From Nomadism to Monarchy?: Revisiting the Early Iron Age Southern Levant (Mosaics: Studies on Ancient Israel) [1 ed.] 9781646022618, 1646022610

Citation preview

From Nomadism to Monarchy?

tel aviv university sonia and marco nadler institute of archaeology

mosaics | studies on ancient israel NO. 3

Executive Editor

Oded Lipschits

Managing Editor

Tsipi Kuper-Blau

Editorial Board

Ran Barkai Yuval Gadot Ido Koch Dafna Langgut Nadav Naʾaman Lidar Sapir-Hen Guy D. Stiebel Deborah Sweeney

English-Language Editor

Sean Dugaw

Graphic Designer

Ayelet Gazit

From Nomadism to Monarchy?

Revisiting the Early Iron Age Southern Levant

Edited by

Ido Koch, Oded Lipschits and Omer Sergi

With contributions by Eran Arie, Erez Ben-Yosef, Cynthia Edenburg, Israel Finkelstein, Yuval Gadot, Assaf Kleiman, Ido Koch, Dafna Langgut, Gunnar Lehmann, Aren M. Maeir, Nadav Naʾaman, Thomas Römer, Lidar Sapir-Hen, Omer Sergi, Katja Soennecken, Dieter Vieweger, Ido Wachtel and Naama Yahalom-Mack

co-published by eisenbrauns | university park, pennsylvania and emery and claire yass publications in archaeology | the institute of archaeology, tel aviv university

Mosaics: Studies on Ancient Israel Cover illustration: Collared-rim pithos from Tel Megiddo (photo by Sasha Flit, The Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

© Copyright 2023 by the Institute of Archaeology

Names: Koch, Ido, editor. | Lipschits, Oded, editor. |

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of Tel Aviv University

Sergi, Omer, 1977– editor.

Printed in the United States of America

Title: From nomadism to monarchy? : revisiting the early Iron Age southern Levant / edited by Ido Koch, Oded Lipschits

Eisenbrauns is an imprint of The Pennsylvania State

and Omer Sergi ; with contributions by Eran Arie [and

University Press.

seventeen others].

The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member

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of the Association of University Presses.

; [Tel Aviv, Israel] : Emery and Clare Yass Publications in Archaeology, The Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv

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to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy

Summary: “A collection of essays reevaluating the archaeology

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and history of the early Iron Age Southern Levant and

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how the period may be reflected in the biblical accounts”—

Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992.

Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2023030670 | ISBN 9781646022618 (hardback) Subjects: LCSH: Iron age—Middle East. | Excavations (Archaeology)—Middle East. | Middle East—Antiquities. Classification: LCC GN780.32.M4 F76 2023 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023030670

Contents

Contributors vii Preface

xi

Introduction1 IDO KOCH, ODED LIPSCHITS AND OMER SERGI

1. Paleo-environment of the Southern Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages: The Pollen Evidence

7

Dafna Langgut and Israel Finkelstein

2. Animal Subsistence Economy during the Late Bronze–Iron I: Continuity vs. Change

29

Lidar Sapir-Hen

3. From Production Autonomy to Centralization: The Iron I to Iron IIA Transition from a Metallurgical Perspective

41

Naama Yahalom-Mack

4. The Northern Coastal Plain during the Early Iron Age (Iron I–Early Iron IIA)

53

Gunnar Lehmann

5. Sixty Years after Aharoni: Iron Age Settlements in the Upper Galilee

87

Ido Wachtel

6. Beyond Hazor: Urban Durability, Political Instability and Collective Memory in the Northern Jordan Valley at the Turn of the Second Millennium BCE

101

Assaf Kleiman

7. Canaanites in a Changing World: The Jezreel Valley during the Iron Age I

119

Eran Arie

8. Transitions between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age II: The Character of the Iron I Settlement at Tall Zirāʿa in Northern Jordan

135

Dieter Vieweger and Katja Soennecken

9. Iron I Settlements in the Highlands of Samaria and the Creation of Group Identities with an Emphasis on Mount Ebal

149

Yuval Gadot

10. The Formation of the Israelite Monarchies in Archaeology, History and Historiography

159

Omer Sergi

11. Like Frogs out of a Pond: Identity Formation in Early Iron Age Philistia and Beyond

201

Aren M. Maeir

12. Collapse and Regeneration in Late Second Millennium Southwest Canaan

209

Ido Koch

  v

vi  

13. A False Contrast? On the Possibility of an Early Iron Age Nomadic Monarchy in the Arabah (Early Edom) and Its Implications for the Study of Ancient Israel

235

Erez Ben-Yosef

14. The Book of Josiah or the Book of Joshua? Excavating the Literary History of the Conquest Story

263

Cynthia Edenburg

15. The Origin, Function and Disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant according to the Hebrew Bible

279

Thomas Römer

16. The Scope of the Pre-Deuteronomistic Saul–David Story Cycle

291

Nadav Naʾaman

17. The Rise of Ancient Israel: The View from 2021

303

Israel Finkelstein

Index of Geographic Names

315

Index of Subjects

319

Index of Modern Authors

321

Contributors

Eran Arie is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. His major research interests include the archaeology and history of northern Israel during the Iron Age, and Phoenician culture from the Iron Age through the Persian period, especially aspects related to the publication of past excavations of the Temple of Makmish at Tel Michal, a project which he initiated. Moreover, he continues to be involved in archaeological museology and cultural heritage, drawing upon his vast previous experience as a curator at the Hecht Museum and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1818-8692

Erez Ben-Yosef is a Professor of Archaeology in the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. He directs the Central Timna Valley Project in southern Israel, where he and his team unearthed evidence of intense copper production from the early Iron Age. His research focuses on ancient technologies, especially metal production, and on the archaeological sciences. Ben-Yosef studied archaeology and geology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (B.A., B.Sc., M.Sc.) and archaeology and anthropology at the University of California, San Diego (M.A., Ph.D.). His postdoctoral research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography focused on the ancient copper mines of Cyprus and the application of slag material in geomagnetic research. He has won multiple awards and research grants, including a Fulbright Fellowship, a European Research Council Marie Curie Career Integration Grant, and the Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research. Since August 2020, he has served as a member of the Archaeological Advisory Board of Israel’s Ministry of Culture. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9483-3809

