1:
TAANACH (PLACE) [Heb ta˓nāk (תַּעְנָך)]. A Canaanite royal town founded ca. 2700 b.c., usually identified with Tell Ti˓innik (M.R. 171214), a pear-shaped mound 320 m N–S, 137 m E–W at its widest. Strategically located in the upper Cenomanian-Turonian foothills ca. 150 m above the Plain of Jezreel. Tell el-Mutesellim (Megiddo) is visible 8 km to the NW and modern Jenin, in which is located Tell Jenin (En-gannim), can be seen 10 km to the SE. Taanach differs from both Jenin and Megiddo in that it is not located at the point where a natural pass enters into the Jezreel, nor does it possess a spring, but survives on systems of water collected into cisterns. The site fronts on the SW edge of the down-faulted alluvial Jezreel Plain which was a seasonal swamp in antiquity, because of the poor drainage of the Kishon. The mean annual temperature is ca. 22°C (72°F) with an average of ca. 510 mm (20 inches) of annual winter rainfall. Despite gaps, the continuity of name and occupation is evident in the presence today of the village of Ti˓innik on the SE slope of the tell.
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A. Written Sources
1. Biblical References
2. Non-Biblical References
B. Excavation History
C. Results of Excavations
D. Special Finds
1. Cuneiform Tablets
2. Taanach Cult Stands
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A. Written Sources
1. Biblical References. In the currently accepted Massoretic text (Codex Leningradensis) the seven occurrences of the town name are uniformly rendered as ta˓nāk. The usual transcription, Taanach, drops the ˓ayin and spirantizes the final consonant. The LXX B text has several variants: Tanach, Thanak, Thanaach. Originally a town in Issachar and Asher, Taanach was later assigned to Manasseh (Josh 17:12; 1 Chr 7:29). Though the king of Taanach was one of 31 Canaanite rulers Joshua (12:21) smote, “Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of . . . Taanach and its towns” (Judg 1:27). The victory hymn of Deborah describes that the battle against the Canaanite forces led by Sisera was joined “at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo” (Judg 5:19). The biblical description of this mid-12th century encounter contains no further information about either the contemporary existence or fate of the two towns mentioned. Later, however, “when Israel was strong” (Judg 1:28), it subjected the local population to forced labor. In the 10th century, Solomon included Taanach in the fifth administrative district governed by Baana, son of Ahilud (1 Kgs 4:12). The town was assigned to the Kohathite Levites of W Manasseh sometime after the 10th century b.c. (Josh 21:25).
2. Non-Biblical References. To date, no written documents refer to Taanach before the 15th century b.c. The Egyptian account of the Battle of Megiddo (ca. 1468 b.c.) locates Taanach at the exit into the Jezreel of one of three possible routes. The reference is most likely to a route from today’s Baqa˓ to Yabad, past Kufr Qud and down the Wadi Hassan into the Jezreel W of Kufr Dan. The S wing of the Asiatic army was mustering “in Taanach.” The “Palestine List” on Pylon VI of the temple of Amon at Karnak enumerates the towns and princes who found refuge in Megiddo and includes Taanach (No. 42). Elsewhere in the same temple is a mutilated list which includes Taanach (No. 14) among the towns in Palestine conquered in the 5th year of Rehoboam of Judah (ca. 918 b.c.) by Shishak, founder of the 22nd Egyptian Dynasty. An 18th Dynasty hieratic papyrus, Petersburg 1116A, lists Taanach among the eleven towns in sa-hi (Palestine) from which representatives of the maryannu-warrior class were sent to the Pharoah’s court. If Amarna Letter 248 is from Taanach, following Knudson’s restoration of line 14, its prince had an Indo-Aryan name, Yashdata. He was allied with the prince of Megiddo, Biridiya (EA 245:12, 15), against Labayu of Shechem. In the 4th-century-a.d. Onomasticon of Euseubius, Taanach was described as a “very large village” either four (98.12) or three (100.7) miles from Legio (el-Lejjun). Crusader documents of the 12th and 13th centuries, recording disputes among ecclesiastics regarding the distribution of produce from villages assigned to either a monastery or church, indicate that “Tannoch” was colonized by and thus indentured to the monastery of St. Mary in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem. The Ottoman census of 1596 revealed that there were only 13 (?) taxable males in the village of Ta’inniq. A visit by S. Wolcott, an American (published in 1843), reported the existence of “a mean hamlet” at Ta’annuk. The only 19th century explorer to visit and record the visible ruins and living architecture of “Ta’annak” is some detail was V. Guerin who noted evidence of extensive former occupation on the tell and its S slope. He was the first to suggest that the foundation of the present mosque was a Byzantine church.
