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It has been argued that the increase in the consumption of dogs in the southern Levant during the Iron Age was due to the advent of the Philistines/"Sea Peoples" into the region. In this study, we test this proposal through the presentation of new information on dog consumption and its depositional context in Bronze and Iron Age strata from the archaeological site of Tell Zirāʿa (Jordan), and we compare the results to other sites in the region. Our study does not support that such behaviour is a signal of ethnic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years, the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition in the southern Levant has been the subject of intense debates concerning chronological matters and cultural developments. Ceramic studies were often the focal point of the discussion, but they usually concentrated on the appearance of Aegean-style pottery in the southern Coastal Plain and the nearby Shephelah, while largely disregarding the indigenous pottery tradition. In this paper, I study the processes of continuity and change in ceramic shape morphology and decoration techniques of three important tell-sites in the Shephelah: Lachish, ʿAzẹqȧ (Tel Azekah) and Ekron. It will be shown that marked innovations took place during the transition to the Iron I. These were most likely triggered by the appearance of foreign potters who produced local Aegean-style wares and seem to have influenced the traditions of the indigenous ceramic workshops. Such insights not only allow a fine-tuning of the relative chronology of the region at the end of the second millennium BCE, but also illuminate the transmission of professional knowledge and cultural traits through the ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the historicity of 1 Sam 7:2-17 in light of renewed analysis of the archaeological remains from Tell en-Nasbeh, other Iron Age I sites in the region of Benjamin, broader literary considerations in 1 Sam 1-10, and the geography of the Central Hill Country. In so doing, a case is made that there is far more going on in vv. 6-7 than what appears to be a miscommunication between the Israelites, who have gathered at the site of Mizpah, and the Philistines, who send troops against the Israelites. A historical reconstruction that considers the narrative form of 1 Sam 7:2-17 and the archaeological remains is offered, as is a new proposal for the identification of the site of Gibeath-elohim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron I sites in the northwestern Negev were identified as Philistine on the basis of the references to Philistines in this region in the book of Genesis, its proximity to Gaza, and the occurrence of Philistine pottery. Triggered by emerging discrepancies between the finds at these sites and the presumed Philistine attributes (e.g. the rarity of pork, hearths), this article aims to reevaluate the finds in the periphery of Philistia, mainly in the northwestern Negev, but also in the Shephelah and the Yarkon basin. A systematic examination of the data reveals a clear pattern in which the population of peripheral sites gradually adopted certain Philistine attributes (Philistine pottery and cooking jugs, which were avoided during the first phase of Philistine settlement), but continued to systematically avoid others (Aegean-type hearths and significant amounts of pork), and maintained clear and sharp boundaries with the Philistine centers. A thorough examination of the data suggests that most of the inhabitants in the periphery of Philistia were the descendants of the local Canaanite population of the Late Bronze Age, who were in the process of renegotiating their identity with the emerging ethnicities of the Philistines in the urban centers of the southern coastal plain and the Israelites farther west. While not forming a unified group, and probably being politically dominated by Philistia, the inhabitants of the settlements in the periphery of Philistia did not adopt a Philistine identity, maintained clear boundaries with the Philistines, and should not be treated as Philistines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper surveys and discusses the updated archaeological evidence for Philistine cult and religion, and cult and religion in Philistia during the Iron Age. The evidence can be related to public or official cult, represented in temple and shrine structures, and to that coming from households, representing possibly more popular religion. The evidence of public cult, so far mostly from peripheral sites, includes largely cultural elements linked with the local Canaanite cult and religion. Yet, within households at the Philistine cities there is more evidence for cultic elements of Aegean affinity during Iron Age I. In particular, figurines and ceramic figurative vessels and objects will be discussed. It seems that the Philistine religion may have retained certain distinctive elements also during Iron Age II. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to reconstruct the details of the nature of the Philistine religion due to the limited amount of evidence and lack of textual records.