Cynthia Edenburg received her Ph.D. in Biblical Studies and the History of Ancient Israel from Tel Aviv University. She is the author of Dismembering the Whole: Composition and Purpose of Judges 19–21 and has

co-edited two volumes dealing with the Book of Samuel. She has published numerous studies addressing biblical historiography, Deuteronomistic literature, as well as collective identity and memory in antiquity. She is currently working on a Book of Joshua commentary. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7714-7049

I srael F inkelstein is a Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and Head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a foreign member of the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has conducted numerous archaeological investigations, among them the excavation of the celebrated site of Megiddo. He has won many awards, including the Prix Delalande-Guérineau of the Institut de France, l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and the Dan David Prize in the Past Dimension. He was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5643-2158

Yuval Gadot is a Professor of Archaeology and Head of the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University, as well as Lead Archaeologist of the City of David Excavation. Gadot obtained his Ph.D. in 2004 from Tel Aviv University. Since then, he has authored seven archaeological books and over 100 scientific articles. In Jerusalem, he is Co-Director of the Givʿati Parking Lot Excavation while also leading an environmental study of the rural landscape surrounding the city. He is currently serving as a guest lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at University of California San Diego. He is married and has three children. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7301-2745

  vii

viii  contributors

Assaf Kleiman is a Senior Lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His primary research interests and the scope of his publications concern the settlement history, material culture and inter-regional contact between complex communities across the Iron Age Levant, specifically those that were situated in the regions encompassing modern northeastern Israel, inland Lebanon and southern Syria. He is involved in ongoing fieldwork at Tel Megiddo (the Iron Age strata) and in the final publication of the Moshe Kochavi and Pirhiya Beck excavations at Tel Hadar.

Gunnar Lehmann is a Professor of Archaeology and the Head of the Department of Archaeology at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is also an Honorary Professor of the Archaeology of the Levant at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany and corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9270-4678

Ido Koch is a Senior Lecturer in the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. He has served as co-director of the Tel Hadid Expedition since 2018, co-director of Stamp-seals from the Southern Levant (a SINERGIA research project funded by the Swiss National Science, CRSIIS_La6426) since 2020, and co-director of the final publication of Yohanan Aharoni’s Excavations at Tel Arad (funded by the Shelby White– Leon Levy program for archaeological publications).

Oded Lipschits is a Professor of Jewish History in the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University and the Director of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology. He is also the Incumbent of the Austria Chair of the Archaeology of the Land of Israel in the Biblical Period and the Head of the International M.A. and Ph.D. in Ancient Israel Studies programs at Tel Aviv University. From 2005 to 2010, Professor Lipschits directed the Renewed Excavations at Ramat Raḥel. Since 2012, he has been the Director of the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition, while in recent years he has likewise been directing the excavation of the newly discovered biblical period temple at Moẓa, a few kilometers from Jerusalem.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4329-7655

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9733-9339

Dafna Langgut is the Head of the Laboratory of Archaeobotany and Ancient Environments and a Senior Lecturer in the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. She received her Ph.D. in Archaeology in 2008 from the University of Haifa. Langgut specializes in the study of past vegetation and climate based on the identification of fossil pollen. Through this discipline, she considers the past relationship between humans and the environment, e.g., human dispersal out of Africa and the early beginnings of agriculture. Langgut’s research also involves palynological archaeology as well as the identification of macro-botanical remains (wood-charcoal remains) from archaeological contexts. Her studies address issues such as fruit tree cultivation, diet, plant usage, social stratification, plant migration, ancient gardens and wooden implements. Langgut is also the curator of the pollen and archaeobotanical collections at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University.

Aren M. Maeir is a Professor of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology in the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University. He directs the Tell eṣ-Ṣafi/Gath Archaeological Project, is Co-Director of the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times, and is the Head of the Institute of Archaeology of Bar-Ilan University. He also directs the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies and is Co-Editor of the Israel Exploration Journal.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5267-7011

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4824-1044

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3230-292X

Nadav Naʾaman is a Professor Emeritus of Jewish History and Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. He completed his Ph.D. in 1975, after which he took a position at Tel Aviv University, and spent sabbatical years doing research at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Göttingen. From 2005 to 2009, he held the Kaplan Chair for the History of Egypt and the Land

contributors  ix

of Israel in Ancient Times. He has authored six books and 365 articles. In 2004, he won the Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi History of Eretz-Israel Prize for his book The Past that Shapes the Present. In 2006, he won the Landau prize for the field of biblical and Jewish history in the biblical period. In 2012, he was elected a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8153-6197

Thomas Römer is a Professor and Statutory Chair at the Collège de France and a University of Lausanne Professor Emeritus. He holds an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University. His current research covers the formation of the Torah, the so-called Deuteronomistic history and its social and historical setting, as well as the relationship between literary and archaeological approaches to understanding the Hebrew Bible. He is one of the main editors of the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception and chief editor of the “Ancient Israel and Its Literature” series (Society of Biblical Literature). His main publications include: Israels Väter (1990); The So-Called Deuteronomistic History: A Sociological, Historical and Literary Introduction (2005; translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Korean); and L’invention de Dieu (2014; translated into Portuguese, Romanian, German, Italian and Korean [in preparation]). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6490-7678

Lidar Sapir-Hen is a Senior Lecturer in the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures and Curator of the Archaeozoological Collection of the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. Specializing in the study of animal remains, Lidar’s main research interests include the interaction between humans and animals in the past, social complexity of ancient populations, and identity and cultural aspects as reflected in food production and consumption. She is currently involved with several excavations at sites, which date from the Early Neolithic through Late Antiquity. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6184-4560

Omer Sergi is a Senior Lecturer in the Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University. His expertise lies in the

archaeology of the Southern Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages and biblical history. His research focuses on the formation of territorial kingdoms in Levant during the early Iron Age. His monograph dedicated to this topic, The Two Houses of Israel: State Formation in Israel and Judah and the Origins of Pan Israelite Identity, will be published by the Society of Biblical Literature in 2023. Sergi has co-directed the excavations at Ḥorvat Ṭevet, in the Jezreel Valley, as well as the accompanying research project, “The Archaeological Expression of Palace-Clan Relations in the Iron Age Levant: A Case Study from the Jezreel Valley, Israel.” Currently, he co-directs the Tel Shaddud Regional Project together with Karen Covello-Paran (Israel Antiquities Authority), Hannes Bezzel (Friedrich Schiller University Jena) and Joachim Krause (Ruhr Universitӓt Bochum). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1613-691X

