Strata: New Dig Reports: Judah’s Iron Age Towns

When the Philistines went to return the Ark of the Covenant to Israel, their first stop was Beth-Shemesh (1 Samuel 6:9), which was situated in the border zone between the Judahite hill country and the Coastal Plains controlled by the Philistines. The Iron Age settlement of Tel Beer-Sheba in the Negev is often listed as Judah’s southern border (e.g., 2 Samuel 3:10). Located on the periphery of the Judahite kingdom, both Beth-Shemesh and Beer-Sheba are important for understanding Judah’s state formation in the tenth and ninth centuries B.C.E.

Tel Beth-Shemesh

Tel Beth-Shemesh: A Border Community in Judah (Renewed Excavations 1990–2000: the Iron Age), 2 vols.

Edited by Shlomo Bunimovitz and Zvi Lederman (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2016), xvi + v + 774 pp., b&w illustrations, $189.50 (cloth)

These two volumes report on the first ten years of renewed excavations of the Iron Age settlement at Tel Beth-Shemesh. To make the archaeological publication friendlier to a varied audience, authors present each historical period of the site in three parts that consecutively relate the general historical context, archaeological stratigraphy, and contextual interpretation of finds. Broader topics addressed in the book cover agricultural economy, the development from a village to administrative center, and the last days of the settlement. Also included are studies of artifacts, such as a gaming board, stone tools, jewelry, and amulets.