Ilan Sharon

Report on the first stage of the Iron Age dating project in Israel: Supporting a low chronology

The traditional chronology of ancient Israel in the 11th9th centuries BCE was constructed mainly by correlating archaeological phenomena with biblical narratives and with Bible-derived chronology. The chronology of Cyprus and Greece, and hence of points further west, are in turn based on that of the Levant. Thus, a newly proposed chronology, about 75100 yr lower than the conventional one, bears crucial implications not only for biblical history and historiography but also for cultural processes around the Mediterranean. A comprehensive radiocarbon program was initiated to try and resolve this dilemma. It involves several hundreds of measurements from 21 sites in Israel. Creating the extensive databases necessary for the resolution of tight chronological problems typical of historical periods involves issues of quality control, statistical treatment, modeling, and robustness analysis. The results of the first phase of the dating program favor the new, lower chronology.

An archaeological contribution to the early Iron Age chronological debate: Alternative chronologies for phoenicia and their effects on the levant, Cyprus, and Greece

The debate over the chronology of the early Iron Age in Israel by far transcends Palestinian archaeology, history, and biblical historiography. Chronologies for most of the adjacent regions, and those of entities farther afield, such as Cyprus and Greece, are largely dependent on the Levant. The debate has centered to date mainly on historical considerations, adjusting the chronologies of the material record to the different proposed scenarios. This article advocates an opposite approach, namely, constructing detailed artifactual, mainly ceramic sequences, anchoring these to an absolute time scale by 14C dating, and only then correlating them with historical data. Southern Phoenicia is proposed as a starting point for such an endeavor. Not only does it offer the most detailed stratigraphic/ceramic sequence to date for the early Iron Age in the Southern Levant, its commercial ties provide a wealth of ceramic indices for correlating the Phoenician sequence with other series of the Levant and farther Mediterranean regions. To a large extent these overcome problems of regionalism, which otherwise hamper attempts at chronological cross-correlations in this relatively fragmented period. Two alternative chronologies are presented: the traditional, high chronology, which has been established mainly on the basis of biblical/historical considerations, and the newly proposed low one, which is supported by radiometric dates from Tel Dor. The adoption of either one will entail a revision of parts of the Cypro-Geometric and Greek (Euboean) Proto-Geometric chronologies.

DATING THE IRON AGE I/II TRANSITION IN ISRAEL: FIRST INTERCOMPARISON RESULTS

Nearly a decade ago, a different chronology than the conventional absolute chronology for the early Iron Age in Israel was suggested. The new, lower chronology transfers Iron Age I and Iron Age IIA contexts in Israel, traditionally dated to the 11th and 10th centuries BCE, to the 10th and 9th centuries, respectively. Thus, it places the Iron I|IIA transition at about 920900 BCE. This alternative chronology carries important implications for Israelite history, historiography, and Bible research, as well as for the chronologies of other regions around the Mediterranean. Relevant radiocarbon data sets published to date, which were measured at different sites by different laboratories, were claimed to be incompatible. Therefore, the question of agreement between laboratories and dating methods needs to be addressed at the outset of any study attempting to resolve such a tight chronological dilemma. This paper addresses results pertaining to this issue as part of a comprehensive attempt to date the early Iron Age in Israel based on many sites, employing different measuring techniques in 2 laboratories. The intercomparison results demonstrate that: a) the agreement between the 2 laboratories is well within the standard in the 14C community and that no bias can be detected in either laboratory; and b) calculating the Iron I|IIa transition in 3 different ways (twice independently by the measurements obtained at the 2 labs and then by combining the dates of both) indicates that the lower chronology is the preferable one.

Early Iron Age Radiometric Dates From Tel Dor: Preliminary Implications For Phoenicia And Beyond

The absolute date of the Iron Age I and IIa periods in Israel, and by inference in the Southern Levant at large, are to date among the hottest debated issues in Syro-Palestinian archaeology. As there are no pegs of absolute chronology throughout this range, conventional chronology had been established on proposed correlations of the material record with events and social phenomena as portrayed in historical and literary sources, chiefly the Hebrew Bible. With the growing impact of so-called revisionist notions in Biblical studies, which to various extents question the historicity of the Bible, it is imperative to try to establish a chronological framework for the Iron I-IIa range that is independent of historical and so forth considerations, inter alia in order to be able to offer an independent archaeological perspective of the biblical debate. The most obvious solution is to attempt a radiocarbon-based chronology. This paper explores the possible implications of a sequence of 22 radiometric dates obtained from a detailed Iron I-IIa stratigraphic/ceramic sequence at Tel Dor, on Israels Mediterranean coast. To date, this is the largest such sequence from any single early Iron Age site in Israel. Having been part of the Phoenician commercial sphere in the early Iron Age, Dor offers a variegated sequence of ceramics that have a significant spatial distribution beyond Phoenicia, and thus transcend regional differences and enable correlation with the surrounding regions. By and large, the absolute dates of these ceramics by the Dor radiometric chronology are up to a century lower than those established by conventional Palestinian ceramic chronology. The ramifications of the lower Dor dates for some Phoenician, Israelite, and Cypriot early Iron Age archaeological issues are explored.