Katja Soennecken is an Assistant Professor of Biblical Archaeology at the Luxembourg School of Religion and Society and Assistant Director of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology of the Holy Land, Jerusalem. She has been part of the Gadara Region Project since 2009 and wrote her Ph.D. about the Late Bronze Age to Iron Age transition at Tall Zirāʿa. Currently, she serves as Co-Director of the excavations on Mount Zion and in Tiberias. Dieter Vieweger is a Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Archaeology and the Director of the Biblical Archaeological Institute at the University of Wuppertal. He is also a visiting Professor of Archaeology at Witten/ Herdecke University and the Director-General of the German Protestant Institute in Jerusalem and Amman. He holds a Doctorate of Theology from the University of Leipzig, a Ph.D. in Prehistoric Archaeology from the University of Frankfurt, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wuppertal. He has been involved in numerous archaeological excavations over the years, including the current excavations on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, as well as the Gadara Region Project and excavation at Tall Zirāʿa, which he directs. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7045-891X

Ido Wachtel is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities and

x  contributors

Social Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his Ph.D. in archaeology in 2018 from the Hebrew University. He studies ancient and early modern settlement patterns in the Southern Levant using high resolution archaeological surveys and advanced modelling. He serves as Co-Director of the Tel Qedesh Expedition. He has been excavating at Qedesh in the Galilee since 2016. From 2014 to 2018, he conducted a regional field-survey in the Upper Galilee, as a component of his Ph.D. dissertation The Upper Galilee in the Bronze and Iron Ages: Settlement Patterns, Economy and Society.

Naama Yahalom-Mack is an Associate Professor of Bronze and Iron Age Archaeology in the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and holds the Nahman Avigad Chair for Biblical Archaeology. She is Head of the Institute’s Laboratory for Archaeological Materials and Ancient Technologies and Co-Director of the Tel Abel Beth-Maacah excavations in the Ḥula Valley. Her research focuses on archaeometallurgy and on the provenancing of archaeological materials as a proxy for reconstructing ancient trade and economic interaction.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0321-4675

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9296-8435

Preface

This volume presents a collection of up-to-date multifaceted analyses of the early Iron Age Southern Levant. It covers a variety of regional, technological, ecological, economic and historical aspects, as well as diverse interpretational approaches, which together provide an updated perspective on this transformative period and its memory as recorded in the received texts. The volume comprises seventeen essays, based on papers delivered at the annual Yohanan Aharoni Conference of the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, held on March 15–16, 2017. The conference’s title—From Nomadism to Monarchy? “The Archaeology of the Settlement Period” 30 Years Later—references the two foundational volumes published in the late 1980s and early 1990s that set the tone for the study of the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age in the Southern Levant for decades to come. On that occasion, the editors invited twenty speakers, covering archaeological, historical, and environmental aspects, to revisit and revise existing paradigms. Due to technical difficulties, as well as the COVID19 pandemic, among other challenges, the publication of this volume was considerably delayed. However, we continued to believe in the importance of presenting an up-to-date overview of the early Iron Age Southern

Levant, and therefore, despite the hurdles, we insisted on the publication of this volume. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the authors who contributed to this volume for their patience and for their efforts to update their contributions for its publication. We hope that it will prove worthy of these efforts. The two-day conference benefited from the financial support of several of Tel Aviv University’s administrative bodies, including the Vice-President for Research and Development, the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology and the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. Heartfelt gratitude is extended to Ms. Nirit Kedem, Administrative Director of the Institute of Archaeology, and her team, for organizing the conference and for assisting in the publication process of this volume. We are grateful to Ms. Tsipi Kuper-Blau, Director of Publications of the institute, for overseeing production of the volume, from manuscript to its final form. Thanks are extended to Sean Dugaw for editing and polishing the English and preparing the indexes, to Ayelet Gazit for the layout and design of the book, and to our partners, Penn State University Press, for their input in the publication process. The Editors

Introduction Ido Koch, Oded Lipschits and Omer Sergi

Thirty years ago, scholarly discussion of the origins of ancient Israel reached its zenith with the publication of From Nomadism to Monarchy, edited by Nadav Naʾaman and Israel Finkelstein (Hebrew: Naʾaman and Finkelstein 1990; English: Finkelstein and Naʾaman 1994). Fueled by fresh archaeological data, the result of extensive archaeological exploration in the central highlands of the Southern Levant throughout the 1970s and 1980s, this book disentangled the historical reconstruction of the early Iron Age from the biblical narrative of conquest and settlement. According to Finkelstein and Naʾaman’s introduction to the volume (1994: 12–17), the new archaeological data was intended to be discussed in relation to the biblical narrative, thus either supporting or falsifying its historicity. Yet, the studies compiled in this volume achieved much more than that. Several chapters which closely examined specific regions not only provided new data, but further discussed relevant material remains in light of innovative theoretical frameworks informed by processual archaeology. Alongside these, three chapters augmented the discussion from additional perspectives, scrutinizing the fundamental biblical narrative regarding the

conquest of the land, the subsistence economy of the period, and the main features of the era’s iconography. Together, these contributions formed a revolutionary volume, for even if focused upon a historical discussion of the origins of ancient Israel, the volume marked a watershed for “biblical archaeology,” which was thereafter treated as an independent discipline in its own right, increasingly referred to as “the archaeology of the Bronze and Iron Age Southern Levant,” an appellation which reflects this fact. The archaeological studies presented in From Nomadism to Monarchy were like a fresh breeze reinvigorating the discourse, which up to that point, had been mostly historical-philological, whereas today, it would be unimaginable to discuss ancient Israel and its origins without any regard for the relevant archaeological data. In this respect, From Nomadism to Monarchy also marked a turning point for the fields of biblical studies and biblical history. This is best exemplified by the fact that following the book’s publication, long-standing questions and presuppositions regarding the historicity of the conquest narrative in the Book of Joshua were summarily put to rest within mainstream scholarship.

