Archaeologist Makes a Case for Discovery of Judean Town of Time of King David

[Sarah]

Archaeologist Makes a Case for Discovery of a Judean Town of the Time of King David

By Shmuel Browns   Sat, Oct 01, 2011




Archaeologist at the City of David Conference in Jerusalem presents evidence that he suggests supports the identification of an ancient biblical Judean town built by a centralized authority during the time of King David.
Archaeologist Makes a Case for Discovery of a Judean Town of the Time of King David

The traditional view based on the Biblical account is that in the 10th century King David ruled over a United Monarchy consisting of Judea in the south and Israel in the north. By the 9th century it had split into two kingdoms, Israel that continued to exist until the Assyrian conquest in 721BCE and Judea that continued until the Babylonian destruction in 586BCE. In contrast the Minimalist school refuted the idea of a United Monarchy and saw David as a mythical figure. The kingdom of Israel established itself first, in the 9th century (low chronology) and a monarchy developed in Judea only after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel in the late 8th century. With the discovery of the House of David stele at Dan the Minimalists had to grudgingly concede that David could exist but was a minor chieftain who ruled over a limited area, not an extensive kingdom ruled from a centralized location. With the discoveries at Khirbet Qeiyafa, a site in the Elah valley, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University is convinced that he has uncovered a Judean town that is dated to the 10th Century B.C.E. To build fortifications like those at Khirbet Qeiyafa, requiring moving 200,000 tons of stone, could not have been a local initiative but would have required a centralized government.

The site is small, 23 dunam enclosed with a casement wall situated on a hill overlooking the Elah valley with human occupation for about 20 years. Garfinkel suggests that the site was destroyed by Phillistine Gath/Tel Safi, a larger town only 12 km to the west (archaeologist Maier, who heads the excavations at Tel es-Safi nearby, concurs); the Bible decribes numerous border disputes in the Elah Valley region during the 11th-10th century BCE. There are only 3 buillding strata: 1) the late Roman/Byzantine period, 4th to 6th century when it included a fortress or caravansery at the center of the site, 2) late Persian or early Hellenstic period (ca. 350-270BCE) and 3) the lowest stratum directly on the bedrock dated to Iron Age IIA, existing in the late 11th to early 10th century. The dating is based on pottery and artifacts correlated with the results of radiometric (Carbon 14) dating of 4 burnt olive pits that yield a calibrated date of 1051 to 969BCE with 77.8% probability, supporting the ‘high chronology” of the biblical traditionalists.

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Photo, Top Left: Remains of the southern gate at Khirbet Qeiyafa. Photo by Shmuel Browns

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/september-2011/article/archaeologist-makes-a-case-for-discovery-of-a-judean-town-of-the-time-of-king-david

[Sarah]

Shmuel Browns is a licensed tour guide and photographer who lives in Jerusalem. Passionate about Israel, Shmuel takes people throughout the country exposing them to its history, nature and culture. Shmuel blogs about some of his experiences
at http://israeltours.wordpress.com

[Sarah]

FREE* Guided Tour of Khirbet Qeiyafa, Fri. Oct 14, 2011

Monday, October 03, 2011 Shmuel

For readers of Popular Archaeology who are living in Israel or will be visiting, you are invited to the 2nd *FREE* tour, this time we'll be exploring Khirbet Qeiyafa, a small site on a hill overlooking the Elah valley where Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University is convinced that he has uncovered a Judean town that is dated to the 10th C, the time of King David - we'll learn why this may be a very significant discovery. In excavating the site, two identical, 4 chamber gates were discovered. suggesting that it could be Shaarayim (Hebrew for two gates) mentioned 3 times in the Bible. We'll meet where the Israel trail crosses highway 38 at 9am sharp. Wear good walking shoes, bring water, hat, sunscreen - we'll be walking a couple of kilometers on the Israel trail to the site. Suitable for young would-be archaeologists. Hope to see you there. Shmuel