13 - Ladder of Time at Tel Reḥov: Stratigraphy, archaeological context, pottery and radiocarbon dates

Summary

Abstract

Six excavation seasons conducted between 1997–2003 at Tel Reḥov south of Beth Shean revealed rich data related to the 12th–8th centuries BCE. In Area D, six stratigraphic phases (D-7 to D-3) relate to the Iron Age I. Occupation layers of the Iron Age IIA were explored in Areas B, C, D, E, F and G. In each of these areas, three to four stratigraphic phases from this period were found. The correlation between the various areas is not an easy task, yet we suggested strata numbers which, though tentative, provide a general stratigraphic framework for the entire site. All three strata, VI–IV, produced typical pottery assemblages. The pottery of Stratum VI differs from the later two later in details, yet all three belong to the Iron IIA horizon. The rich assemblages from Strata V–IV are identical to those found in Strata VB and VB–IVA at Megiddo and related sites and thus the correct dating of Tel Reḥov strata is crucial for the ongoing debate over the chronology of the Iron Age in the Southern Levant.

¹⁴C dates of samples from Tel Reḥov were measured at three laboratories. Altogether, 70 dates are now available: 15 at the Weizmann Institute, 9 at the University of Arizona (both published in Radiocarbon 2001), 34 at Groningen laboratories (published in the journal Science [April 2004]) and 30 additional dates from Groningen. An additional five are being prepared at the Weizmann Institute.