Iron Age Israel Research Papers (original) (raw)

Excavations conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority at Tel Lachish exposed the southern half of the six-chambered gate in Level III. In the eastern chamber, a gate shrine was uncovered. The shrine was split in two: a larger northern room and a smaller southern room. The southern room, which served as the holy of holies, had a niche in its southern wall in front of which a double altar was placed. Dozens of bowls and oil lamps were revealed inside the shrine. At some point, evidently prior to the destruction of Level III by Sennacherib in 701 b.c.e., the shrine was desecrated and sealed. This act was evident in the breakage of the altar’s horns and the placement of a latrine in the holy of holies. The available data suggests that the desecration of the shrine should be associated with Hezekiah’s cultic reform (2 Kgs 18:4).

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- Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Biblical Studies, Biblical Archaeology, Israelite Religion
- by David Eitam
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- Iron Age Israel, Textile Processing, Tel Miqne-Ekron (Philistia)

The collared pithos has attracted the attention of many scholars and archaeologists for nearly seventy years, largely owing to its reputation as a container associated with the emergence of Israel during the Iron I period. However, though it is one of the most discussed vessels appearing in the ceramic assemblage of ancient Israel, its significance is still poorly understood. This paper re-examines the collared pithos in the archaeological record. Two sites where collared pithoi have appeared, Beit Shean and Giloh, are showcased here as representing two different phenomena associated with the appearance of this vessel. A typology is proposed for the collared pithos, and an examination of its context and provenience is summarized.

This thesis presents the architecture and associated finds of an elite Iron Age IIB four-room house from Tel Gezer, Israel. Many of the ground-floor artifacts were discovered in situ, the result of Tiglath-Pileser’s destruction of Gezer in 734/733 BCE. From the distribution of artifacts within the house, several activity areas are identified, mostly domestic in nature: storage space, a kitchen, weaving areas, and a stable. While the house shares many characteristics of typical four-room houses, there are also several characteristics that set it apart: it is a large intra muros house (124 m2 ground floor plan in its final phase); it is aloof from the other known four-room houses at Gezer, avoiding shared walls; it is near to public buildings; and it is east facing. Some of the finds from the house are also elite in nature, including two bullae, a cosmetic palette, an incense burner, and several imported jars. Viewed together, the architecture and artifacts reflect an elite household, probably that of a multigenerational family.

The debates surrounding the identity and origins of ancient Israel represent one of the most contentious chapters in the history of archaeological and biblical research. Most views regarding the emergence of ancient Israel fall into the category of one of four general approaches-conquest, peaceful infiltration, social revolution, or pastoral Canaanite theories. The development of these schools of thought not only mirror increased archaeological fieldwork but also are indicators of research and political trends over the past 80 years. These theories, discussed in greater detail below, often reflect not only scholarly opinion and the fashion of the times but also deeply held personal beliefs. However, based on a careful reexamination of the relevant literature and an analysis of the complex social and cultural boundaries of 12th-century BCE Canaan, I propose that a consensus is emerging. Ancient Israel during the Iron I period should be defined as constituted by largely indigenous, tribal, and kinship-based groups, with the additional influx of smaller numbers of members of external groups, whose genealogical affiliations together comprised a "mixed multitude" of peoples. This "mixed multitude" is defined as the inhabitants of the rural Iron I hill country and Transjordanian highland villages and countryside, a population that has been identified by some as the premonarchic "Israelites" or "Proto-Israelites." This article summarizes the textual and archaeological evidence and the role ideology played in the ethnogenesis Early Israel.

