AI

n.

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 Bayt 012B; n) 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 0441; 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.