Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T15:35:56.811Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Chronology of the Late Bronze (LB)-Iron Age (IA) Transition in the Southern Levant: A Response to Finkelstein’s Critique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Elisabetta Boaretto ,
Yotam Asscher Open the ORCID record for Yotam Asscher [Opens in a new window] ,
Louise A Hitchcock ,
Gunnar Lehmann ,
Aren M Maeir  and
Steve Weiner
Elisabetta Boaretto*
Affiliation:
D-REAMS Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
Yotam Asscher
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Padova 35131, Italy
Louise A Hitchcock
Affiliation:
Classics and Archaeology, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Victoria, Australia
Gunnar Lehmann
Affiliation:
Department of Bible, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Aren M Maeir
Affiliation:
The Ackerman Family Bar-Ilan University Expedition to Gath, the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel
Steve Weiner
Affiliation:
Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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.

Keywords

microarchaeologyradiocarbon contextsouthern Levanttransition dating
Type
Technical Note
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 1 - 11
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Asscher, Y, Cabanes, D, Hitchcock, LA, Maeir, AM, Weiner, S, Boaretto, E. 2015a. Radiocarbon dating shows an early appearance of Philistine Material Culture in Tell es-Safi/Gath, Philistia. Radiocarbon 57(5):825–850.Google Scholar
Asscher, Y, Lehmann, G, Rosen, SA, Weiner, S, Boaretto, E. 2015b. Absolute dating of the Late Bronze to Iron Age Transition and the appearance of Philistine culture in Qubur el-Walaydah, southern Levant. Radiocarbon 57(1):77–97.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, I. 2016. To date or not to date: radiocarbon and the arrival the Philistines. Ägypten und Levante (Egypt and Levant) 26:275–284.Google Scholar
Killebrew, AE. 2013. Early Philistine pottery technology at Tel Miqne-Ekron: implications for the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age transition in the eastern Mediterranean. In: Killebrew AE, Lehmann G, editors. The Philistines and Other “Sea Peoples” in Text and Archaeology. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. p 77–129.Google Scholar
Maeir, AM, Hitchcock, LA. 2017. The appearance, formation and transformation of Philistine culture: new perspectives and new finds. In: Fischer P, Bürge T, editors. The Sea Peoples Up-to-Date: New Research on the Migration of Peoples in the 12th Century BCE. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences. p 149–162.Google Scholar
Toffolo, MB, Maeir, AM, Chadwick, JR, Boaretto, E. 2012. Characterization of contexts for radiocarbon dating: results from the Early Iron Age at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel. Radiocarbon 54(3–4):371–390.Google Scholar
Toffolo, MB, Arie, E, Martin, MAS, Boaretto, E, Finkelstein, I. 2014. The absolute chronology of Megiddo, Israel in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages: high-resolution radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 56(1):221–244.Google Scholar