The Chronology of the Iron Age in Israel : The Current State of Research

This paper summarises the Iron Age chronology of ancient Israel. The written data are few. In addition to the historical parts of the Old Testament there are some external references to events in the country and a few inscriptions were recovered in the excavations. The chronological framework of the Iron Age is primarily based on data from four sites - Megiddo, Lachish, Samaria and Jerusalem. Four related problems are also dicussed: The date of the Philistine migration and settlement; The campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I/Shishak; the foundation of Samaria and Jezreel; and the archaeology of Jerusalem during the Iron Age and its implications. Finally, the current scholarly debate on the chronology of the tenth-ninth centuries and the application of the 14 C dating method for establishing the chronology of this period are discussed.