History of ancient Israel and Judah Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Iron Age I (1150β950 BCE)== Archaeologist Paula McNutt says: "It is probablyβ¦ during Iron Age I [that] a population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'," differentiating itself from its neighbours via prohibitions on intermarriage, an emphasis on [[family history]] and [[genealogy]], and religion.<ref>McNutt 1999, p. 35.</ref> In the Late Bronze Age there were no more than about 25 villages in the highlands, but this increased to over 300 by the end of Iron Age I, while the settled population doubled from 20,000 to 40,000.<ref name= "mcnutt70">McNutt (1999), pp. 46β47.</ref> The villages were more numerous and larger in the north, and probably shared the highlands with pastoral [[nomad]]s, who left no remains.<ref name= "mcnutt69">McNutt (1999), p. 69.</ref> Archaeologists and historians attempting to trace the origins of these villagers have found it impossible to identify any distinctive features that could define them as specifically Israelite{{snd}} [[pithos|collared-rim jars]] and four-room houses have been identified outside the highlands and thus cannot be used to distinguish Israelite sites,<ref>Miller 1986, p. 72.</ref> and while the pottery of the highland villages is far more limited than that of lowland Canaanite sites, it develops typologically out of Canaanite pottery that came before.<ref name= "killebrew13">Killebrew (2005), p. 13.</ref> [[Israel Finkelstein]] proposed that the oval or circular layout that distinguishes some of the earliest highland sites, and the notable absence of pig bones from hill sites, could be taken as markers of ethnicity, but others have cautioned that these can be a "common-sense" adaptation to highland life and not necessarily revelatory of origins.<ref>Edelman in Brett 2002, pp. 46β47.</ref> Other Aramaean sites also demonstrate a contemporary absence of pig remains at that time, unlike earlier Canaanite and later Philistine excavations.[[File:A reconstructed israelite house, Monarchy period3.jpg|thumb|A reconstructed Israelite house, 10thβ7th century BCE. [[Eretz Israel Museum]], Tel Aviv.]] In ''[[The Bible Unearthed]]'' (2001), Finkelstein and Silberman summarized recent studies. They described how, up until 1967, the Israelite heartland in the highlands of western [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] was virtually an archaeological terra incognita. Since then, intensive surveys have examined the traditional territories of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. These surveys have revealed the sudden emergence of a new culture contrasting with the Philistine and Canaanite societies existing in [[Canaan]] in the Iron Age.<ref name="Finkelstein">Finkelstein and Silberman (2001), p. 107</ref> This new culture is characterized by a lack of pork remains (whereas pork formed 20% of the Philistine diet in places), by an abandonment of the Philistine/Canaanite custom of having highly decorated pottery, and by the practice of circumcision.{{clarify |How could bbb be proven by archaeological means? Great preserver inventors, those early Israelites :) |date= March 2024}} The Israelite ethnic identity had originated, not from [[the Exodus]] and a subsequent [[conquest of Canaan|conquest]], but from a transformation of the existing Canaanite-Philistine cultures.<ref>[[Avraham Faust]], "How Did Israel Become a People? The Genesis of Israelite Identity", ''Biblical Archaeology Review'' 201 (2009): 62β69, 92β94.</ref> {{blockquote|These surveys revolutionized the study of early Israel. The discovery of the remains of a dense network of highland villages{{snd}} all apparently established within the span of few generations{{snd}} indicated that a dramatic social transformation had taken place in the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE. There was no sign of violent invasion or even the infiltration of a clearly defined ethnic group. Instead, it seemed to be a revolution in lifestyle. In the formerly sparsely populated highlands from the Judean hills in the south to the hills of Samaria in the north, far from the Canaanite cities that were in the process of collapse and disintegration, about two-hundred fifty hilltop communities suddenly sprang up. Here were the first Israelites.<ref>Finkelstein and Silberman (2001), p. 107.</ref>}} Modern scholars therefore see Israel arising peacefully and internally from existing people in the highlands of Canaan.<ref> Compare: {{cite book |last1=Gnuse |first1=Robert Karl |title=No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel |series=Journal for the study of the Old Testament: Supplement series |volume=241 |publisher=A&C Black |date=1997 |location=Sheffield |page=31 |isbn=978-1-85075-657-6|quote=Out of the discussions a new model is beginning to emerge, which has been inspired, above all, by recent archaeological field research. There are several variations in this new theory, but they share in common the image of an Israelite community which arose peacefully and internally in the highlands of Palestine. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0Kf1ZwDifdAC |access-date=2016-06-02}}</ref> Extensive archaeological excavations have provided a picture of Israelite society during the early Iron Age period. The archaeological evidence indicates a society of village-like centres, but with more limited resources and a small population. During this period, Israelites lived primarily in small villages, the largest of which had populations of up to 300 or 400.<ref>McNutt (1999), p. 70.</ref><ref>Miller 2005, p. 98.</ref> Their villages were built on hilltops. Their houses were built in clusters around a common courtyard. They built three- or four-room houses out of mudbrick with a stone foundation and sometimes with a second story made of wood. The inhabitants lived by farming and herding. They built terraces to farm on hillsides, planting various crops and maintaining orchards. The villages were largely economically self-sufficient and economic interchange was prevalent. According to the Bible, prior to the rise of the Israelite monarchy the early Israelites were led by the [[Biblical judges]], or chieftains who served as military leaders in times of crisis. Scholars are divided over the historicity of this account. However, it is likely that regional chiefdoms and polities provided security. The small villages were unwalled but were likely subjects of the major town in the area. Writing was known and available for recording, even at small sites.<ref>McNutt (1999), p. 72.</ref><ref>Miller 2005, p. 99.</ref><ref>Miller 2005, p. 105.</ref><ref>Lehman in Vaughn 1992, pp. 156β62.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/daily-life-in-ancient-israel/|title=Daily Life in Ancient Israel |date=13 September 2022| publisher = Biblical Archaeology Society}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page