B. Excavation History
In the same year that Macalister began work at Gezer (1902) the first major archaeological excavation in N Palestine was initiated at Taanach by Ernst Sellin, an Old Testament scholar from Vienna. He excavated ca. 16 percent of the tell surface in ca. 20 weeks spanning three seasons between 1902 and 1904 and promptly published two major reports (1904; 1905). Sellin divided the history of the site into four major periods of occupation, each with a sub-phase. He thought the earliest city was Amorite and should be dated between 2000 and 1600 b.c. Period II saw the site gradually taken over by the Israelites until it became a fortress city under Solomon. Period III dated to the time of the N Kingdom until its incorporation as an Assyrian province in 722 b.c. Period IV followed a long gap in occupation until ca. a.d. 1000–1200, the main evidence for which was a cluster of rooms on the crest of the mound Sellin identified as the “Arab Fortress.” Sellin’s long trenches criss-crossed the N half of the tell in an unsuccessful search for the city walls. Instead he located six large buildings which he designated “fortresses.” Notable among a rich collection of artifacts was a cult stand and twelve cuneiform tablets.
The second major excavation was fielded by Paul Lapp in three seasons: 1963, 1966, and 1968. In ca. 22 weeks in the field, this expedition excavated ca. 6 percent of the surface of the tell. In addition to discovering the fortification system and redating the stratification history of the site, this expedition uncovered two cuneiform tablets (one alphabetic) and a second cult stand. Apart from preliminary excavation reports by Lapp (1964, 1967a, 1967b, 1969) studies of the two new cuneiform tablets have been published (Hillers 1964; Glock 1971). A third program of study of the site began in 1982 with an ethnoarchaeology examination of the present village (Ziadeh 1984) and continued in 1985–87 with the excavation of parts of the Mamluke-Ottoman village on the E slope of the tell (Glock and Ziadeh 1986). This work has been directed by A. E. Glock.
C. Results of Excavations
This review of the material culture of Taanach on the tell is largely based on the ASOR excavations which were necessarily limited to the SW quadrant of the mound except for the reexamination of the “NE Outwork.” Four of the five areas excavated were, however, adjacent to Sellin trenches, thus making possible the correction of the earlier work.
1. The Early Bronze Town, ca. 2700–2300 b.c. The physical evidence that Taanach was a prestigious center in the middle centuries of the 3d millennium b.c. is the massive fortification system discovered on the S and W sides of the mound. On the S, the earlier of two city walls was an average of 4.20 m thick and preserved ca. 4 m high at the point where it was realigned during rebuilding. The SE corner of the defense system was vulnerable to both natural and military forces, the latter due to the probability of a city gate on the SW. Against the exterior of the first city wall was a complete rectangular tower bounded by walls ca. 2 m wide separated from a fragmentary second tower by a 2.75 m space through which there may have been an entrance. The second-phase city wall was fronted by a deep huwwar glacis revetted by a heavy, stepped retaining wall making the defenses on the S in this third phase more than 11 m thick. In the final phase the entire area was covered over with a beaten earth glacis against the foundation of a massive 20 × 10 m tower surmounting the second-phase and third-phase fortifications. It has been argued that the early glacis at Taanach indicates that this form of “defense” may have been an indigenous Palestinian development (Parr 1968). Limited exposure of the contemporary outer defense system in two places on the W side of the tell showed that a similar massive city wall bounded the site high on the steep slopes. So far only meager evidence of the layout of the interior of the EB city has emerged. Immediately inside the W city wall, a small benched room appeared adjoining a wide courtyard replastered at least six times. Farther E and S, two phases of domestic architecture appeared over bedrock in elements of three (?) living spaces linked by common walls. Unfortunately, both phases were sufficiently pitted by later activity so that walled separations are often conjectural. Nevertheless, several tabuns and hearths, but no cisterns, as well as the range of storage and cooking wares, leave no doubt about the function of the space. More of the city plan will be known once the debris below the MB insula to the W has been excavated. Albright (1944: 15) has redated the so-called “Ishtar-washur Fortress” excavated by Sellin to late EB II.