2  ido koch, oded lipschits and omer sergi

After more than a century of questions regarding the historicity of Joshua and the origins of ancient Israel standing at the heart of the archaeological and historical discourse, From Nomadism to Monarchy seemed to have brought many of these issues to some kind of resolution (at least for now). Consequently, research interest shifted to the early monarchic period, which up to that point had been exclusively reconstructed based upon the biblical narrative in Samuel–Kings, which was assumed to have been historically reliable. The shift to the early monarchic period was marked, archaeologically, by moving the spotlight from the Iron I to the Iron IIA, and thus to questions about social complexity and political formations in this period. The Iron I material remains from the central highlands, which stood at the heart of the former book, were largely excluded from the scholarly discourse. This was reinforced by the fact that the available archaeological data did not change much following the great surveys and excavations conducted during the 1970s and 1980s. The first Palestinian Intifada (1987–1989) and the Oslo Accords (1993) brought about an almost complete cessation of research at sites in the West Bank. Very little new data has been published since then, and even though new questions have arisen, the possibility of going out into the field to re-excavate has remained infeasible due to political circumstances. Thus, while the focus of archaeological discussion has been reoriented toward the Iron IIA, the nature of archaeological exploration has likewise shifted from large regional archaeological surveys in the highlands to ongoing excavations of the large main mounds in the lowlands. Just as this shift may be seen as the result of circumstances unrelated to archaeological research, it was also driven by new questions regarding the development of urbanism and the formation of territorial kingdoms in the early Iron Age Southern Levant. In a way, it was the publication of From Nomadism to Monarchy that spurred this major change in the course of research trends, which ultimately called for a new reconstruction of early monarchic Israel and Judah (see further within the present volume). Not

only because it seemed to have resolved former questions and doubts regarding the pre-monarchic period, but mainly because it demonstrated the crucial role that archaeology can play in any discussion of ancient Israel. Coming up on thirty years since the English publication of From Nomadism to Monarchy, we consider it to be a good time for an update, which is well-warranted in light of recent developments. The completion and publication of excavations at several key sites in the lowlands has brought considerable new data to light.1 Furthermore, our understanding of ceramic typology of the early Iron Age has significantly increased over the course of the past two decades (e.g., Ben-Shlomo, Shai and Maeir 2004; Dothan and Zukerman 2004; Herzog and SingerAvitz 2004; 2006; 2011; Arie 2013; Finkelstein, Ussishkin and Cline 2013). That, together with extensive use of radiocarbon dating, has facilitated refinement of both relative and absolute chronologies (e.g., Mazar 2005; 2011; Finkelstein and Piasetzky 2006; 2011; Lee, Bronk Ramsey and Mazar 2013; Toffolo et al. 2014). The “scientific turn” of archaeological research in Israel has also had a pronounced impact on our overall knowledge. Questions regarding dietary habits, rituals, regional connections, and movements of plants and animals are now addressed using ancient DNA, residue analysis, metallurgy, petrography, and other branches of the exact and natural sciences (e.g., Finkelstein, Weiner and Boaretto 2015). Lastly, archaeological thought has undergone significant change during the past thirty years with new theoretical frameworks derived from postprocessual trends, generating new discussions about old material. All these developments justify revisiting From Nomadism to Monarchy and providing an updated perspective thirty years later.  The introduction of archaeological sciences into the study of the Bronze and Iron Age Levant has opened new ways of investigating past societies and their material remains. Naturally, this was missing entirely from the original volume, and thus archaeological science has received special attention in this one. For instance, the study of the ancient environment has taken on a central

1. These include excavations of major sites, such as Tel Hazor (Ben-Tor, Ben-Ami and Sandhaus 2012), Tel Megiddo (Finkelstein, Ussishkin and Halpern 2000; 2006; Finkelstein, Ussishkin and Cline 2013; Finkelstein and Martin 2022), Tel Reḥov (Mazar and Panitz-Cohen 2020), Tel Aphek (Gadot and Yadin 2009), Tel Miqne/Ekron (Meehl, Dothan and Gitin 2006; Dothan, Garfinkel and Gitin 2016; 2017), Tell eṣ-Ṣafi/Gath (Maeir 2012; Maeir and Uziel 2020), Tel Ashkelon (Stager, Master and Aja 2020) and Tel Lachish (Ussishkin 2004).

introduction  3

and sometimes even the primary role in understanding the collapse and regeneration of societies throughout history. In this volume, climatic and environmental changes are discussed as a factor that ancient Southern Levantine societies had to deal with throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages (Langgut and Finkelstein, Chapter 1). Likewise, the sociopolitical structure of a given region plays a significant role in shaping reaction to environmental challenges. Another field of archaeological science that has had a major impact on the ways in which social transformations during the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age are considered is that of metallurgy and the study of the origins, production, technology, and movements of metals across the ancient Near East. In this volume, these phenomena are discussed in the context of state formation and the emergence of territorial kingdoms in the early Iron Age Southern Levant (Yahalom-Mack, Chapter 3; Ben-Yosef, Chapter 13). Likewise relevant, the study of animal exploitation trends can illuminate the economic strategies employed in adapting to changing social conditions. While these aspects have already been discussed in the original volume, the ongoing excavations at many sites throughout Israel have enabled a more nuanced and all-encompassing discussion of animal exploitation patterns during the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age (Sapir-Hen, Chapter 2). As previously mentioned, the former volume focused on the highlands, with most newly presented data having emerged from work in the central highlands, while little attention was given to other regions. The present volume elaborates upon the extensive archaeological exploration that has taken place in the lowlands of Israel over the past three decades. Several chapters present detailed accounts of the material remains from particular regions, including the Ḥula Valley (Kleiman, Chapter 6), the Jezreel Valley (Arie, Chapter 7) and the northern Coastal Plain (Lehmann, Chapter 4), as well as the Shephelah and the southern Coastal Plain (Maeir, Chapter 11; Koch, Chapter 12). Most of the data derives from the big mounds and major urban centers, thus adding an

