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Yigael Yadin (1917–1984). Drawn to Hazor since his days as a student researching warfare in Biblical lands, Israel’s preeminent archaeologist declared in 1955: “I am going to excavate Hazor. I must know about Joshua. I must know if he really conquered it.” After excavating the site from 1955 to 1958 and again in 1968, Yadin concluded that Joshua had destroyed the Canaanite city and that King Solomon later rebuilt it. “[Hazor] is not just any ancient city,” he wrote, “but one which is biblical in all its aspects. For many of us, the names of Joshua, Sisera, Deborah, Solomon, Ahab and Jezebel—to mention but a few—are associated with chapter and verse; here they are connected with strata, buildings and artefacts.”