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Archaeologists were here. A huge gash along the west side of Lachish testifies to the vast amount of labor expended at the site by Ussishkin’s team of excavators. It cut two rows of excavation squares, each 5.5 yards by 5.5 yards, side by side from the city wall to a palace/fort complex atop the tell; each row has seven excavation squares. Still visible today are the balks between squares, strips of earth left unexcavated in order the preserve the stratigraphy of the area. Ussishkin credits the success of the Lachish excavation in part to its systematic execution—and also to the fact that he felt no pressure to prove or disprove some aspect of Biblical history.