urban perspective missing from the former volume. Examining this period with a focus on urban phenomena has facilitated a more nuanced understanding of developments over time, which has further enabled observations regarding regional particularities. Today, it would be inconceivable to discuss ancient Israel without regard for the more urban entities in the lowlands. The broad-view regional examination of the lowlands presented herein illustrates the many faces and trajectories that characterized the regeneration of Southern Levantine society following the Late Bronze Age collapse, a process spurred by both external and internal factors which involved both continuity and change. This view stands in marked contrast to previous conceptions of the region during this period, which envisioned the Bronze Age–Iron Age transition as the result of complete destruction. Alongside all the newly presented research from the lowlands, the highlands material record is further augmented, despite little new data having been retrieved. The full publication of the archaeological work in the central highlands that served as the foundation of the previous book2 has enabled a fresh analysis of existing material (Gadot, Chapter 9; Sergi, Chapter 10; Finkelstein, Chapter 17). In addition, new material from the highlands of the Galilee (Wachtel, Chapter 5) and Transjordan (Vieweger and Soennecken, Chapter 8) is presented here as an update and reanalysis of similar discussions in the former book. From a methodological point of view, it is noteworthy that many (if not all) of the studies compiled in the former book presupposed sharp, mutually exclusive social dichotomies, such as highlands vs. lowlands, rural vs. urban or sedentary vs. mobile. Accordingly, the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age was likewise conceived of as a complete break. This resulted in relatively linear reconstructions that presupposed direct and continuous transformations from nomadism to sedentarization, and from tribalism to monarchy. The studies compiled in this book present a more nuanced approach, acknowledging the complexity and fluidity of social structure, while observing the non-linear character

2. Most of the full archaeological reports of the surveys and excavations discussed in the former book were subsequently published. This is true for the excavations at highland sites such as Shiloh (Finkelstein, Bunimovitz and Lederman 1993), Shechem (Campbell 2002; Duff 2015) and Tel Dothan (Master et al. 2005), among others, and for all the surveys (Finkelstein and Magen 1993; Finkelstein and Lederman 1997; Zertal 2004; 2008; Zertal and Bar 2017; Zertal and Mirkam 2017; Zertal and Bar 2019; 2021; Bar and Zertal 2022).

4  ido koch, oded lipschits and omer sergi

of social processes. In doing so, they integrate new interpretive theories reigning within the fields of archaeology and the social sciences more broadly, which have developed over the past three decades. These tend to view social and political changes less in a dichotomous manner and more along a continuum. Studies compiled in this book highlight aspects of continuity in social and political trends that lingered from the Late Bronze Age into the Iron Age (Kleiman, Chapter 6; Arie, Chapter 7; Koch, Chapter 12). Hence, the increasing social complexity and early state formation are likewise viewed within their broader Levantine context rather than exclusively vis-à-vis the biblical narratives (Sergi, Chapter 10; Finkelstein, Chapter 17). At the same time, the primacy of the role of material remains in reconstruction of sociopolitical structures is called into question (Ben-Yosef, Chapter 13). Although the previous book introduced processual archaeology to the study of the Southern Levant, which was innovative at the time, its outlook was nevertheless still governed by a cultural-history approach. Namely, it was characterized by a belief in the existence of monolithic sociocultural groups who were situated in time and space. Consequently, it was assumed that these groups could be easily identified in the material remains. Clearly, the critical view of the biblical narrative, especially regarding the early monarchic period, was only in its early phases, and accordingly the historicity of the United Monarchy of David and Solomon was still taken for granted. The United Monarchy marked the chronological endpoint of the previous book, which was understood as the outcome of the sociopolitical processes highlighted by the studies compiled within it. In this respect, maybe more than any other, the current book marks a transition in methodological approaches to the discussion of material remains and textual sources. Questions of social belonging that were not dealt with in the former book are examined here from

both the material and textual perspectives. Social and political identities are not conceived of as monolithic, but rather as fluid entities, constantly in the making. Such approaches govern the discussion of Israelite identity (Sergi, Chapter 10) as well as other appellations such as Philistines or Canaanites (Maeir, Chapter 11; Koch, Chapter 12). The role of ceremonial gathering places in the creation of social belonging is also considered (Gadot, Chapter 9). These discussions reflect changing attitudes toward the biblical literature, its literary origins and growth, as well as its reliability as a witness to the events it purports to depict. In light of the aforementioned, the current volume also presents exegetical studies of biblical texts (which were largely missing from the first volume), that reflect the shift in research interests—from the origins of Israel and the historicity of Joshua and Judges to the early monarchic period and the historicity of Samuel–Kings. While in the former volume, Naʾaman expended considerable effort to demonstrate that the Book of Joshua could not attest to a pre-monarchic reality, the current volume takes this almost for granted, and it is the origins and literary growth of the book itself that are discussed (Edenburg, Chapter 14). Similarly, the historicity of the Book of Samuel is likewise met with skepticism, while the trajectory of investigative effort is focused on identifying its early literary origins and their date (Römer, Chapter 15; Naʾaman, Chapter 16). Beyond the update provided by the present volume, ultimately it reflects the most significant shifts in the focus of the scholarly discourse over the course of the past thirty years—from ancient Israel and its origins to the overall transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age and from the central Canaanite Highlands to the Southern Levant as a whole. We hope that these new facets and perspectives will stimulate further discussion, at least for the next 30 years.

introduction  5

REFERENCES Arie, E. 2013. The Late Bronze III, Late Iron I and Iron IIA Pottery Levels K-6, M-6, M-5, M-4 and H-9. In:

Finkelstein, I. and Magen, Y. 1993. Archaeological Survey of the Hill Country of Benjamin. Jerusalem.

Finkelstein, I., Ussishkin, D. and Cline, E.H., eds. Megiddo

Finkelstein, I. and Martin, M.A.S., eds. 2022. Megiddo VI: The

V: The 2004–2008 Season (Monograph Series of the

2010–2014 Seasons (Monograph Series of the Institute of

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Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 41). Tel Aviv and

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University Park, PA.

Bar, S. and Zertal, A. 2022. The Manasseh Hill Country Survey

Finkelstein, I. and Naʾaman, N., eds. 1994. From Nomadism to

Volume 7: The South-Eastern Samaria Shoulder, from Wadi

Monarchy: Archaeological and Historical Aspects of Early

Rashash to Wadi ʿAujah (Culture and History of the

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Ancient Near East 21.7). Leiden and Boston. Ben-Shlomo, D., Shai, I. and Maeir, A.M. 2004. Late Philistine Decorated Ware (“Ashdod Ware”): Typology, Chronology, and Production Centers. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 335: 1–35. Ben-Tor, A., Ben-Ami, D. and Sandhaus, D., eds. 2012. Hazor VI: The 1990–2009 Excavations; The Iron Age. Jerusalem. Campbell, E.F. 2002. Shechem III: The Stratigraphy and Architecture of Shechem/Tell Balatah (The American Schools of Oriental Research Reports 6). Boston.

