Taanach
TAANACH (tā'a-năk, Heb. ta‘anak). A fortified city of Canaan. Its king was defeated by Joshua, but the city was not occupied by the Israelites until later, when it was held by Manasseh (Josh.12.21; Josh.17.11; Judg.1.27; Judg.5.19; 1Chr.7.29). Mentioned in the Amarna Letters and other Egyptian records. A ruin mound remains.
Tell Ta’annak, the site of the ancient city, is situated on low hills, five m. SE of Megiddo, with which it has been clearly identified in its military history. The Tell was first excavated in 1901-1904 by Professor Sellin of Vienna, who discovered twelve cuneiform tablets of c. 1450 b.c., and revealed the strong later Bronze Age defensive system, later modified in the Iron Age as a chariot garrison.
Bibliography
E. Sellin, Tell Ta’annek, (1904); P. W. Lapp, BASOR, 173 (1964), 4-44.