The chronology of Khirbet en-Nahas, a large Iron Age archaeological site located in the copper mining region of Faynan, southern Jordan, has been under fierce debate for the last 15 years. Since the site was excavated in 2002–2009, several analyses challenged the excavators' interpretation of the stratigraphy, the results of the radiocarbon data and its dating. However, so far none of these challenges considered the final report published in 2014, which provided precious information from new areas of excavations and novel series of 14C dates. It is therefore necessary to have an independent reassessment of the archaeological and radiocarbon evidence of each excavated area based on the final report. Reasonable questions raised since the beginning about the 14C dates and the use of Bayesian modelling, the stratigraphic contexts from which they were recovered, and the interpretation of the ceramic assemblage can now be reassessed through a meticulous analysis of the site's stratigraphy and finds. Considering this re-evaluation of the evidence, it is possible to present a reconstruction of the history of the site somewhat different from the one suggested by the excavators.

In this paper we attempt a reconstruction of the on-site pilgrimage itinerary at Iron Age IIB (ca. 800-700 BCE) Tel Dan, Israel. We describe and situate architectural features and in situ artifacts and interpret their function in the itinerary dynamic. Frequent reference is made to the text of Hebrew Bible; the text informs the archaeology and archaeology illustrates the text. Finally, we discuss the anthropological implications of pilgrimage and how those implications are borne out in the archaeological manifestations of pilgrimage at Tel Dan.

- by David Ilan and +1
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- History of Religion, Anthropology of Pilgrimage, Archaeology of pilgrimage, Iron Age Israel

In this article, I review three recent articles. In the first, Asscher and Boaretto (2018. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25) suggest that the Late Bronze/Iron I transition occurred in neighboring sites a century and more apart. In the second, Faust and Sapir (2018. ‘The “Governor’s Residency” at Tel ʿEton, the United Monarchy and the impact of the old-house effect on largescale
archaeological reconstructions’, Radiocarbon 60, 801–820.) date the construction of a solid building at Tel ʿEton to the tenth century BCE and interpret this as validation for the historicity of the United Monarchy of ancient Israel. In the third, Garfinkel et al. (2019a. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18) announce the discovery of a city-wall belonging to Level V at Lachish, and affiliate it with the building operations of King Rehoboam of Judah, described in 2 Chronicles. Scrutiny of the
methods and facts dismisses all three theories.

- by Israel Finkelstein
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- Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Iron Age Israel
- by Hayah Katz
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- Pottery, Iron Age Israel
- by Benjamin Cox
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- Book of Judges, Iron Age Israel, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, The Book of Judges

In this chapter I use various lines of evidence to propose two possible dates for the age of the Bedouin 'black tent." The information presented in this chapter indicates a relative shallow time-depth for the Bedouin tent. Therefore, it is argued that the parallels drawn by Finkelstein, and others, between the four-room house of Iron Age I Palestine and Transjordan and the Bedouin tent are baseless because the evidence for this analogy is that both structures are rectilinear.

- by Benjamin A Saidel
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- Ethnoarchaeology, Arabia, Iron Age Israel, Israel Finkelstein

Hazor, a key Iron Age II site in the southern Levant, was excavated by Yigael Yadin in the 1950s and subsequently by Amnon Ben-Tor. The Iron Age II stratigraphic sequence established proved very influential and nearly canonical; it was interpreted as representing periodic building-and-destruction cycles. The three superimposed ‘cities’ thus reconstructed were inter-alia understood to reflect alternating Israelite/Aramean
domination in this conflict-prone border area before the final Assyrian destruction in the late 8th century BCE. Here we offer an alternative reconstruction for Hazor’s stratigraphic/architectural development, with repercussions for several chronological and political-historic aspects of the Kingdom of Israel and the greater Levant.

- by Ayelet Gilboa
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- Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Iron Age (Archaeology), Iron Age Israel, Arameans

