Absolute Dating of the Late Bronze to Iron Age Transition and the Appearance of Philistine Culture in Qubur el-Walaydah, Southern Levant (original) (raw)
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The Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition involves profound cultural and political changes in the southern Levant. The transition is dated to the 12th century BC, based on archaeological artifacts and historical documents. A more precise absolute date for this transition for the southern Levant based on radiocarbon is difficult since the 14C calibration curve reduces precision significantly due to wiggles that form an approximately 200-yr-long plateau. This article analyzes 14C samples from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition at Qubur el-Walaydah. To increase the resolution of 14C dates within the plateau, 14C samples were collected only from well-defined multilayered contexts. 14C dates from 11 contexts were obtained and these were analyzed using a Bayesian model that incorporated the stratigraphic information. Using this integrative approach we date the Late Bronze Age III levels at Qubur el-Walydah, containing the initial phase of locally produced Philistine pottery between 1185–1140 BC, and the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition between 1140–1095 BC.
Paléorient 39/1:23-36, 2013
Although a chrono-cultural sequence, including a Chalcolithic period followed by an Early Bronze Age has long been accepted for the Southern Levant, relatively little was understood of the transition between those two distinct entities. Recent discoveries, particularly in the area of the western piedmont of the Judea-Samaria incline (the Shephela), have yielded substantial evidence of continuity in occupation and thus, the nature of the transition for that region and its relationship to the greater Southern Levant. This paper examines the radiocarbon evidence from the site of Modi'in in the Shephela, which indicates the transition there to have occurred in the fi rst half of the 4th millennium BC. Using Bayesian analyses of the data, it further considers additional radiocarbon dates from other sites in the greater region, while offering a practical guide for evaluating validity of individual data to date archaeological deposits to which they have been ascribed.
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ABSTRACTWe present two new Bayesian 14C models using IntCal20 that incorporate 17 new calibrated AMS ages for Early Bronze IV Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj and Middle Bronze Age Tell el-Hayyat, located in the northern Jordan Valley, Jordan. These freshly augmented suites of carbonized seed dates now include 25 AMS dates from Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj and 31 AMS dates from Tell el-Hayyat. The modeled founding date for Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj strengthens an emerging high chronology for Early Bronze IV starting by 2500 cal BC, while the end of its habitation by 2200 cal BC may exemplify a regional pattern of increasingly pervasive abandonment among late Early Bronze IV settlements in the Southern Levant. In turn, our modeled date for the Early Bronze IV/Middle Bronze Age transition at Tell el-Hayyat around 1900 cal BC pushes this interface about a century later than surmised traditionally, and its abandonment in Middle Bronze III marks an unexpectedly early end date before 1600 cal BC. These inferences, which c...
A Bayesian Statistical Reassessment of Levantine Late Iron Age I Radiocarbon Data, 2024
The Levantine Iron Age I represents a crucial period, defined by the persistence of local Canaanite ware with few local and regional changes and the proliferation of Philistine Bichrome pottery after a ending period of the Late Bronze Age where Philistine Monochrome pottery and LH IIIC developed. Usually, scholars place its beginning in the 12 th century BC, coinciding with the upheaval caused by the Egyptian withdrawal and the collapse of the Late Bronze Age palatial system, among other historical events. However, the conclusion of this era is a subject of disagreement. Archaeological evidence suggests a transitional phase towards the later Iron Age IIA, usually known as Late Iron Age I or Iron Age IB, marked by the early introduction of new features in pottery, announcing the subsequent revolution of the Iron Age IIA, while traditional ware kept predominant. Discrepancies arise from diverse interpretations of historical sources and methodological approaches to the archaeological record. Traditional perspectives often associate the end of this period with the rise of the Unified Kingdom of David and Solomon around 1000 BC-adherents to the High Chronology view-(Yadin, 1972) or the establishment of the later Israelite Samarian kingdom following Pharaoh Sheshonq's military campaign around 930 BC-proponents of the Low Chronology view-(Finkelstein, 1996; Finkelstein and Silberman, 2001; Fantalkin and Finkelstein, 2006). Our research aims to illuminate this chronological debate using a robust Bayesian statistical approach. We meticulously gather radiocarbon data from stratified contexts spanning the Iron Age IB and adjacent periods to construct Bayesian models and average determinations. Our findings reveal that the transition to the Iron Age II was not uniform but rather heterogeneous, occurring between approximately 1050 and 930 BC. This challenges conventional interpretations that link the transition towards the Iron Age IIA to political incidents such as Davidic conquests or Sheshonq's campaign. Instead, the adoption of new pottery styles reflects nuanced regional dynamics, suggesting a complex cultural evolution beyond the influence of centralized administration from Jerusalem or Samaria.