Food, Economy, and Culture at Tel Dor, Israel: A Diachronic Study of Faunal Remains from 15 Centuries of Occupation

This paper presents the results of a study of the cultural and economic changes from a longue durée perspective as reflected in the animal remains from a nearly continuous occupation spanning the early Iron Age through the Roman period at Tel Dor, a harbor town on Israels Carmel coast. Such long-term zooarchaeological analyses are currently rare. Focusing on the choice of food, as well as on animal exploitation methods/strategies, the paper asks whether changes through time can be explained in economic or cultural terms, whether they can be correlated with changes in the sites material culture, whether they reflect some change in the sites population, or should be explained in terms of the adoption of new cultural norms. The results demonstrate that during a millennium and a half of Dors existence, there was very little change in most patterns of animal exploitation and consumption. The only apparent change was in the increase in pig remains between the early Iron Age and the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In view of the constancy in all other exploitation characteristics, and in light of other data from Dor, the paper suggests that this change does not reflect a change in the sites population but rather the adoption of new norms.

Phoenician and Greek Ashlar Construction Techniques at Tel Dor, Israel

This study describes the ashlar construction techniques used at Dor from the late Iron Age through the Hellenistic period; the primary typological criterion used is the pattern in which the blocks are set in the wall. The study then attempts to reevaluate the question of Palestinian ashlar construction using the new data and the proposed typology. Two ashlar construction traditions are identified within the Palestinian assemblage. The first originated in Phoenicia and was used continuously from the tenth to the second century B. C. No clear case can be made for the diffusion of this style to the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean. Although some influence of Greek construction styles is first discernible in the third century B. C., it does not become predominant until after the middle of the second century.

Partial order scalogram analysis of relations—a mathematical approach to the analysis of stratigraphy

Abstract The use of partial scalogram analysis is suggested as an alternative to Harris matrix analysis for the phasing of complexly stratified sites. This paper contains a formal mathematical presentation of the partial order scalogram analysis of relations (POSAR) model. Two algorithms for obtaining optimal solutions to the POSAR problem-steepest descent and stimulated annealing—are compared, and several computational and Archaeological problems pertaining to the mathematical modelling of stratigraphic analysis are discussed.

Identifying a Roman Casting Pit at Tel Dor, Israel: Integrating Field and Laboratory Research

Abstract The functional identification of industrial features is difficult when few characteristic artifacts are preserved. We studied a Roman-period pyrotechnological feature at Tel Dor, Israel, where the only possibly diagnostic ceramic artifacts were found in fill between the walls and above the floor, rendering their association with the feature itself uncertain. The ceramic artifacts included coarse slabs and fragments of utilitarian vessels, some vitrified with adhering bronze droplets or slag-like residues. Analysis of the sediments within and around the industrial feature, using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer on-site, revealed high concentrations of copper and lead, indicating metallurgical activity. Lead isotope analyses showed that the slag-like residue adhering to a ceramic fragment had the same isotopic values as the sediments, implying that the fragment was associated with the activities carried out in the feature. Microscopic and chemical analyses of the slag-like residue demonstrated that it was produced from melting leaded bronze. Some of the ceramic fragments contained elongated impressions on their inner surfaces, similar to those of casting molds found at other sites. We propose that the feature was used as a casting pit for bronze objects.

An Iron Age I Canaanite/Phoenician Courtyard House at Tel Dor: A Comparative Architectural and Functional Analysis

In this paper, we present an analysis of an Iron Age I dwelling at the Phoenician site of Dor, on Israels Carmel coast. We provide a definition for the architectural mental template for this type of house—a Central Courtyard Hash-Plan House. By combining an analysis of the size and layout of the house, and the distribution of artifacts and ecofacts in it, we define rooms devoted to specialized economic activities such as food production and storage and also attempt to identify gendered spaces. We conclude that the house was a self-contained agrarian unit engaged in complex economic activity. The same conceptual plan, housing similar economic activities, can be identified in other dwellings in the southern Levant, from Late Bronze Age I to Late Iron Age IIA. The gradual disappearance of this house type, vis-à-vis the emergence, on the one hand, of smaller and simpler dwellings such as the ubiquitous Four-Room House and, on the other, that of public facilities for specialized economic tasks, signifies to our minds a fundamental ideological and economic transformation, a change in the habitus of Levantine society—namely, the gradual segregation between households and various aspects of economic life.

Capital of Solomon's Fourth District? Israelite Dor

Abstract 1 Kings 4 relates that Dor, the major port-town on Israels Carmel coast, constituted part of the Solomonic state. This formed the basis for several historical reconstructions. Here, for the first time, we examine all the relevant archaeological data available after three decades of excavations at Tel Dor. We conclude that indeed, archaeology supports a scenario whereby Dor passed from Phoenician to Israelite hands, but that this happened in the second half of the 9th century BC. This shift involved a significant change in the role of Dor and its harbour, exemplified by changes in urban layout, ceramic production, and in commercial and other interaction spheres.