The Philistine paradigm attempts to answer fundamental questions in Philistine history, namely the how and when of Philistine settlement in the southern Levant. According to the traditional paradigm, the Philistines, among other 'Sea-Peoples', came from the Aegean islands and were settled in Egyptian strongholds in the south Canaanite Coastal Plain in the eighth year of Ramesses III. Formulated on the basis of Egyptian texts and Philistine archaeological remains, the paradigm has been criticized over the reliability of both source materials. Therefore, it is the aim of the present study to conduct a methodological analysis of the pillars on which the paradigm rests and to offer a new reconstruction of the events that took place in the Levant in the twelfth century BCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An anthropological approach to a culture extrapolates social structures, traditions, and general organizing principles of that culture from the careful observation of patterns of behaviour as described in case studies. In the absence of a living culture to record, archaeologists extrapolate this information from behaviour reconstructed from spatially determined patterns in the deposition of material remains and from patterns found in the general organizing principles of historically documented cultures, using arguments based on analogy. This contribution builds on our previous research on the “Sea Peoples” as a piratical culture in order to apply an anthropological approach to understanding the cultural identities of the various tribal groups involved in maritime activities at the end of the Bronze Age who are popularly known as the “Sea Peoples”, and place this within the broader context of the current discussions on the transition between the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age in the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the late date and dubious veracity of the Deuteronomistic history, and despite the Bible's status as the only Bronze or Iron Age text which indisputably refers to Dagon in a southern Canaanite geographical context, scholars have traditionally accepted 1 Samuel 50--8's portrayal of Philistine cult in the Iron Age 1 as being centered on this deity and his temple at Ashdod. This study marshals archaeological and historical evidence to assess the level of support for the presence of Dagon in Iron 1 Philistia, and for a temple at Ashdod as described in the biblical account. Also considered, through comparison with the materially analogous situation in the Bronze Age Aegean, is the critical role that a textual complement to physical evidence (or, in the case of the Philistines, the lack thereof) plays in cultic analysis and pantheonic reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, an ivory bowl was discovered in a chalky matrix in the Early Iron Age (Philistine) levels in Area A at Tell es-Safi/Gath. Conservation revealed it to be a shallow vessel with a single lug handle, decorated in the interior and on the base with an incised twelve-petal lotus-rosette surrounded by five concentric circles. Applying an object biography approach, we investigate the history and far-flung socio-cultural connections of the Tell es-Safi/Gath bowl, which is unique within Philistia. Specific reference is made to parallels in the ivory hoard from the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition (c. late twelfth century/early eleventh century bce) palace at Megiddo, Stratum VIIA. It is proposed that the Tell es-Safi/Gath bowl was one of a set manufactured somewhere in Canaan. The vessel became separated from the set, ending up as a foundation offering at this Philistine site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomb Cl at Tel 'Eton (Israel) is a unique Iron Age I elite burial cave (excavated in 1968 by Gershon Edelstein). The finds include many metal artifacts, seals, beads, and dozens of ceramic vessels, including Philistine bichrome pottery. Although some have interpreted the finds as reflecting Philistine occupation at Tel 'Eton, the ethnic composition of the region and the cultural significance of various objects suggest that the interred were members of the indigenous Canaanite elite. By combining the current understanding of cultural interaction in the region during Iron Age I and similar processes elsewhere, the present study reexamines this tomb and the associated finds. This will enable us to gain new insights into the interaction between the various groups that inhabited the region, internal developments within Canaanite society, and the nature of local responses to colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aegean-inspired pottery of Iron I Philistia has received a great deal of scholarly attention. Many have studied the various influences that shaped it, its development during the Iron I, the ethnic identity of its users, and even its disappearance at the beginning of the Iron II. While constantly changing during the first 150 years after the initial settlement of the new immigrants in Israel's southern coastal plain, this decorated pottery grew in popularity, and steadily increased its percentage in the ceramic assemblages of the Philistine centers. Later, in the early Iron II, this Aegean decorative tradition disappeared. The decorated pottery in Iron II Philistia (Ashdod Ware) was more akin to Phoenician decorative traditions, was applied to different vessel forms, and was far less popular than its predecessor. It is the aim of the present article to reevaluate the developments of the Aegean-inspired pottery during the Iron I and to reexamine the drastic transition from this decorated pottery to a local type of decorated ware in the Iron II, in order to learn about processes of development and change within the society of Philistia and about the relations between the Philistines and their neighbors, both within and without Philistia, at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to review the value and