Middle Bronze Age (Canaanite Period)
The Tel is mentioned in the 14th Century BC Amarna Letters of Ancient Egypt, showing the city's importance on a major trade route. Hanaton is mentioned some 700 years later in records at Niniveh, the capital of Ancient Assyria as one of the 5 cities totally destroyed by Tiglath-pileser III, King of Assyria, in the campaign of conquest of the (Northern) Biblical Kingdom of Israel between 724-722 BC.
The area of the Bronze Age city reached 100 dunams (approx. 25 acres) which attests to the power and wealth of the settlement, most likely achieved due to the large tracts of highly fertile arable land surrounding the tel in the Beit Netofa Valley, together with its position astride a major 'Egypt to Mesopotamia' international trade route for the period.
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