2. Middle Bronze III to Late Bronze IIA, ca. 1700–1350 b.c. A small exposure on the W side of the tell revealed two phases of the earliest casemate defense walls in Palestine. The width of the wall grew from 3.75 m to 4.5 m, the earlier small stones replaced by large stones in phase two. Nowhere else in the areas excavated was this wall preserved. Several phases of a lime plaster surface of a glacis system was evident everywhere against the outer slope of the tell below the walls. The second of three glacis was cut by the foundation trench excavated for the construction of the West Building (Sellin’s “Westburg”). This large building (ca. 20 × 20 m) is unique in that it is constructed of an imported hard limestone. The 2d millennium architecture at Taanach is best preserved inside the badly eroded defenses. The most important exposure was in the 16 m wide space between the W casemate wall and the N–S street which led to the West Building. In this space was a dense cluster of 18 small rooms. Child burials were below the floors of these rooms. Assorted jewelers’ tools suggest that at least one room had been a workshop. The second-phase reconstruction in the early 16th century b.c. followed the lines of the earlier building but widened the walls from one to two stones. W of the street, an E–W wall ca. 4 m high retained debris along the N side of a stepped (?) approach to a subterranean plastered chamber, 3.5 m wide and high. An arched entrance, 3.5 m high cut into bedrock, led to steps descending 10 m. The function of the room remains obscure though it may have been an aborted effort to reach a spring. Though today there is no spring flowing at the site, the presence of a fault line just N of the tell suggests that in antiquity one may have existed. The first cisterns appear in the MB III houses. It was in the debris that accumulated after the abandonment of the rooms along the N–S street that another cuneiform tablet (TT 950) was found.
In summary, more is known about this period than any other at Taanach. The reoccupation of the site after a gap of 600 years was gradual. The earliest evidence appears to be of transhumants, followed by more permanent settlers (indicated by flimsy walls) until in the early 16th century (to judge from the W defenses) when a substantial strengthening of existing architecture occurred. There seems to have been a partial abandonment following the battle of Megiddo, ca. 1468 b.c. The presence of Mycenaean III A 1 and 2 and early III B pottery implies continuity into the 14th century though the architectural remains are fragmentary at best.
3. Iron Age through the Persian Period, ca. 1200–400 b.c. The evidence for a settlement in this period is scattered, and implies that the site may not have been intensively settled. Only on the W side of the tell was a small portion of a 12th-century city wall (4.25 m wide) exposed. Three 12th-century houses, one on the S end of the tell, a second ca. 140 m NW, and a third ca. 60 m farther NW (the location of the alphabetic cuneiform tablet), though partially visible, were constructed with paved areas, tabuns, and pillared partitions. The courtyard of the so-called Drainpipe Structure in the S contained a stone trough, plastered basin, feeding bins, tabun, hearth, as well as a cistern more than 12 m deep fed by a series of interlocked, vertical, ceramic drain pipes leading from the roof to a channel which emptied into the cistern. Preservation of this building was due to a late 12th-century collapse of the calcined mudbrick superstructure. Adjacent to the long trench in which Sellin found a cult stand in 36 fragments, the ASOR excavation uncovered a 10th-century structure laden with a large cache of pottery, a figurine mold (Hillers 1970), 140 sheep astragali, 58 ceramic loomweights, and stone and metal tools. Lapp’s cultic interpretation of this assemblage has been challenged (Fowler 1984). Nearby in a cistern, a new cult stand with figures in relief on 3 sides of four panels was found in a 10th-century context. See Fig. TAA.01. An addition to the defense system on the N slopes of the tell in the 9th century consisted of a rubble-filled stone platform surrounded with a pavement. This was Sellin’s “NE Outwork.” Very little evidence has been uncovered for the remainder of the Iron II period. Storage pits and two incomplete rooms belong to the Persian period.
4. Late Roman and Byzantine Periods, a.d. 300–650. This period is abundantly evident from surface surveys in the village and nearby region (Ahlstrom 1978; Glock 1983b). A small portion of the Byzantine town which extends the entire length of the E slope was excavated in 1987. A curbed and paved ramp, an impressive platform, a room destroyed by fire and filled with storejars and bronze objects were excavated.