Finkelstein, I. and Piasetzky, E. 2006. The Iron I–II in the Highlands and Beyond 14C Anchors, Pottery Phases and the Shoshenq I Campaign. Levant 38: 45–61. Finkelstein, I. and Piasetzky, E. 2011. The Iron Age Chronology Debate: Is the Gap Narrowing? Near Eastern Archaeology 74: 50–54. Finkelstein, I., Ussishkin, D. and Cline, E.H., eds. 2013. Megiddo V: The 2004–2008 Seasons (Monograph Series of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 31). Winona Lake. Finkelstein, I., Ussishkin, D. and Halpern, B., eds. 2000. Megiddo

Dothan, T., Garfinkel, Y. and Gitin, S. 2016. Tel Miqne-Ekron

III: The 1992–1996 Seasons (Monograph Series of the

Excavations 1985‒1988, 1990, 1992‒1995: Field IV

Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 18). Tel Aviv.

Lower—The Elite Zone Part 1: The Iron Age I Early

Finkelstein, I., Ussishkin, D. and Halpern, B., eds. 2006. Megiddo

Philistine City (Final Reports of the Tel Miqne-Ekron

IV: The 1998–2002 Seasons (Monograph Series of the

Excavations 9/1). Winona Lake.

Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 24). Tel

Dothan, T., Garfinkel, Y. and Gitin, S. 2017. Tel Miqne-Ekron

Aviv.

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Finkelstein, I., Weiner, S. and Boaretto, E. 2015. Preface—The

Lower—The Elite Zone Part 2: The Iron Age IIC Late

Iron Age in Israel: The Exact and Life Sciences Perspectives.

Philistine City (Final Reports of the Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavations 9/2). Winona Lake.

Radiocarbon 57: 197–206. Gadot, Y. and Yadin, E. 2009. Aphek-Antipatris II: The Remains

Dothan, T. and Zukerman, A. 2004. A Preliminary Study of the

on the Acropolis—The Moshe Kochavi and Pirhiya Beck

Mycenaean IIIC: 1 Pottery Assemblages from Tel Miqne-

Excavations (Monograph Series of the Institute of

Ekron and Ashdod. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 333: 1–54. Duff, C.A. 2015. Shechem V: The Late Bronze Age Pottery from Field XIII at Shechem/Tell Balṭah (The American Schools of Oriental Research Reports 23). Boston. Finkelstein, I., Bunimovitz, S. and Lederman, Z. 1993. Shiloh: The

Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 23). Tel Aviv. Herzog, Z. and Singer-Avitz, L. 2004. Redefining the Centre: The Emergence of State in Judah. Tel Aviv 31: 209–244. Herzog, Z. and Singer-Avitz, L. 2006. Sub-Dividing the Iron Age IIA in Northern Israel: A Suggested Solution to the Chronological Debate. Tel Aviv 33: 163–195.

Archaeology of a Biblical Site (Monograph Series of the

Herzog, Z. and Singer-Avitz, L. 2011. Iron Age IIA Occupational

Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 10). Tel Aviv.

Phases in the Coastal Plain of Israel. In: Finkelstein, I. and

Finkelstein, I. and Lederman, Z. 1997. Highlands of Many

Naʾaman N., eds. The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in

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the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze

of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 14).

Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David

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Lee, S., Bronk Ramsey, C. and Mazar, A. 2013. Iron Age Chronology

Toffolo, M.B., Arie, E., Martin, M.A.S., Boaretto, E. and

in Israel: Results from Modeling with a Trapezoidal Bayesian

Finkelstein, I. 2014. Absolute Chronology of Megiddo,

Framework. Radiocarbon 55: 731–740.

Israel, in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages: High-Resolution

Maeir, A.M. 2012. Tell es-Safi/Gath 1: The 1996–2005 Seasons (Ägypten und Altes Testament 69). Wiesbaden.

Radiocarbon Dating. Radiocarbon 56: 221–244. Ussishkin, D. 2004. The Renewed Archaeological Excavations

Maeir, A.M. and Uziel, J., eds. 2020. Tell es-Safi/Gath II:

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Shechem Syncline (Culture and History of the Ancient Near

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East 21.1). Leiden and Boston.

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in the Southern Levant: Its History, the Current Situation,

The Eastern Valleys and the Fringes of the Desert

and a Suggested Resolution. In: Levy, TE. and Higham, T.,

(Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 21.2).

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and Science. London: 15–30.

Zertal, A. and Bar, S. 2017. The Manasseh Hill Country Survey

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and History of the Ancient Near East 21.4). Leiden and

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Mazar, A. and Panitz-Cohen, N. 2020. Tel Reḥov: A Bronze and

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Iron Age City in the Beth-Shean Valley, Vol. 1: Introduction,

Volume 5: The Middle Jordan Valley, from Wadi Fasael

Synthesis and Excavations on the Upper Mound (Qedem

to Wadi ʿAujah (Culture and History of the Ancient Near

59). Jerusalem.

East 21.5). Leiden and Boston.

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Excavations 1995–1996: Field INE East Slope Iron Age I

Volume 6: The Eastern Samaria Shoulder, from Nahal

(Early Philistine Period) (Tel Miqne-Ekron Final Report

Tirzah (Wadi Farʾah) to Maʿale Ephraim Junction

Series 8). Jerusalem.

(Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 21.6).

Naʾaman, N. and Finkelstein, I., eds. 1990. From Nomadism to Monarchy: Archaeological and Historical Aspects of Early Israel. Jerusalem (Hebrew). Stager, L.E., Master, D.M. and Aja, A.J. 2020. Ashkelon 7: The Iron Age I. University Park, PA.

Leiden and Boston. Zertal, A. and Mirkam, N. 2017. The Manasseh Hill Country Survey Volume 3: From Nahal ʿIron to Nahal Shechem (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 21.3). Leiden and Boston.

