The doorways were usually simply an opening made by the vertical sides left in the masonry. In the later time they were sometimes lined with standing stones. The doors themselves have long since disappeared, but there is evidence that, like many houses still to be seen in Palestine, they were made fast to a post, the lower end of which was set in a hollow or perforated stone. When the door swung the whole post turned in this stone. Some of these stones were found. In a few houses at Gezer enclosures of stones on end were sometimes found in the middle or the corners of dwelling houses. Perhaps these were hearths.[146] Some houses built after the time of Alexander the Great had a kind of piazza running along the side. The remains of the pillars which supported the roofs of these were discovered. Beginning with the Hellenistic period, some of the better houses had baths. (On doors, see Figs. 49, 50.) =5. Palaces.=--In the excavation of different sites the outlines of several larger buildings or palaces were uncovered. A few of these are of interest to the student of the Bible. (1) _At Taanach._--In the northeast of the mound at Taanach[147] the remains of a building about 75 × 77 feet were found. It was in existence in the fourteenth century before Christ. This building contained several rooms, as the plan will make clear; (see Fig. 45). The remains of the wall still showed one layer of hewn stones, some of which were very large. In a vault underneath the building four cuneiform tablets were found. They had been placed there for safety in time of siege, and these four tablets had been overlooked when the rest of the archive was rifled. These tablets proved to be letters written at the same time as those found at El-Amarna.[148] The building was the palace of a Canaanite king. (2) _At Samaria._--Of especial interest to the student of the Bible are the palaces of the Hebrew period. At Samaria Reisner discovered massive walls, which were probably the remains of the palaces of Omri and Ahab. That of Omri was built of large stones and rested on the native rock. As Omri was the founder of the city (1 Kings 16:24), there can be little doubt that this was his palace. An enlargement of this consisted of walls the construction of which was finer. They were faced with white marble. In this palace an alabaster vase was found, inscribed with the name of Osorkon II, King of Egypt, who was a contemporary of King Ahab. This is, therefore, believed to be the palace of Ahab--perhaps the “house of ivory” which Ahab built (1 Kings 22:39). As the volume on the excavation at Samaria is not yet published, it is impossible to give detailed plans of these buildings. The accompanying picture (Fig. 52) shows some of their walls.