D. Special Finds
1. Cuneiform Tablets. A small but complete alphabetic cuneiform tablet was found in a 12th-century destruction layer. The preliminary publication (Hillers 1964) interpreted the document as a receipt or invoice for a shipment of grain or flour to a Kokaba’. Though some differences of interpretation have emerged (Cross 1968; Dietrich, Loretz, and Sanmartin 1974), Hillers seems to be essentially correct (Weippert 1966; 1967). In 1968, the ASOR excavation recovered one Akkadian tablet (TT 950) and two blanks in an area more than 100 m from where Sellin found seven tablets and five fragments in, and near, a ceramic box. The Taanach archive of thirteen documents consists of four letters (ca. 100 readable lines) and nine name lists containing ca. 80 personal names dating to the mid-15th century b.c. It is not clear what function the name lists may have served. B. Mazar (Maisler 1937: 48) has suggested that it was a list of taxpayers or soldiers. The ethnic diversity reflected in this onomastica consists of ca. 62 percent NW Semitic, ca. 20 percent Indo-Aryan, and ca. 18 percent Hurrian-Anatolian names (Gustavs 1927–28; Glock 1971; Mayrhofer 1972). Recent study of the letters (Glock 1983a) shows that Hrozny’s original transcription (in Sellin 1904; 1905) is more reliable than Albright’s (1944). The four letters are from three correspondents to the ruler of Taanach, Talwashur. Two letters are from local rulers requesting intercession for an arranged marriage, subsidy (50 silver shekels), and various kinds of equipment (chariots, bows, bowstrings, copper arrows). Two other letters are from one Amanhatpa who may be co-regent with Thutmose III, the later Amenhotep II (Malamat 1961). In any case, the correspondent reprimands the ruler of Taanach for not paying his respects by visiting him in Gaza, the Egyptian base in Palestine. In another letter, he requests that Talwashur supply specialized military personnel together with horses and chariots for the Egyptian army in Megiddo.
2. Taanach Cult Stands. Though fragments of several were found, one large (90 cm high) cult stand was excavated by Sellin. Two side panels of its hollow form were crudely decorated with a series of five superimposed lion and griffin figures in relief with human and animal heads projecting from the facade. Lods (1934) debated the possibility that it was simply a stove decorated with mythological symbols, but ultimately preferred to interpret the structure as serving a religious artifact. In 1968 the ASOR excavation recovered a smaller (60 cm high), but more carefully constructed stand in four panels. See Fig. TAA.01. In the top panel above a bovine form, the winged sun disk has been interpreted as a symbol for Ba˓al, while the nude female leading two lions on the bottom panel is read as his consort, Asherah (Hestrin 1987).
The location of the site, and evidence from the excavation, may combine to explain the function of Taanach, which may have been different in each major period of occupation. A hypothesis can be suggested for the 3d–2d millennia b.c. Even though the site is not located at the exit of an easily traveled wadi and is thus less accessible than Megiddo or Jenin, it nevertheless enjoys from its crest a panoramic view of the Jezreel Plain to the N. In the EB the site may have been watered by a spring, although in the 2d–1st millennia b.c., the spring was not functioning; it was necessary to resort to cisterns and water collection systems. From the same period there is an unusual quantity of material evidence for metallurgical activity (Stech-Wheeler et al. 1981). The Taanach Akkadian archive remains the largest in Palestine. The existence of two tablet blanks supports the idea that at least one scribe was resident. Though the site was well defended, it appears that in this period there existed considerable open space within the walled town. In short, between the 17th and 14th centuries Taanach served as a protected center for professional and technical work supporting the political power located at neighboring Megiddo.
Bibliography
Ahlström, G. W. 1978. Wine Presses and Cup-Marks of the Jenin-Megiddo Survey. BASOR 231: 19–49.
Albright, W. F. 1944. A Prince of Taanach in the Fifteenth Century b.c. BASOR 94: 12–27.
Cross, F. M. 1968. The Canaanite Cuneiform Tablet from Taanach. BASOR 190: 41–46.
Dietrich, M.; Loretz, O.; and Sanmartin, J. 1974. Zu TT 433. UF 6: 469–70.
Fowler, M. D. 1984. Concerning the “Cultic” Structure at Taanach. ZDPV 100: 30–34.
Glock, A. E. 1971. A New Ta˓annek Tablet. BASOR 204: 17–30.
———. 1975. Homo Faber: The Pot and the Potter at Taanach. BASOR 219: 9–28.
———. 1978. Taanach. EAEHL 4: 1138–47.
———. 1983a. Texts and Archaeology at Tell Ta˓annek. Berytus 31: 57–66.
———. 1983b. Draft Report on Survey of E Slope of Tell Ta˓annek. Unpublished MS 13 pp., Department of Antiquities.
Glock, A. E., and Ziadeh, M. H. 1986. Ti˓innik in the Ottoman Period: The 1985 Excavation. Unpublished MS 68 pp.
