THE BEGINNING OF THE IRON AGE IN PALESTINE

This dissertation is a study of the Bronze-Iron Age transition in Palestine, covering the archaeological evidence only. The first part of the dissertation establishes a chronological and stratigraphic framework for understanding recent Early Iron Age discoveries in Palestine. The second part of the dissertation is a collection of these discoveries. The dissertation concludes with analysis which puts the collection in its chronological and cultural context. The classical criteria for establishing a Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age Palestinian chronology have been Egyptian inscriptions, along with Mycenaean, Cypriot, and Philistine pottery. These criteria are analyzed according to their stratigraphic position at such sites as Tell Beit Mirsim, Beth Shemesh, Bethel, Megiddo, Hazor, Beth Shan, Lachish, Ashdod, and other major tells excavated in Palestine. It is concluded that the Late Bronze Age came to an end at these sites over a period of 100 years (c. 1250-1150 B.C.) and that at many sites this process unfolded in stages, there being no abrupt end to the Late Bronze Age. Recent excavations in Palestine have concentrated on Early Iron Age village sites which appear to complement the picture drawn from the major tells. Architectural and ceramic evidence is collected from the following sites: Khirbet et-Teleil, Afula, Tel Quiri, Taanach, \u27Ai, Giloh, Izbet Sarta, Tell Qasile, Tel Sippor, Beer-Sheva, Tel Masos, Tel Esdar, Khirbet Raddana, and a site near Menorah. A corpus of architectural and ceramic types is presented. It is concluded that this corpus forms a homogeneous assemblage of Early Iron Age village culture common throughout western Palestine from the Galilee to the Negev and from the Jordan Valley to the Philistine Plain. Within this homogeneous assemblage regional subassemblages are noted especially for those villages in the Negev and Jezreel Valley regions. These villages, as a phenomenon, may have begun as early as c. 1250 B.C. and the latest villages may have been founded c. 1150 B.C. The villages, therefore, began during the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Ages and not after the transition had taken place. The villages further, are seen as a response to the break up of Late Bronze Age civilization and not as a cause of that break up