1 Paleo-environment of the Southern Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages The Pollen Evidence Dafna Langgut and Israel Finkelstein

Introduction The Bronze and Iron Ages 1 in the Levant were characterized by dramatic historical developments— the rise and collapse of urban societies during the Bronze Age, the emergence of territorial kingdoms during the early phases of the Iron Age and the domination of the region by great empires during the latter part of the Iron Age. These transformations and events are reflected in the archaeological record as increasing economic prosperity or decline and destruction. They are likewise represented by sharp settlement oscillations, including human movements between the Mediterranean, semi-arid and desert environments (Finkelstein 1995). These oscillations

may have resulted from climate changes (e.g., years of severe drought), and/or indicate changes in human behavior, such as the transformation of subsistence patterns influenced by economic and social factors, political struggles, warfare and environmental or natural disasters (such as earthquakes and pestilence2). Indeed, given the long period under discussion and the absence or dearth of textual evidence, researchers are still debating the triggers behind these dynamics—historical and environmental. In this review, we present a regional climatological history of the Bronze and Iron Ages based on well-dated palynological records. In addition, this research traces evidence of human interference in natural vegetation as reflected in the pollen curves, such as olive horticulture and deforestation. Palynology is

* The study that led to the results presented in this essay was generously supported by the Neubauer Foundation, as part of the “Neubauer Near East Paleo-Climate Project” and by the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007– 2013) / ERC Grant Agreement No. 229418. We wish to thank Mordechai Stein, Frank Neumann and Thomas Litt and his team from the Bonn Palynological Laboratory for their help in the extraction of the Sea of Galilee and Zeʾelim sediment cores. We further wish to acknowledge Mark Cavanagh and Itamar Ben-Ezra for their help in drawing the maps. 1. The dating of phases in the Bronze and Iron Ages follows the radiocarbon of the last two decades (for instance, Regev et al. 2012 for the Early Bronze Age and the transition to the Intermediate Bronze Age; Finkelstein and Piasetzky 2010; Toffolo et al. 2014 for the Iron Age; Martin, Finkelstein and Piasetzky 2020 for the Late Bronze Age; the latter also reflects on the much debated date of transition from Middle to Late Bronze Age – see Bietak 1991; 2013; Höflmayer 2017. 2. For the balance between these two factors, see Greener, Finkelstein and Langgut 2018.

8  dafna langgut and israel finkelstein

considered a powerful tool in the reconstruction of past vegetation, climate history and human relations with the natural environment (Bryant 1989; Faegri and Iversen 1989). The Southern Levant went through multiple climate fluctuations during the Late Holocene (Bookman [Ken Tor] et al. 2004; Migowski et al. 2006; Litt et al. 2012; Langgut et al. 2015 and references therein; Kaniewski et al. 2017; Laugomer 2017). The region is considered a sensitive recorder for tracing links between climate and cultural changes, due to the existence of several different vegetation zones within its relatively small territory. The question of how and to what extent environmental changes affected human activity in this area during antiquity has been a matter of debate (e.g., Rambeau 2010).

The Palynological Records Here we summarize the results of two palynological records: The Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) and the Zeʾelim (Dead Sea) profiles (Figs. 1.1b and 1.2). These studies were conducted by one of us (DL; in cooperation with Thomas Litt of the University of Bonn, Frank Neumann of the North-West University SA, and Mordechai Stein of the Israel Geological Survey) as part of a project titled “Reconstructing Ancient (Biblical) Israel: The Exact and Life Science Perspective,” funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The project was directed by one of us (IF) along with Steve Weiner of the Weizmann Institute of Science from 2009 to 2014. The two palynological

diagrams have already been published and discussed in detail in a series of articles (Langgut, Finkelstein and Litt 2013; Langgut et al. 2014; 2015; Langgut, Lev-Yadun and Finkelstein 2014; Langgut, Adams and Finkelstein 2016; Finkelstein and Langgut 2014; 2018). Here we provide a broad-scale summary of the evidence. In order to attain this broad view, our Sea of Galilee and Zeʾelim diagrams were compared to two other high resolution (consisting of pollen sample intervals separated by only a few decades) well-dated palynological records: ʿEin Feshkha (Neumann et al. 2007a) and Birkat Ram (Neumann et al. 2007b). The four records present a north–south transect of 220 km along the Southern Levant (Fig. 1.3; based on Langgut et al. 2015: Fig. 4). Four main pollen curves are compared: Quercus (oak), Pinus halepensis (pine), Olea europaea (olive)3 and total tree pollen of the Mediterranean maquis/forest.4

Sea of Galilee Sediment Core The Sea of Galilee receives its water from the Jordan River and from some shorter rivers which flow into the Rift Valley from the Galilee Mountains and the Golan Heights (Fig. 1.1a). In 2010, an 18 m core, covering almost the entire Holocene, was extracted from the northern inner part of the lake (Fig. 1.1b). Five and a half meters of this profile, corresponding to the timespan between the Early Bronze IB and the end of the Iron Age (composite depth of 458.8‒1006.6 cm), were analyzed at 40-year intervals between pollen samples (Langgut, Finkelstein and Litt 2013: 154; Langgut et al.

3. Olea europaea (olive) was among the most important cultivated plants in the region since the Early Bronze Age (e.g., Zohary, Hopf and Weiss 2012). It grows today in the Southern Levantine Mediterranean climate zone primarily as a cultivated tree (Zohary 1973; Langgut et al. 2019). The wild olive is a minor component of the native Mediterranean Quercus calliprinos–Pistacia palaestina association as evident by Pleistocene and Early Holocene pollen diagrams (Horowitz 1979; Weinstein-Evron 1983; Kadosh et al. 2004; van Zeist and Bottema 2009; Langgut et al. 2011, 2019). Based on both palynological evidence (Baruch 1990; Neumann et al. 2007a; 2007b; van Zeist, Baruch and Bottema 2009; Litt et al. 2012) and archaeological finds (e.g., Zohary and Spiegel-Roy 1975; Epstein 1978; Gophna and Kislev 1979; Neef 1990; Eitam 1993), it is obvious that by the Early Bronze Age Olea had already been intensely cultivated in the Southern Levant. This evergreen wind-pollinated tree has a very efficient pollen dispersal system (e.g., Baruch 1993) and has a strong response to cessation and resumption of orchard cultivation (resulting in dramatic fluctuations in pollen production following abandonment or rehabilitation of olive orchards). It is therefore considered to be a reliable marker for identifying agricultural activity in antiquity (Langgut, Lev-Yadun and Finkelstein 2014). 4. This group sums up all the Mediterranean trees and large shrubs. It is dominated by evergreen and deciduous oaks while other Mediterranean trees appear in lower percentages (e.g., Phillyrea, Pistacia spp., Pinus halepensis and Ceratonia siliqua). Cultivated olives were combined within the natural elements of the Mediterranean forest (the Mediterranean arboreal pollen; grey pollen curves on Fig. 1.3), which evidently includes wild olive trees, while desert trees such as Acacia and Tamarix were excluded. In general, Mediterranean trees and shrubs require at least 350 mm of annual rainfall in order to thrive (e.g., Zohary 1973). Therefore, fluctuations in the Mediterranean arboreal pollen curve can provide information about climate, especially in the climate-sensitive areas located on the fringe of the Mediterranean zone (Finkelstein and Langgut 2014).

