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"When Ahaziah fell through a latticed window in his roof-chamber in Samaria and injured himself, he sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether he would recover from his injuries." (2 Kings 1:2) At the beginning of the Iron Age (1200 BC) a heterogeneous group of tribal settlers arrived from the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean to the shores of Canaan armed with iron weapons. Their appearance coincided with the arrival of the Israelites in Canaan. Recent excavations located the mound of ancient Ekron on the coastal plain and it was confirmed that Ekron was indeed a Philistine city. The Bible describes Ekron as one of the five Philistine cities of the coastal area west of Judah with whom the Israelites were in constant conflict. In the center of the great city of Ekron archaeologists uncovered the remains of a monumental court yard temple dedicated to a little known Philistine goddess. Erected around 680 BC, the dedicatory inscription found on the wall of the temple that contains the goddess' name and those of five kings of Ekron indicates that the Philistines preserved their distinct ethnic identity for five hundred years. The Ark of the Covenant was kept in Ekron briefly as the last of the Philistine cities where it was moved before the Philistines finally returned it to the Israelites. The other important discovery at Ekron was the largest olive oil pressing operation found thus far in the Middle East.