scholarly journals The “United Monarchy” on the Ground: The Disruptive Character of the Iron Age I–II Transition and the Nature of Political Transformations

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 15-67
Author(s):  
Avraham Faust
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
United Monarchy ◽  
Iron Age I ◽  
The Common

It is commonly agreed that the Iron Age I–II transition was gradual and that processes of social complexity initiated in the Iron Age I simply matured in the Iron Age II. The emergence of Levantine kingdoms – whether the so-called “United Monarchy” (i.e., the highland polity) or other polities – was therefore seen as an outcome of this gradual maturation, even if the date of their emergence is hotly debated. The present paper challenges both the perceived gradual nature of Iron Age complexity and the dated understanding of state formation processes that lies behind the common scholarly reconstructions of Iron Age political developments. Instead, the paper shows that the Iron Age I–II transition was troubled and was accompanied by drastic changes in many parameters, whether settlement patterns, settlement forms, or various material traits. Acknowledging these transformations is therefore the first step in understanding the process through which local kingdoms emerged.

scholarly journals Rethinking the Social Complexity of Early Iron Age Nomads

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 155-179
Author(s):  
Erez Ben-Yosef
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Extended Spectrum ◽  
The Social

Recent evidence from the Aravah Valley challenges the prevailing assumption that Bedouin ethnography and inferences from ancient Near Eastern archives can adequately compensate for the archaeological lacuna in the study of biblical-era nomads. The evidence indicates that nomadic social organization at the turn of the 1st millennium BCE could have been – and in at least one case was – far more complex than ever considered before. This paper discusses the implications of the now extended spectrum of possible interpretations of nomads to the archaeological discourse on early Iron Age state formation processes in the Southern Levant.

scholarly journals Philistine Cult and Religion According to Archaeological Evidence

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
David Ben-Shlomo
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Iron Age I ◽  
Textual Records

The paper surveys and discusses the updated archaeological evidence for Philistine cult and religion, and cult and religion in Philistia during the Iron Age. The evidence can be related to public or official cult, represented in temple and shrine structures, and to that coming from households, representing possibly more popular religion. The evidence of public cult, so far mostly from peripheral sites, includes largely cultural elements linked with the local Canaanite cult and religion. Yet, within households at the Philistine cities there is more evidence for cultic elements of Aegean affinity during Iron Age I. In particular, figurines and ceramic figurative vessels and objects will be discussed. It seems that the Philistine religion may have retained certain distinctive elements also during Iron Age II. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to reconstruct the details of the nature of the Philistine religion due to the limited amount of evidence and lack of textual records.

scholarly journals 14C Dates and the Iron Age Chronology of Israel: A Response

Radiocarbon ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amihai Mazar ◽  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Bayesian Models ◽  
Age Dating ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Iron Age I ◽  
Mediterranean Archaeology ◽  
Historical Periods ◽  
Probability Range

Boaretto et al. (2005) published 68 radiocarbon dates relating to 30 samples from 10 Iron Age sites in Israel as part of their Early Iron Age Dating Project. Though the main goal of their paper was an interlaboratory comparison, they also presented results of Bayesian models, calculating the transition from Iron Age I to Iron Age II in Israel to be about 900 BCE instead of the conventional date of about 1000 BCE. Since this date has great importance for all of Eastern Mediterranean archaeology, in this paper we examine the results in light of the dates published in the above-mentioned article. Our paper was revised in light of new data and interpretations published by Sharon et al. (2007).Following a survey of the contexts and specific results at each site, we present several Bayesian models. Model C2 suggests the date range of 961–942 BCE (68% probability) for the transition from Iron Age I to Iron Age II, while Model C3 indicates a somewhat later date of 948–919 BCE (compare the date 992–961 BCE calculated at Tel Rehov for the same transition). In our Model D, we calculated this transition date at Megiddo as taking place between 967–943 BCE. Finally, we calculated the range of dates of major destruction levels marking the end of the Iron Age I, with the following results: Megiddo VIA: 1010–943 BCE; Yoqne'am XVII: 1045–997 BCE; Tell Qasile X: 1039–979 BCE; Tel Hadar: 1043–979 BCE (all in the 68.2% probability range). Figure 4 indicates that the transition between Iron I and II probably occurred between these above-mentioned destruction events and the dates achieved in our Models C2 or C3, namely during the first half of the 10th century BCE.This study emphasizes the sensitivity of Bayesian models to outliers, and for reducing or adding dates from the models. This sensitivity should be taken into account when using Bayesian models for interpreting radiometric dates in relation to subtle chronological questions in historical periods.

scholarly journals The Iron Age I–II Transition in the Northern Levant: An Emerging Consensus?

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 325-351
Author(s):  
Timothy Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local History ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
Iron Age I ◽  
Tell Tayinat ◽  
Southeast Anatolia

The development of a refined, and widely accepted, chronological and cultural sequence has eluded the study of the Iron Age Northern Levant, despite more than a century of archaeological exploration and research. The renewed investigations at Tell Tayinat (ancient Kunulua), capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Palastin/Walastin and scene of large-scale excavations by the Syrian-Hittite Expedition in the 1930s, have resulted in a tightly constructed stratigraphic and chronological cultural sequence, or “local history,” for this period. This refined “Amuq Sequence” indicates a number of culturally and historically significant transitions, including the transition from the Iron Age I to the Iron Age II, ca. 900 BCE, and it offers the prospect of forging a consensus regarding the cultural and chronological periodization of the broader Iron Age Northern Levant and Southeast Anatolia.

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