Description
Book SynopsisThe area of the Judean Foothills – the biblical Shephelah – has in recent years become one of the most intensively excavated regions in the world. Numerous projects, at sites of different types and utilizing various methodological approaches, are actively excavating in this region. Of particular importance are the discoveries dating to the Iron Age, a period when this region was a transition zone between various cultures—Philistine, Canaanite, Judahite, and Israelite. The current volume includes reports from eight of the excavations currently being conducted in the region (Azekah, Beth Shemesh, Gezer, Khirbet Qeiyafa, Tel Burna, Tel Halif, Tell es-Safi/Gath, and Tel Zayit), as well as a general study of the region by Ido Koch. The importance of this volume lies not only in the fact that it collects up-to-date reports on most of the current excavations in the region but also demonstrates the lively, at times even boisterous, scholarly discussions taking place on various issues relating to the archaeology and history of the Iron Age Shephelah and its immediate environs.
This volume serves as an excellent introduction to current research on the Iron Age in this crucial zone and also serves as a reflection of current trends, methodologies, and approaches in the archaeology of the Southern Levant.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Aren M. Maeir and Oded Lipschits
Four Seasons of Excavations at Tel Azekah: The Expected and (Especially) Unexpected Results
Oded Lipschits, Yuval Gadot, and Manfred Oeming
Swinging on the “Sorek Seesaw”: Tel Beth-Shemesh and the Sorek Valley in the Iron Age
Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman
Tel Burna: A Judahite Fortified Town in the Shephelah
Itzhaq Shai
Tel Gezer Excavations 2006–2015: The Transformation of a Border City
Steven M. Ortiz and Samuel R. Wolff
Tell Halif in the Late Bronze and Iron Age
Oded Borowski
The Iron Age City of Khirbet Qeiyafa
Yosef Garfinkel
Philistine Gath after 20 Years: Regional perspectives on the Iron Age at Tell eṣ-Ṣafi/Gath
Aren M. Maeir
The Archaeology and History of Tel Zayit: A Record of Liminal Life
Ron E. Tappy
Settlements and Interactions in the Shephelah during the Late Second through Early First Millennia BCE
Ido Koch