paleo-environment of the southern levant during the bronze and iron ages  9

a

b Upper Galilee Lower Galilee

Ḥula

Eastern Galilee Mountains

Upper Jordan River

Golan Heights Golan Heights

Sea of Galilee

Mediterranean Sea

Jordan River

Sea of Galilee

Lower Jordan River

Yarmouk River

Samaria

Judean Highlands

Dead Sea

Shephelah

Kerak Plataeau

Fig. 1.1 a) The location of the four fossil pollen records discussed in this paper: Negev

Birkat Ram (Schwab et al. 2004; Neumann et al. 2007b) Sea of Galilee (Langgut, Finkelstein and Litt 2013; Langgut et al. 2015) ʿEin Feshkha (Neumann et al. 2007a) Zeʾelim Gully (Langgut et al. 2014) Note the phytogeographic zones and rainfall isohyets characterizing the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea drainage basin (drawn by Itamar Ben-Ezra on the basis of Zohary 1962 and Srebro and Soffer 2011, respectively; originally published in Finkelstein and Langgut 2018: Fig. 1) b) The Sea of Galilee with the coring location near Station A

2015: 220). Other sections of the profile were investigated at a lower resolution of ca. 120 years between samples (Schiebel 2013: 26 and Appendix 6; Schiebel and Litt 2018). During most of the Holocene, the Sea of Galilee stood at ca. 212 m below mean sea level (msl); yet, there were periods when the lake’s level dropped to the point that the shallower southern end was exposed (Hazan et al. 2005). The chronological framework of the Sea of Galilee record presented here is based on an age-depth model, composed of nine radiocarbon AMS dates of short-lived organic samples (Langgut, Adams and Finkelstein 2016: Table 1). The Sea of Galilee sediment core is characterized by a relatively homogeneous lithology, with no evidence of any hiatus; thus, sediment

deposition can reliably be considered continuous. This is supported by the uniformity of pollen concentration values throughout the record (Langgut, Finkelstein and Litt 2013: Fig. 2). A detailed palynological diagram of the Bronze and Iron Ages has already been presented elsewhere (Langgut et al. 2015: Fig. 3).

Zeʾelim (Dead Sea) Sediment Outcrop The Zeʾelim Gully is located east of the Masada Plain (Fig. 1.2a). The Zeʾelim Ravine drains the southern part of the Judean Desert, carrying waters and sediments that originate on the eastern flank of the Judean Highlands (Fig. 1.2b). Currently, water flows through the wadi

10  dafna langgut and israel finkelstein

a

b Dead Sea

Zeʾelim Sediment Section Hellenistic/Early Roman Period Persian Period Iron Age Late Bronze Middle Bronze

Fig. 1.2 a) Gullies of the Zeʾelim fan delta cut into terraces created by the recession of the Dead Sea (Google Earth); the red circle marks the sampling location b) The Zeʾelim sediment section where we conducted our palynological and sedimentological investigations, with main archaeological periods and elevations; presented in meters below msl (photo: Dafna Langgut)

several days per year, mainly during winter months. Over the course of the Holocene, the Dead Sea has fluctuated between 370 and 430 m below msl (Frumkin and Elitzur 2002; Enzel et al. 2003; Bookman [Ken-Tor] et al. 2004; Migowski et al. 2006). At present the lake stands at 432 m below msl, due to the significant withdrawal of water for irrigation and drinking as well as the maintenance of evaporation ponds in the southern basin of the Dead Sea, which has occurred primarily within the past three decades. This continuous anthropogenic lake level drop (>100 cm/year) has resulted in the formation of deep gullies along the lake’s shore terraces and has exposed the Holocene Zeʾelim Formation (Bookman [Ken-Tor] et al. 2004) (Fig. 1.2a). Within the framework of an ERC project, a sediment outcrop was extracted from the Zeʾelim Gully exposure. Several 50 cm long sediment wall-profiles were collected and sampled for pollen analysis at ca. 5 cm intervals (Langgut et al. 2014); each sample represents a few decades. This sediment outcrop is located near the section previously studied by Neumann et al.

(2007a), who analyzed the pollen record at a lower and irregular resolution. The proximity to this older profile enabled us to perform a stratigraphic and chronological correlation (Langgut et al. 2014; Kagan et al. 2015). The chronology of the entire integrated sediment sequence is based on 11 radiocarbon AMS dates of short-lived organic material and on the identification of a seismic event dated to the 8th century BCE (Kagan et al. 2011). The Zeʾelim compiled profile covers the time interval of ca. 2500–500 BCE—from the beginning of the Intermediate Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age. The different sediment facies characterizing this sedimentological section accumulated in two depositional environments: shore environment (coarsesand units, beach ridges, aragonite crusts and ripple marks) and lacustrine environment (laminated-detritus, laminated aragonite and detritus). The former is indicative of low Dead Sea lake levels, while the latter depositional environment represents an increase in lake levels. Detailed descriptions of the stratigraphy, sedimentology and radiocarbon chronology of the

paleo-environment of the southern levant during the bronze and iron ages  11

Zeʾelim sediment outcrop are given elsewhere (Langgut et al. 2014 and Kagan et al. 2015).

The Southern Levant: Current Climate and Vegetation The Southern Levant features two main climate gradients. The first is a dramatic transformation from a sub-humid Mediterranean climate (>800 mm of mean annual precipitation) in the north to hyper-arid climate in the southern Negev Desert (