ZECHARIAH 12 The city of Megiddo (“Map 6”) controlled the pass between the Valley of Jezreel and the Sharon plain. Routes that traveled northwest to the Phoenician coast and east to Damascus were also controlled by this city Many critical battles took place at Megiddo, one of the most strategic cities in the region now called Palestine. An archaeological excavation of Tell el-Mutesellim during the first decade of the twentieth century located the city, including numerous layers of occupation. Megiddo was first inhabited during the Neolithic Age. The Megiddo of the Early Bronze I period boasted the largest known temple in the Levant (Syria-Palestine) for that time period. Excavation