usefulness of the ethnic-markers of ancient societies, based on the assumption that certain populations practice certain eating and drinking habits. In other words, the conviction that some food and drink habits may be used as reliable tools for determining the ethnicities of ancient societies will be questioned. This argument is applied to the case of the Philistines, a population of Aegean or Aegeo-Anatolian origin, who settled in Palestine in the early twelfth century BCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents evidence for feasting in the late Iron Age I Philistine culture from a circumscribed locale in Area A at the site of Tell es-Safi/Gath. The remains are characterized by architectural features, installations and rubbish dumps containing a rich array of animal bones, symbolic objects, and a series of unique installations all dating to the tenth and eleventh centuries B.C.E. These activities are informed by parallels from Mycenaean Late Bronze Age feasting events, though at Tell es-Safi/Gath they may have served a different purpose, specifically, the maintenance and promotion of Philistine cultural identity through the adoption of behaviors and symbols from the Aegean past by portions of the Philistine population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition involves profound cultural and political changes in the southern Levant. The transition is dated to the 12th century BC, based on archaeological artifacts and historical documents. A more precise absolute date for this transition for the southern Levant based on radiocarbon is difficult since the 14C calibration curve reduces precision significantly due to wiggles that form an approximately 200-yr-long plateau. This article analyzes 14C samples from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition at Qubur el-Walaydah. To increase the resolution of 14C dates within the plateau, 14C samples were collected only from well-defined multilayered contexts. 14C dates from 11 contexts were obtained and these were analyzed using a Bayesian model that incorporated the stratigraphic information. Using this integrative approach we date the Late Bronze Age III levels at Qubur el-Walydah, containing the initial phase of locally produced Philistine pottery between 1185-1140 BC, and the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition between 1140-1095 BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to integrate the study of the manufacture, function and discard of chalices from three sites in Philistia in order to form a coherent 'life-cycle story' of this vessel type. The analyses include examination of the sources of the ceramic raw material using petrography; study of the modes of manufacture, employing visual inspection and ethnographic data; and examination of the function of these vessels, using organic residue analysis. By combining these analytic perspectives, the authors shed new light on cultic practices in Iron Age Philistia and offer an alternative view of Philistine identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cooking installations are among the most abundant features in Bronze and Iron Age archaeological sites in the southern Levant, yet until now their study has been mostly descriptive. We present a study of 11 purported archaeological cooking installations from three different Bronze and Iron Age sites in Israel in which we deployed a variety of microarchaeological techniques. We provide direct physical evidence, based on Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy demonstrating that the archaeological installations were operated with temperatures as high as 900 °C. Using this technique we also demonstrate that all the mud-constructed installations studied by us were internally-fueled and therefore should be identified as Tannurs rather than the externally- fueled Tabuns. We studied in detail the quantities of ash-related microscopic remains, including opaline phytoliths, calcitic wood ash pseudomorphs and dung spherulites. We show that phytolith morphotype analysis cannot distinguish between wood-dominated and dung-dominated fuel materials, while a newly developed method that calculates the ratio of ash pseudomorphs to dung spherulites (PSR method) makes such a distinction possible. Moreover, we experimented with the effect of partial dissolution on fuel ash PSR values and utilize the results to explain taphonomy and diagenesis associated with two types of archaeological cooking installations – pebble hearths and baking ovens. In addition, we identified micromorphological criteria that can be used to assess whether ash deposits in or above a cooking installations are in situ and/or disturbed. Taken together, all lines of evidence used in this study indicate that wood was the major fuel material across time and space in the studied archaeological contexts, while dung was a secondary source of fuel. This observation also cross-cuts different culture-historical entities (Philistines, Canaanites, Israelites and Egyptians). In addition, wood was preferred as fuel irrespective of environmental differences among the studied sites. This study is yet another demonstration of the value of integrating microarchaeological techniques and approaches to traditional macroscopic archaeology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the history of state formation in the Kingdom of Judah during the Iron Age I and IIA periods through an analysis of archaeological excavations carried out in the Shephelah region of Israel, with focus given to the ancient sites at Tel Beth Shemesh and Khirbet Qeiyafa. The author explains material culture unearthed at these sites connected to the history of the kingdom's statehood, including Philistine pottery, cultic objects such as a basalt altar, and standing stones, along with the relationship between these objects and Judaean ethnic identity. The way in which such evidence can be compared to discussions of Judah's formation in the Bible is also examined.

