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This deep section-trench into the foundations of the Judean city-gate revealed a totally unexpected find: a cache of bronze objects, including one inscribed with the name of Pharaoh Ramesses III, whose reign has been dated to c. 1182.–1151 B.C. This discovery, sealed beneath the destruction debris of the last Canuanite city at Lachish, now dates the fall of this city to no earlier than the reign of Ramesses III in the 12th century B.C. Before the discovery of this inscription, the fall of Canaanite Lachish was thought to have occurred in the 13th century B.C.

The trench, originally dug to examine Judean remains, extends more than 12 feet beneath the floor of the Judean city-gate, marked by sandbags.