Fifty-two (52) stone tools (henceforth ST) were found at
Ein Gev excavations of the Japanese Mission headed by
A. Tsukimoto, S. Hasegawa and T. Onozuka. They were
divided into four categories: ground stone tools (GST;
n=42), devices cut in stone blocks (n=2), stone objects
(n=8), and raw material (n=1). This report includes
a typological list of Iron Age ST in Israel, where the
Ein Gev stone types are mentioned (App. A)1 as well
as a detailed catalog of these stone finds (App. B).
Their usage determines the essence of stone-made devices. Consequently, the systematic study of ST
applied in this report and other works of mine (e.g.,
Eitam 1979, 2007, 2013) centers on the significance of
stone-tools by focusing on their purpose and function.
The problem in studying ST, in general, remains the
lack of a comprehensive, agreed-upon methodology,
and the lack of a comparative classification system. At
first, a methodology and general classification system
had been established, combining GST and rock-cut
installations from various historical and prehistoric
periods (Eitam 2009) and a preliminary typology of ST
in Iron Age, Israel had been created and used as the basis
for the study of Tel Dor Area G (Eitam in preparation
a). Another major problem for the study of ST and GST
is rooted in the frequency with which an artifact’s
function changes to accomplish different tasks. GST
(contrary to pottery vessels and flint artifacts) are often
explicitly designed to perform multiple functions or
are repurposed by adding additional working face/s in
the course of its lifetime. This fundamental difference
requires a more flexible classification system to
comprehend the entire range of the device’s functions
and their significance (compare Eitam 2009, 2010: 88
versus Adams and Adams 2005; Adams 2003).

- by David Eitam
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- Ground Stone Technology, Iron Age Israel, Arameans, Sea of Galilee

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- by Benjamin Cox
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- Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Book of Genesis, Ancient Israel, Iron Age Israel

T el 'Eton (opening photograph), usually identified with biblical Eglon (see Box A), is a 6.6 hectare mound located in Israel's lowland (the Shephelah), at the edge of the trough valley which separates the lowlands from the Judean highlands (fig. 1). The ancient city is situated near an important junction on the north-south road that meandered along the trough valley and the east-west road that connected the coastal plain with Hebron. The site's location near large valleys also secured its proximity to fertile soils, increasing its economic importance.

- by Hayah Katz
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- Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Iron Age Israel, Judahite Shephelah

This article deals with commerce as it was conducted in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The author questions the existence of edifices intended for commerce and concludes that it was the open markets that played the central role in the economy. Basing her argument on the fact that the majority of marked weights characteristic of 7th-century assemblages were found in dwelling contexts, she reasons that merchants kept their weights at home since it was unsafe to leave scales unguarded in open markets, The author also poses a possible alternative: that the weights found in living quarters suggest small-scale commercial activity within the home.

- by Hayah Katz
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- Archaeology, Biblical Studies, Commercial, Iron Age Israel

Pages 123–139 in Megiddo III: The 1992–1996 Seasons, ed. I. Finkelstein, D. Ussishkin, and B. Halpern. The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology Monograph 18. Tel Aviv: Emery and Claire Yass Publications in Archaeology,... more

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- by Hayah Katz
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- Biblical Archaeology, Iron Age Israel, Judahite Shephelah

The cuboid-spheroid stone is a well-known object, found in large numbers in the Iron Age sites of Israel. The object shape is a cube with round corners and slightly concave sides, with measurements ranging from 45x45x45mm to 65x65x65mm. Originally a round pebble made of a dense-heavy rock, the object was fabricated by intensive, although crude, pecking and some abrading. The cuboid-spheroid objects, found by the dozens at Tell Lachish, have been classified by Tufnell as sling stones (1953; widely accepted definition). Daviau identified these objects as hammerstones (2002), while others point out that, in addition to their original role as a sling stones, they were also used as pounders, grinding slabs, and abraders. My suggestion is that these objects initially served as balance weights used by the public in markets of ancient Israel during the Iron Age period, following a very early tradition started in the PPNA.