Radiocarbon, 2018
The question under discussion is whether the dates of the Late Bronze (LBIIB)-LBIII (Iron IA) transitions in three sites in the southern Levant, namely Megiddo, Tell es-Safi/Gath and Qubur el-Walaydah occur at the same time, as has been proposed by Israel Finkelstein in his article in 2016 in Egypt and Levant. Here we respond to Finkelstein's comments. We add some new data, clarify the issues that were raised, and conclude that the Late Bronze (LBIIB)-LBIII (Iron IA) transitions occurred at different times in northern and southern Israel.
Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology
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The chronology of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the southern Levant and the synchronization between the sites, considering seriation and radiocarbon dates, have shown large inconsistencies and disagreement. We have assembled 420 14 C dates, most of them previously published and a few provided directly by the excavators. The dates have been re-evaluated on the basis of their archaeological context and using analytical criteria. Bayesian modeling has been applied to the selected dates in relation to the given seriation of the EBA subperiods (EB I, II III, IV). Sites with 2 or more sequential subphases were individually modeled in order to define the transitions between the subperiods. The new chronology indicates that the EB I-II transition occurred site-dependently between 3200-2900 BC, with EB II-III around 2900 BC, and EB III-IV ~2500 BC. overview of all available EBA dates related to published cultural material has not been previously attempted. The present paper attempts to fill that lacuna through a comprehensive review and reassessment of the evidence in hand.
The Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition in the coastal southern Levant involves a major cultural change, which is characterized, among other things, by the appearance of Philistine pottery locally produced in styles derived from outside the Levant. This transition in the coastal southern Levant is conventionally dated to the 12th century BC, based on historical and archaeological artifacts associated with the Philistine pottery. Radiocarbon dating can provide a more precise independent absolute chronology for this transition, but dating for the period under discussion is complicated by the wiggles and relatively flat slope in the calibration curve, which significantly reduce precision. An additional complication is that the stratigraphic record below and above the transition at this site, as well as at most other sites in the region, is far from complete. We thus used a variety of microarchaeological techniques to improve our understanding of the stratigraphy, and to ensure that the locations with datable short-lived materials were only derived from primary contexts, which could be related directly to the associated material culture. The 14C dates were modeled using Bayesian statistics that incorporate the stratigraphic information. Using this integrative approach, we date the appearance of the Philistine pottery in Tell es-Safi/ Gath in the 13th century BC.
We report a set of radiocarbon data for the Middle Bronze Age monumental building at Tell el-Burak in Lebanon, dating it to the 19th century b.c., and summarize the relevant archaeological information concerning the stratigraphy and dating of the building. The radiocarbon data from Tell el-Burak is consistent with the high Middle Bronze Age radiocarbon dates recently reported for Tell el-Dabʿa in the eastern Nile Delta and with radiocarbon dates for Middle Bronze Age Tel Ifshar in the coastal plain of Israel. A comparison of these radiocarbon dates questions the current (low) Middle Bronze Age absolute chronology of the southern Levant, which is largely based on the stratigraphic sequence of Tell el-Dabʿa. Due to open questions in the archaeological dating of Tell el-Dabʿa, we argue against using a single site as a main reference for dating the Middle Bronze Age in the Levant and argue for adopting a comprehensive and independent approach based on archaeological, historical, and radiocarbon evidence from all relevant sites.
Egypt and the Levant , 2016
Here I deal with two recent attempts to radiocarbon-date the transition from the Late Bronze to the Iron I and the arrival of the Philistines based on samples from Tell es-Safi/Gath and Qubur el-Walaydah. I first detail five conditions for constructing a proper radiocarbon model aimed at resolving a historical question, especially in the case of a dispute involving no more than a few decades. I then demonstrate that the situation in the relevant areas at Tell es-Safi/Gath and Qubur el-Walaydah-stratigraphy, contexts and control over ceramic typology-do not adhere to these conditions. Finally, I assemble and compare all available radiocarbon data for the Late Bronze IIB/III and the Late Bronze III/Iron I transitions and comment on two issues related to the traditional Philistine paradigm.