The Iron Age IIB is characterized by a continuous military interaction between the countries of the Levant and the Kingdom of Assyria to the north and the Egyptian kingdom to the south and this is manifested by the abundance of iconographic and written sources and the archaeological finds.

Both the royal historiography and the plastic artistic portrayals are characterized by their one-sidedness; since they are first and foremost a product of ideological and political propaganda, they present the warfare in a manner that suits them.

The two kinds of sources are also to a great extent stylized and include standard formulas and descriptions: actually even when a literary source or a relief is dedicated to a battle over a specific city, in most instances it does not reflect the reality that is unique to a given campaign.

For this reason, archaeological research constitutes the only way to further our knowledge in the field ancient warfare. This is a field of research that has not yet received the attention it deserves in the archaeological research of the Land of Israel. What I am referring to is Battlefield Archaeology, namely the in-depth study of ancient battles through the analysis of their remains in the field.

By means of this method one can produce a broad and detailed picture of the course of ancient battles and reconstruct the tactical maneuvers that were taken by the sides that participated in the campaign. In cases where there is superficial historical documentation that is very general or stylized this research approach facilitates a better understanding and more accurate interpretation of the military campaign.

Battlefield archaeology has been the topic of much research particularly in the New World and in Europe. Archaeological studies of this kind have dealt with famous battles, some of which were even modern and ostensibly very well documented such as the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

The potential for this method in researching battles from antiquity is very great.

The test case I will present in this lecture is the siege of Lachish (the city of Stratum III) that occurred in the year 701 BCE, as it is reflected in the study of the arrowheads.

I will show that by means of this method one can expand our knowledge about the Assyrian conquest of Lachish and derive important information regarding the fall of the city and its circumstances. I will try to show that this method is reliable and can therefore be used as a means to study battles that are lacking written sources or graphic depictions.