- by David Eitam
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- Mathematics, Biblical Archaeology, Iron Age Israel, Ground stone tools

Using a biographic-like approach, this article presents the initial results of the study of an elite Iron Age house at Tel 'Eton, from its conception, through its birth and life, to its death and decomposition. Massive preparations preceded the construction of the house, and the latter incorporated continuous foundations, and quality building materials, including ashlar stones. The building was pre-planned, and some of the original rooms had two doorways leading to them, in order to enable easy future subdivision , without endangering the structure's physical integrity. The house evolved over the years, and its inner division changed overtime, reflecting the changes in the life-cycle of the extended family that lived in it. The house was destroyed in heavy conflagration in the late 8th century BC; hundreds of artifacts and complete vessels were unearthed below and within the debris, allowing for a detailed reconstruction of the use of space within the building on the eve of its destruction and the processes that accompanied its destruction (perhaps even 'execution'), and subsequent collapse.

- by Hayah Katz and +2
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- Near Eastern Archaeology, Biblical Archaeology, Iron Age Israel, Judahite Shephelah
- by Ofer Gat
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- Archaeology, Architecture, Material Culture Studies, Landscape Archaeology

- by Hayah Katz
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- History, Ancient History, Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology

Tel Rosh (Khirbet Tell 'er-Ruwēsah) is located in the western part of the Upper Galilee, some 27 km northeast of Acre. Surveys conducted over the years and recent excavations have shown that it was settled almost continuously from the Early Bronze Age to the Ottoman Period, and that it was a regional centre during Iron Age II. In the past, it was identified with Beth-Shemesh of Naphtali (Josh 19:38; Jdg 1:33). However, in our analysis, all of the towns of Naphtali should be sought east of Mount Meron, while those to its west were in the territory of Asher, and we tentatively propose to identify Tel Rosh with the 'northern' Rehob of Asher, listed in Josh 19:28.

- by Hayah Katz
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- Biblical Archaeology, Iron Age Israel, Upper galilee

Introduction: short current research of stone tools ( groud stores ad rock-cut devices); methodological issues; critic; future work

The article presents a salvage excavation undertaken by the author near "Nahmanides Cave", a large, underground ancient quarry located in the upper section of the Qidron Valley, north of Jerusalem.
Segments of open limestone quarries dating from the 2nd -1st centuries BCE were uncovered. The quarries were covered in antiquity by an earth fill which contained large quantities of pottery from the end of the Iron Age (7th-6th centuries BCE). The fill was perhaps transferred from a settlement which existed nearby, whose stones were dismantled and reused elsewhere.
The article discusses the possibility of the identification of this "vanished" settlement as the Biblical settlement of Nob. According to the Biblical references this locality was located north of Jerusalem.

- by Boaz Zissu
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- Historical Geography, Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Biblical Studies

- by Anat Hartmann-Shenkman
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- History, Ancient History, Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology
- by David Eitam
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- Iron Age Israel, Tel Dor, Ancient Scale Weights

German translation of: Bunimovitz, S., and Faust, A., 2002, Ideology in Stone, Understanding the Four Room House, Biblical Archaeology Review 28/4: 32-41, 59-60

Der Teil el-M ilh (Tel M alhätä, map.ref. 1525.0696) liegt am Zusammenfluß des Wädi el-Milh mit dem Wädi BTr es-S eh d bzw. Wädi el-M säs. Er kontrollierte den östlichen Zugang in die Bucht von Beerseba und damit sowohl den mittleren Abschnitt der Ost-West-Verbindung, die aus dem südlichen Transjordanien über die 'Araba ans Mittelmeer führte, als auch die Straße, die von Hebron über Arad und Aroer I ffirb et 'A rara) weiter nach Süden führte. Am Fuß des Hügels liegt ein wasserreicher Brunnen, der noch heute den Beduinen zur Wasserversorgung dient; ein Teil des Hügels wird von ihnen als Friedhof benutzt. E. R o b in so n und E. Sm it h 1 waren die ersten, die im 19. Jahrhundert den Teil el-M ilh aufsuchten; dabei identifizierten sie die südlich des teil liegenden Reste mit Molada bzw. Malatha. Ihnen folgen u.a. H. B. Tristam2, V.

