Image Details

Photo courtesy of Sharon Zuckerman

The Southern Temple, originally thought to be a palace where Yigael Yadin hoped to find a cuneiform archive. The building is rectangular and one-roomed, differentiating it from Near Eastern palaces, which had several rooms. In the center of the pebble-lined floor of the temple is a favissa, or stone pit, in which sacred items were deposited. The inner rear wall has a recessed niche (right of photo) that possibly contained a statue of a deity.