Gustavs, A. 1927–1928. Die Personennamen in den tontafeln von Tell Ta˓annek. ZDPV 50: 1–18; 51: 169–218.
Hestrin, R. 1987. The Cult Stand from Ta˓anach and its Religious Background. Pp. 61–77 in Phoenicia and the Eastern Mediterranean in the First Millennium B.C., ed. E. Lipinski. OLA 22. Louvain.
Hillers, D. R. 1964. An Alphabetic Cuneiform Tablet from Taanach (TT 433). BASOR 173: 45–50.
———. 1970. The Goddess with the Tambourine. CTM 41: 606–19.
Lapp, P. 1964. The 1963 Excavation at Ta˓annek. BASOR 173: 4–44.
———. 1967a. The 1966 Excavation at Tell Ta˓annek. BASOR 185: 2–39.
———. 1967b. Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo. BA 30: 2–27.
———. 1969. The 1968 Excavation at Tell Ta˓annek. BASOR 195: 2–49.
Lods, M. 1934. Autel ou rechaud? A propos due “brule-parfums” de Taanak. RHR 109: 129–48.
Mader, E. 1912.Die altkanaanitischen Opferkultstaetten in Megiddo und Taanach nach den neuesten Ausgrabungen. BZ 18: 351–62.
Maisler, B. 1937. The Taanach Tablets. Pp. 44–66 in Qoves Klausner. Tel Aviv (in Hebrew).
Malamat, A. 1961. Campaigns of Amenhotep II and Thutmose IV to Canaan. Pp. 218–31 in ScrHier 7. Jerusalem.
Mayrhofer, M. 1972. Eine Neue Ta˓anach-Tafel und ein Indo-Arischer Name. AÖAW 109: 119–21.
Parr, P. J. 1968. The Origin of the Rampart Fortifications of Middle Bronze Age Palestine and Syria. ZDPV 84: 18–45.
Rainey, A. F. 1977. Verbal Usages in Taanach Texts. IOS 7: 33–64.
Rast, W. 1978. Taanach I: Studies in the Iron Age Pottery. Cambridge, MA.
Sellin, E. 1904. Tell Ta˓annek.Vienna.
———. 1905. Eine Nachelese auf dem Tell Ta˓annek in Palestine. Vienna.
Stech-Wheeler, T.; Muhly, J. D.; Maxwell-Hyslop, K. R.; and Maddin, R. 1981. Iron at Taanach and Early Iron Metallurgy in the Eastern Mediterranean. AJA 85: 245–68.
Thiersch, H. 1907. Die neueren Ausgrabungen in Palaestina. Jahrbuch des kaiserlich-deutschen archaeologischen Instituts 22: 311–57.
Vincent, H. 1907. Canaan d’apres l’exploration recente. Paris.
Weippert, M. 1966.Archäologischer Jahresbericht. ZDPV 82: 311–20.
———. 1967.Zur Lesung der alphabtischen Keilschrifttafel vom Tel Ta˓annek. ZDPV 83: 82–83.
Ziadeh, M. H. 1984. Site Formation in Context. Unpublished M. A. Thesis, Washington University, St. Louis, MO.
A. E. G.
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (6:288). New York: Doubleday.
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Taanach — a sandy place, an ancient royal city of the Canaanites, on the south-western border of the plain of Esdraelon, 4 miles south of Megiddo. Its king was conquered by Joshua (12:21). It was assigned to the Levites of the family of Kohath (17:11–18; 21:25). It is mentioned in the song of Deborah (Judg. 5:19). It is identified with the small modern village of Ta’annuk.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
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TAANACH One of the Canaanite fortress cities bordering the plain of Esdraelon and the valley of Jezreel, including Jokneam, Megiddo, Ibleam, and Beth-shan. The modern site, about five miles (8 kilometers) southeast of Megiddo, retains the ancient name, Tell Taanak. Excavations reveal a 14th-century bc wall made of huge, irregularly shaped rocks, with smaller stones set in the chinks, along with ruins of a local king’s palace. Some 40 cuneiform tablets of the 15th and 14th centuries bc were unearthed, and from a later period, brick houses possibly of Israelite construction. A terra-cotta incense altar was found in a house of Israelite date.
Taanach is first mentioned in the Bible in a list of kings conquered by the Israelites on the west side of the Jordan (Jos 12:21). In the tribal division of Palestine, Manasseh received Taanach (21:25), which was also named as a Levitical city. Manasseh, however, was not able to capture Taanach or any of the other strong cities in its inheritance (Jgs 1:27).