- by Hayah Katz
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- Biblical Archaeology, Iron Age Israel, Status of Women

Storage vessels are among the most common artifacts found at archaeological digs. They have therefore been the subject of numerous studies, which have mainly focused on their typology, chronology, or special type, i.e., the lmlk jar. Less attention has been directed to their functional aspect, to how they were used in daily life. In this article, we shall discuss the distribution of large concentrations of storage vessels discovered in the Kingdom of Judah of the 8th and 7th centuries b.c.e. in order to determine patterns that will enable us to study how the various vessels were used and economic aspects related thereto.

- by Hayah Katz
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- Biblical Archaeology, Pottery, Iron Age Israel, Kingdom of Judah

Hazor, a key Iron Age II site in the southern Levant, was excavated by Yigael Yadin in the 1950s and subsequently by Amnon Ben-Tor. The Iron Age II stratigraphic sequence established proved very influential and nearly canonical; it was interpreted as representing periodic building-and-destruction cycles. The three superimposed ‘cities’ thus reconstructed were inter-alia understood to reflect alternating Israelite/Aramean domination in this conflict-prone border area before the final Assyrian destruction in the late 8th century BCE. Here we offer an alternative reconstruction for Hazor’s stratigraphic/architectural development, with repercussions for several chronological and political-historic aspects of the Kingdom of Israel and the greater Levant.

- by Harel Shochat
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- Archaeology, Archaeology of Ancient Israel, Iron Age archaeology, Iron Age Israel
- by Rafael Y Lewis
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- Iron Age Israel

- by David Eitam
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- Mathematics, Biblical Archaeology, Iron Age Israel, Ground stone tools

Fifty two (52) stone tools (henceforth ST) were found at Ein Gen and were divided into four categories: ground stones (henceforth GS; n=42), devices cut in stone blocks (n=2), stone objects (n=8) and raw material (n=1). This report includes a typology list of Iron Age ST in Israel were the stone types of Ein Gev are mentioned (App. A) and a detailed catalogue of the stone finds (App. B). The essence of stone-made devices is determined by their usage. Consequently, a systematic functional study of ST applied in this report and other works of mine (e.g., Eitam 1979, 2007, 2013), centers on the significance of the stone-tools by focusing on their tasks and uses. The main problem in studying ST in general and RCI in particular, is the lack of a comprehensive and agreed-upon methodology, and lack of a comparative classification system. At first, a methodology and a general classification system, combining GS and rock-cut installations (henceforth RCI) from various historical and prehistoric periods were established (Eitam 2009). Furthermore, a preliminary typology of ST in Iron Age Israel was determined as a base for the study of Tel Dor (area G, (Eitam in preparation a). Another major problem of the study of ST and GS in particular is rooted in the frequent changing of the artifact's usage to accomplish different tasks. GS (usually in regard to pottery vessel and flint artifact) is often a multi-tusk device, by adding various working face/s along its lifetime, or by initial designing.

- by David Eitam
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- Ground Stone Technology, Iron Age Israel, Ground stone tools, Arameans

- by Hayah Katz
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- Biblical Archaeology, Iron Age Israel, Judahite Shephelah
- by George Nicol
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- Iron Age Israel, Palestinian archaeology, History of Ancient Israel

- by Ehud Weiss
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- History, Ancient History, Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology

The aim of this study is to reconstruct the settlement processes in the Meron Ridges during the Iron Age I. Although Yohanan Aharoni pioneering survey in the Upper Galilee was the foundation for later studies on this subject, only a handful of excavations were carried out in the region. In 1976, the Israel Department of Antiquities conducted a salvage excavation at Mt. Adir and revealed a fortress consisting of three main construction strata dating to the period between the late 11th and 9th centuries B.C.E. The excavation results were never published, which has enabled assumptions regarding its date and geopolitical status. In the framework of this study, I publish the hitherto unpublished Mt. Adir finds. In addition, I reexamine the previously published sites at Tel Harashim, Sasa, and Horbat ʿAvot. An analysis of these finds indicates that the fortress at Mt. Adir was built as a government center by a local leader who ruled over the Canaanite settlers of the Meron Ridges area during the Iron Age I period.