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Zev Radovan/www.biblelandpictures.com

A POWERFUL FIND. Among Trude Dothan’s most exciting finds is this exceptionally carved basalt lion uncovered while she was excavating with Yigael Yadin at the site of Hazor in the 1950s. Remarkable for both its rarity and artistic craftsmanship, the statue was originally one of a pair of majestic lions that had adorned the entrance to a Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 B.C.) temple at Hazor. Centuries later, when the Israelites settled the city, both lions were pulled down and discarded; this one was buried in a ditch near the temple. The matching lion was finally located by current Hazor excavator Amnon Ben-Tor in 1997, in secondary use in an Israelite wall more than half a mile away.