After the defeat of Sisera, Deborah and Barak sang a song in which it was said that the fighting took place at Taanach near the waters of Megiddo (Jgs 5:19). In the time of Solomon, Taanach was one of the towns mentioned in the enumeration of the administrative districts responsible for supplying monthly provisions for the king’s household (1 Kgs 4:12). The last mention of Taanach in the Bible is in a genealogical list (1 Chr 7:29), where the city is said to have belonged to Ephraim, along the borders of the Manassites.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1233). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
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TA´ANACH (taʹa-nak). A royal city of the Canaanites, whose king was among the thirty-one conquered by Joshua (Josh. 12:21). It was apportioned to the western half tribe of Manasseh (17:11; 21:25; 1 Chron. 7:29) and became a city of the Kohathite Levites (Josh. 21:25). In the great struggle of the Canaanites under Sisera against Deborah and Barak it appears to have been the headquarters of their army (Judg. 5:19). They seem to have still occupied the town but to have been compelled to pay tribute (Josh. 17:13; Judg. 1:27–28). Taanach is generally named with Megiddo, and they were evidently the chief cities of that fine, rich district in the western portion of the plain of Esdraelon. Taanach is located some five miles SE of Megiddo, being generally named with Megiddo as an important city of the rich plain of Esdraelon. It is at present a large mound marking the site of an ancient fortress in the militarily strategic Plain of Armageddon. Ernst Sellin conducted three archaeological campaigns there (1902–04) on behalf of the University of Vienna, and Paul Lapp led seasons of excavation at the fourteen-acre site in 1963, 1966, and 1968 for the American Schools of Oriental Research and a number of Lutheran schools. The earliest city flourished during the twenty-seventh to the twenty-fifth centuries and thereafter was abandoned for eight centuries. The Hyksos restored it to power during the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries. After 1500 it came under Egyptian control. Hebrews under the leadership of Deborah and Barak destroyed it (c. 1125 according to evidence from the excavations), and it lay in ruins for about one hundred years. The city revived under the united monarchy but was later conquered and destroyed by Shishak of Egypt in about 926 b.c. Though rebuilt, it had little significance thereafter. m.f.u.; h.f.v.
bibliography: M. Avi-Yonah and E. Stern, eds., Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (1978), 4:1138–47.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
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TAANACH. Modern Tell Ta‘annek on the S edge of the valley of Jezreel, guarding a pass across Mt Carmel following the Wadi Abdullah.
Thothmes III mentions Taanach in the account of his conquest of W Palestine (c. 1450 bc; ANET, pp. 234ff.), as does *Shishak. Amarna letter 248 complains of a raid by men of Taanach on Megiddo, which was loyal to Egypt. The Israelites defeated the king of this city, but the tribe to which it was allotted, Manasseh, was unable to take possession of it (Jos. 12:21; 17:11; Jdg. 1:27). It was one of the levitical cities (Jos. 21:25) and was also occupied by Issachar (1 Ch. 7:29). Taanach and Megiddo are closely associated in Solomon’s administrative division of Israel (1 Ki. 4:12) and in the Song of Deborah, where ‘Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo’ (Jdg. 5:19) is the site of the Canaanite defeat. Excavations in 1901–4, 1963, 1966 and 1968 revealed an Early Bronze Age city, a Middle Bronze II occupation with typical glacis fortification, destroyed violently, and a prosperous town of Late Bronze I (14 Akkad. cuneiform tablets were found). At the end of the Late Bronze Age there was another destruction, perhaps the work of Deborah’s men. In the debris a clay tablet inscribed in a Canaanite cuneiform alphabet was found. The Early Iron Age city, containing a supposed cultic building with stone stelae, numerous pig bones and an elaborate pottery incense-stand, appears to have been destroyed by Shishak. Thereafter the city declined.
Bibliography. E. Sellin, Tell Ta‘annek, 1904; P. W. Lapp, BA 30, 1967, pp. 1–27; BASOR 173, 1964, pp. 4–44; 185, 1967, pp. 2–39; 195, 1969, pp. 2–49; D. R. Hillers, BASOR 173, 1964, pp. 45–50; A. Glock, BASOR 204, 1971, pp. 17–30. a.r.m.
Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996, c1982, c1962). New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) (1145). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
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Taanach (tahʹnek), a site in Palestine occupied for over three thousand years. Ancient Taanach is located at Tel Ta‘annak next to the modern village that still bears the ancient name. It is situated on the southern edge of the Esdraelon Plain five miles southeast of Megiddo. The main route from the southern hill country to Megiddo and the Plain of Acco, and a route linking the Plain of Esdraelon with the Sharon Plain through the Carmel Range both passed by Taanach.
