The chronology of Gezer from the end of the late bronze age to iron age II: A meeting point for radiocarbon, archaeology egyptology and the Bible

PLoS One. 2023 Nov 15;18(11):e0293119. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293119. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The ancient southern Levantine city of Gezer is well-known from Egyptian, Biblical and Assyrian sources, associated with power struggles, conquests, and intriguing tales involving figures such as Milkilu and Amenhotep III, Merneptah, the Philistines, Solomon and his unidentified pharaonic father-in-law, and Shishak / Sheshonq I. Since the identity of Gezer with "Tell Jezer" is quite literally 'set in stone' by some dozen boundary inscriptions, along with impressive Bronze and Iron Age remains, research at this site provides a unique opportunity to compare text and archaeology, as well as bring to light the undocumented everyday lives of the city's inhabitants. In this endeavour, independent scientific dating is crucial for anchoring the remains chronologically. This paper presents the first substantial radiocarbon dataset and Bayesian chronological analysis for Gezer spanning the last part of the Late Bronze Age (LBA; LB IIB) through Iron Age II. The dataset derives from an essentially continuous stratigraphic sequence exposed in recent years by the Tandy expedition along the central-southern edge of the site. The results allow us for the first time to independently determine the site chronology, test the viability (from a chronological perspective) of proposed historical correlations, and contribute to debates on Philistine and Iron Age chronology.

MeSH terms

  • Archaeology* / methods
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Bible*
  • Radiometric Dating / methods
  • Time

Grants and funding

LW was supported by Austrian Science Fund (FWF) START grant Y-932, “Tracing transformations in the southern Levant” directed by Felix Höflmayer, https://www.fwf.ac.at/de/, https://tracingtransformations.com/. The Gezer excavations were sponsored by the Tandy Institute for Archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, https://swbts.edu/; the publication project is now sponsored by Lipscomb University, https://www.lipscomb.edu/arts-sciences/lanier-center. Funding for radiocarbon measurements was provided by the excavation project and by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) grant AP11332, https://portal.ansto.gov.au/. Collaboration for radiocarbon sampling during the 2017 field season was supported by a Heritage Excavation Fellowship from the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), https://www.asor.org/fellowships/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.