Iron age chronology and biblical history rejoinders: The late bronze/iron age transition, Tel ʿEton and Lachish

In this article, I review three recent articles. In the first, Asscher and Boaretto (2018 Asscher, Y., and Boaretto, E., 2018. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2017.96[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25) suggest that the Late Bronze/Iron I transition occurred in neighboring sites a century and more apart. In the second, Faust and Sapir (2018. ‘The “Governor's Residency” at Tel ʿEton, the United Monarchy and the impact of the old-house effect on large-scale archaeological reconstructions’, Radiocarbon 60, 801–820.) date the construction of a solid building at Tel ʿEton to the tenth century bce and interpret this as validation for the historicity of the United Monarchy of ancient Israel.

In the third, Garfinkel et al. (2019a Garfinkel, Y., et al., 2019a. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18. doi: 10.1017/RDC.2019.5[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18) announce the discovery of a city-wall belonging to Level V at Lachish, and affiliate it with the building operations of King Rehoboam of Judah, described in 2 Chronicles. Scrutiny of the methods and facts dismisses all three theories.