The earliest historical text mentioning Taanach is the relief at the Temple of Karnak in Upper Egypt of Pharaoh Thutmose III’s first Asian campaign in 1468 b.c. The Akkadian tablets found in the excavations at Taanach, some of which are letters to the local king, are dated to about 1450 b.c. According to the biblical tradition Joshua defeated the king of Taanach (Josh. 12:21), and although the town was allotted to Manasseh (Josh. 17:11; 1 Chron. 7:29) and named a levitical city (Josh. 21:25), the Canaanites were not driven out (Judg. 1:27). Taanach is mentioned as the place where Deborah and Barak defeated the Canaanites, and the victory is celebrated in the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5:19). The town may not have been controlled by the Israelites until the period of the monarchy (late eleventh century b.c.); it is listed in one of Solomon’s administrative districts (1 Kings 4:12). Taanach is mentioned in another Karnak relief describing Pharaoh Shishak’s victorious campaign in Palestine in 918 b.c. It does not appear again in a historical source until Eusebius’ Onomasticon of the fourth century a.d.
Taanach was one of the first sites to be excavated in Palestine in campaigns between 1902 and 1904 directed by Ernst Sellin. Spectacular finds included a Bronze Age patrician’s house, a large incense stand with reliefs, and several Akkadian cuneiform tablets.
Between 1963 and 1968 excavations were undertaken by the Graduate School of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, and the American Schools of Oriental Research under the direction of Paul W. Lapp. The results represent the occupational history of the site.
Taanach was first inhabited in the Early Bronze Age about 2700-2400 b.c. (EB II-III). It was a typical city-state of the period as attested by its fortifications, their rebuilds, and the intricate stratigraphy. The site was then unoccupied for about seven hundred years except for campsite occupation near the beginning of the second millennium b.c. In the Hyksos period of the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries b.c. (Middle Bronze II C) it prospered again. There were massive fortifications of the Hyksos type and one of the earliest casemate constructions found in Palestine. The fine patrician house of the earlier excavation belonged to this period, and about sixty subfloor burials revealed a great variety of intramural burial practices. At the end of the sixteenth century the city suffered a substantial destruction but revived quickly for a flourishing era in the next half century, attested by a large Late Bronze I building complex with an adjacent cobbled street. This occupation came to an end near the middle of the fifteenth century, probably at the hands of Thutmose III in 1468 b.c.
A modest occupation followed, and it is to this period that the Akkadian tablets may belong, including another found in the later excavations. There is little evidence of occupation from the late fifteenth to the late thirteenth century b.c., which suggests that the place name in Amarna tablet no. 248 does not refer to Taanach.
Several substantial structures belong to the twelfth century b.c. and a Canaanite cuneiform tablet concerning a shipment of grain was uncovered in one of these. The occupation ended in a violent destruction about 1125 b.c. which may be associated with the victory celebrated in the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5). The light eleventh-century settlement was followed by an important tenth-century occupation revealing an area that contained a mass of cultic material including iron blades, pig astragali (bones), loom weights, three small stelae, about eighty reconstructable vessels, a unique cultic stand, and a complete figurine mold. This ended in a major destruction with ceramic evidence suggesting it was a result of Shishak’s campaign of 918 b.c.
Later occupation was limited to a few Iron Age II remains, a number of stone-lined pits and a building of the Persian period (ca. 538-333 b.c.), and scattered Hellenistic shards. An impressive fortress was constructed on the highest part of the mound in the Abbasid period (ca. 750-969 a.d.). See also Deborah; Esdraelon; Megiddo.
Bibliography
Lapp, P. W. ‘Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo.’ Biblical Archaeologist 30 (1967): 2-27. Preliminary reports in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 173: 4-44; 185: 2-39; 195: 2-49. N.L.L.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (1012). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
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Taanach (Heb. ta˓ănāḵ)
A city in the southern corner of the Jezreel Valley in the foothills of the Samarian hill country. Its identification with modern Tell Ta˓annek (171214) is undisputed because of the continuity in the name and because of its location on the southern branch of the Via Maris, next to the pass of Megiddo. Taanach is 8 km. (5 mi.) SE of Megiddo and ca. 40 km. (25 mi.) from the coast. The pear-shaped mound measures 340 m. (1115 ft.) from north to south, and up to 140 m. (460 ft.) from east to west. It rises ca. 40 m. (130 ft.) above the surrounding plain and 180 m. (590 ft.) above sea level.
