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Radiocarbon Results from the Iron IIA Site of Atar Haroa in the Negev Highlands and their Archaeological and Historical Implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Elisabetta Boaretto*
Affiliation:
The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
Israel Finkelstein
Affiliation:
The Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel
Ruth Shahack-Gross
Affiliation:
The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel. Also: Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
*
Also: Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory, Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

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In this article, we present a set of radiocarbon measurements from Atar Haroa, a site that belongs to the early Iron IIA Negev Highlands settlement system in southern Israel. The results place activity at the site in the 9th century BCE, with a possibility that it was founded in the 10th century BCE, probably in the second half. The Atar Haroa measurements seem to indicate that the early Iron IIA phase in the ceramic typology of Israel lasted until the mid-9th century BCE—somewhat later than previously suggested. These new data shed light on several issues related to the history of southern Israel in the late 10th and 9th centuries BCE.

Type
Archaeology
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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