Tel Megiddo (Armageddon)

Recently, I found a very old video (from the 60’s of the last century) by Prof. Yigal Yadin about the excavations in Tel Megiddo.

Whereas the audio quality of the background music is poor, the narration is clear. I strongly recommend watching this video. It provides you with an explanation of the meaning of ‘Tel’ and provides us much information on the excavations and findings.

Tel Megiddo is mentioned in the Bible in Judges 1:27 as a part of the Bnei Menashe Tribe. Later on it is mentioned in Kings1 9:15 : ” Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces,[a] the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer”.

The archaeological excavations began in the 19th century, by Schumacher and they are still on-going as we speak. The video is 50 years old, so, naturally, today we have much more knowledge than that shown in the video.

In 1935, an expedition from the University of Chicago set out to check how many strata (geological layers) are in this Tel. They found 30 different layers!

Armageddon is mentioned in the Book of John. The name Armageddon is derived from the Hebrew word: Har = mountain Mediggo = mageddon.

Today this Tel is one of the most popular archaeological sites to visit in Israel.