Taanach is mentioned in Pharaoh Thutmose III’s account of the battle of Megiddo (ca. 1468 b.c.) as a southern bypass to Megiddo and a place where Egyptian troops were mustered, and occurs in the Palestine list in the Amon temple at Karnak. Its prince Yasûdata fled to Megiddo because of a conflict with Shechem (EA 248:14). Taanach was one of the Israelite cities destroyed in Shishak’s campaign ca. 918. Its king was one of the 31 kings defeated by Joshua (Josh. 12:21), and it is named among the levitical cities (21:25). The city was assigned to Manasseh, but it was not immediately conquered (Judg. 1:27; Josh. 17:11–12). Taanach finally came under Israelite control at the time of Solomon and was one of his administrative centers (1 Kgs. 4:12).
The site was first excavated by Ernst Sellin in three campaigns, 1902–4. This was one of the first excavations in Palestine and the first in the north of Israel, and excavation techniques and recording systems were still in their infancy. A keen observer and careful in his conclusions, Sellin was reluctant to interpret the many child burials as remains of child sacrifices. Besides the small cuneiform archive, the most important findings were fragments of two cult-stands and the bronze figurine of a goddess of Hurrian type. Sellin emphasized the traces of influence from Cyprus (later to be identified as Mycenean) during the Canaanite period (ca. 1400). In 1963–68 Paul W. Lapp excavated the west and southwest of the tell, demonstrating that the town was protected by city walls in all major periods. Ceramics differentiated several phases of the Bronze Age city and identified a gap in occupation of about half a millennium between Early Bronze II and III and Middle Bronze II (down to ca. 1700).
The oldest archaeological evidence shows Taanach as a prestigious center for EB (ca. 2700–2300). In later phases retaining walls and a large glacis were added. After the 500-year gap, Taanach revived as an impressive MB city (ca. 1700–1350), with extensive building activity. The city had far-reaching trade relations, but it was always dependent on the still larger Megiddo. Personal names in letters and lists show a mixed population (ca. 60 percent Semitic, the rest Hurrite, Hittite, and Indo-Aryan). As did Megiddo, Taanach sided with the Syrian powers against Egypt and was consequently seriously affected by the victory of Thutmose III at Megiddo in 1468. Its culture and population declined during LB. The archive from ca. 1450 mentions the Egyptian governor at Gaza and shows Egyptian dominance in the local affairs of the Jezreel Valley. During the Amarna period Taanach was affected by the local conflict between Megiddo and Shechem.
During the 12th century Taanach seems to have suffered two (at least partial) destructions, but its population increased again in the 10th century. It was now under the domination of the newly formed Israelite state. A large building found by Sellin may have been the residence of the Israelite governor. Destroyed by Shishak ca. 918, it recovered under the Omrides in the 9th century; the so-called northeast-outwork belongs to the extensive building activities of Omri and Ahab.
Taanach may have suffered as a consequence of the Aramean wars in the late 9th century and the Assyrian war in 733. Its final destruction ca. 600 may have been at the hand of the Egyptians (Neco) or the Babylonians. In Hellenistic and Roman times the village was located E of the tell. Jerome indicates that it had become quite large during the Byzantine period.
The 12 texts discovered by Sellin were the first and to date only cuneiform archive found in Palestine. Included are four letters (ca. 100 readable lines) and nine name lists (ca. 80 personal names). The letters bear witness to the domination of the Egyptian governor Amanhatpa, who resided at Gaza and visited Meggido. Evidently, the Akkadian language and script were used not only for international diplomacy, but also for local and even private affairs in the region.
Bibliography. A. E. Glock, “Taanach,” NEAEHL 4 (New York, 1993); “Texts and Archaeology at Tell Ta˓annek,” Berytus 31 (1983): 57–66; 1428–33; P. W. Lapp, “The 1963 Excavation at Ta˓annek,” BASOR 173 (1964): 4–44; “The 1966 Excavation at Tell Ta˓annek,” BASOR 185 (1967): 2–39; “The 1968 Excavation at Tell Ta˓annek,” BASOR 195 (1969): 2–49; L. Nigro, “The ‘Nordostburg’ at Tell Ta˓annek,” ZDPV 110 (1994): 168–80; W. E. Rast, Taanach I: Studies in the Iron Age Pottery (Cambridge, Mass., 1978).
Siegfried Kreuzer
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (1268). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
