Biblical Archaeology Review is the flagship publication of the Biblical Archaeology Society. For more than 40 years it has been making the world of archaeology in the lands of the Bible come alive for the interested layperson. Full of vivid images and articles written by leading scholars, this is a must read for anyone interested in the archaeology of the ancient Near East.
See Stager, “Merenptah, Israel and Sea Peoples.” Using other lines of reasoning, both Amihai Mazar (“The Emergence of the Philistine Material Culture,” Israel Exploration Journal 35 [1985], pp. 95–107) and Itamar Singer (“The Beginning of Philistine Settlement in Canaan and the Northern Boundary of Philistia” Tel Aviv 12 [1985], pp. 109–122) reached similar conclusions.
We need not imagine, as some scholars once did, that non-Mycenaean motifs of Philistine bichrome ware were acquired during the peregrinations of the Philistines around the eastern Mediterranean (e.g., Cyprus and Egypt) before landing in Canaan. All of these sources of inspiration were right at hand in Canaan itself. Even bichrome decoration itself was known in Phoenicia during the 13th century B.C. and has been found at Ashkelon (this LB IIB bichrome should not be confused with the earlier LB I bichrome, which originated in Cyprus).
See Brian Hesse, “Animal Use at Tel Mique-Ekron in the Bronze Age and Iron Age,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) 264 (1986), pp. 17–27; also his report on the 1985 faunal remains from Ashkelon in Ashkelon 1, forthcoming, Harvard Semitic Museum Archaeology and Ancient History series (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press).
