Tel Hazor

Tel Hazor (Hebrew: תל חצור, romanized: Tel Ḥāṣor), translated in LXX as Hasōr (Ancient Greek: Άσώρ), and in Arabic Tell Waqqas or Tell Qedah el-Gul (Arabic: تل القدح, romanized: Tell el-Qedah), is an archaeological tell at the site of ancient Hazor, located in the Upper Galilee, north of the Sea of Galilee, in the northern Korazim Plateau. From the Middle Bronze Age (around 1750 BCE) to the Iron Age (ninth century BCE), Hazor was the largest fortified city in the region and one of the most important in the Fertile Crescent. It maintained commercial ties with Babylon and Syria, and imported large quantities of tin for the bronze industry. In the Book of Joshua, Hazor is described as "the head of all those kingdoms" (Josh. 11:10) and archaeological excavations have emphasized the city's importance. The Hazor expedition, headed by Yigael Yadin in the mid-1950s, was the most important dig undertaken by Israel in its early years of statehood. Tel Hazor is the largest archaeological site in northern Israel, featuring an upper tell of 12 hectares (30 acres) and a lower city of more than 70 hectares (175 acres). In 2005, the remains of Hazor were designated a World Heritage Site as part of the Biblical Tels—Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba.