked with Evans at Knossos on Crete, and that makes it historically interesting.