At Armageddon, a Canaanite past

JERUSALEM -- Archaeologists who found a 3,000-year-old gold ibex earring in the remains of the ancient Canaanite city identified with Armageddon expect more historical insight from further discoveries there.

Digging resumed Sunday, almost a month after the announcement that a jewelry trove was found in the remains of a private home built near the palace that housed the then rulers.

Speculation is that Megiddo, part of present-day Israel, may have been one of several Egyptian garrisons in the late Bronze Age, said Israel Finkelstein, co-director of the dig. "I personally think Megiddo was not such a city," he said. "But what we are doing now illuminates this question."

Megiddo, which the New Testament identifies with the "Armageddon" battle of the end of days, has been home to 37 different cities over the years. The UNESCO World Heritage site has been invaluable strategically, controlling a commonly used passage on the trading route between Egypt and Mesopotamia and a route connecting Jerusalem with the Jordan River valley. -- Bloomberg News