Town, eastern Canaan , ancient Palestine .
In the Bible (Joshua 7–8), it was destroyed by the Israelites under Joshua . Biblical references agree in locating Ai just east of Bethel (modern Baytīn) in the West Bank , at the Early Bronze Age site now called Al-Tall. Excavations at Ai in 1933–35 uncovered a temple of the 3rd millennium BC. The biblical events at Ai are assigned to the period с 1400–1200 BC, when evidence indicates it was not in fact occupied; early tradition may have identified the Canaanite town under Bethel with the nearby ruins of Al-Tall.