Canaanite Lion - Archaeology Magazine Archive


Canaanite Lion	July 29, 1997
by Amélie A. Walker

An archaeological worker stands with the lion statue found at Hazor. (Hebrew University) [LARGER IMAGE]

A Canaanite statue of a lion, dating to the fifteenth or fourteenth century B.C., has been found at the Hazor National Park, near Rosh Pina in northern Israel. This life-size basalt lion was uncovered in the foundations of an Israelite-period (mid-eighth century B.C.) building constructed directly on top of a Canaanite royal palace. Such statues were placed in pairs at the main entrances of temples and palaces throughout the Near East. They are known to have been present at sites in Syria, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and the Hittite kingdom. This statue, which would have stood to the left of an entrance, may be the partner of one found by Yigael Yadin at the site in the 1950s. The current excavations are being conducted by Amon Ben-Tor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.