Beth-shean was in the possession of the Philistines at the time of the reign of King Saul, and following Saul’s defeat at adjacent Mount Gilboa the Philistine victors placed Saul’s armor in “the house of the Ashtoreth images” and his head on the house of Dagon, and hung the dead bodies of Saul and his sons on the wall of Beth-shan (Beth-shean), evidently on the interior side facing the city’s public square.

1Sa 31:8-13;

In harmony with the above account, in the excavations at Tell el-Husn the ruins of two temples were uncovered, one of which is considered to be the temple of Ashtoreth, while the other, farther to the S, is suggested by some to be the temple of Dagon. The temple of Ashtoreth is estimated to have continued in use until about the tenth century B.C.E.