GEZER, ISRAEL—Archaeologists excavating at the Canaanite site of Gezer have unearthed the remains of inhabitants who appear to have perished when Egyptians destroyed the city in the thirteenth century B.C. Haaretz reports that the remains belonged to two adults and one child, and were found in a room full of ash and collapsed mud brick that was part of a large building thought to be the residence of a Canaanite prince. Gezer was one of many Canaanite cities that fell under Egyptian control during the New Kingdom period, and that eventually rebelled. According to Egyptian inscriptions, the pharaoh Merneptah reconquered the city. “The heavy destruction suggests that the Egyptian pharaoh encountered much resistance from the Gezerites," says excavation co-director Steven Ortiz of the Tandy Institute for Archaeology. To read in-depth about the Egyptian occupation of Canaan, go to "Egypt's Final Redoubt in Canaan."