Normally the discussion about Philistine identity vis-à-vis Isra-elite identity moves on a macro basis: On one side the Philistines, and on the other the Israelites. Little attention has been paid to the related concept of “scale and social organization.” If we try to find a background for the macro definitions: Israelites, Philistines, we move on an imaginary level. It is a kind of literary concept nourished among the elite—never more than a few percent of any ancient society. The realities of ancient Palestine in the Iron Age were different. First of all nationality was an unknown concept, and any idea of ethnicity related to the issue of nationality (as in Avraham Faust's recent book on Israelite origins) is irrelevant. Second, there were, as argued by, among others Mario Liverani, no national borders in Antiquity. Borders were fiscal delimitations: Who paid tax to whom? Third, ethnicity follows the group, and a certain person may change identity as he moves through differ-ent groups. In a society of such small extent as ancient Palestine, each villager would have an identity defined by his village as against the members of the neighboring community—ethnicity cannot be separated from identity—and villagers living in one area will have a distinct consciousness of being differ-ent from those who live “on the other side of the river.” “National” identity, when the idea of ethnicity includes all people living within the fiscal borders of an ancient state, would hardly ever be called upon, except when the elite wanted to defend its privileges—its right to obtain taxes—against intruders. Thus the concept of a Philistine—Israelite controversy based on different ide-as about ethnicity is no more than a projection of modern ideas about the na-tional state which came into being two hundred years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ancient cooking installations yield important evidence for cooking technology and human diet. A cooking installation termed the Philistine pebble hearth is associated with the arrival of the Philistines at the beginning of the Iron Age in the southern Levant (ca. early/mid-12th century B.C.). These installations have been studied using traditional methods, focusing on a description of form and style in relation to the pottery of the period. Here we present a study using an experimental approach. We prepared three sets of experimental pebble hearths to study the pebbles' thermal behavior in relation to their volume. The comparison of these results with observations of Iron Age I archaeological hearths reveals different patterns in pebble shattering and soot patterns, indicating that the archaeological hearths were used in a different manner than the experimental ones. The experiments highlight the utility of shattered pebbles as an indicator of the use of fire directly on Philistine hearths, even in the absence of ash and/or charcoal. They also demonstrate that these installations may have been used with open fire or live embers. The results are applicable to the study of hearths worldwide, with implications for appropriate excavation methods and basic identification of ancient pyrotechnologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A metallurgically-oriented excavation in Area A at Tell es-Safi/Gath yielded evidence for iron and bronze production dating to the early Iron Age IIA. Two pit-like features, which differed considerably from one another in colour, texture and content, were excavated. Evidence shows that each feature represents a different in situ activity related to iron production, inferred by the presence of hammerscales, slag prills and slag. An upturned crucible was found on top of one of the features. Analysis of the crucible slag showed that it was used for bronze metallurgy. Tuyères, both round and square in cross-section, were found in and around the two features. The presence of the two industries together presents a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between copper and iron working. This is especially important against the background of the scarcity of evidence for iron production in the Levant during the early phases of the Iron Age. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In two excavation cycles conducted at Tel Beth-Shemesh in the early 20th century, a scholarly myth about Philistine domination at the site during Iron Age I was born. Renewed excavations at Beth-Shemesh by the authors dispelled this unfounded hypothesis. In a sequence of lron I levels, Canaanite cultural traditions are dominant. Only a meager amount of Bichrome Philistine pottery was found, and other items of Philistine affiliation are missing. Furthermore, pork consumption was completely avoided at Beth-Shemesh in contrast with adjacent Philistine sites. Review of geopolitical changes in the Shephelah during the Late Bronze-Iron Age transition indicates that the Canaanite inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh took advantage of their location at the Philistine periphery, and resisted Philistine hegemony. By denying foodways (eating and drinking) that symbolized their new aggressive neighbors, the people of Beth-Shemesh culturally identified themselves" as "non-Philistine." But since an inverse process, by which elements of Philistine culture were adopted by Canaanites living within the Philistine territory, is also evident, it is apparent that whether adopting or denying Philistine cultural elements, the indigenous population of the Shephelah changed its previous way of life during Iron Age I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process and date of the Philistine settlement in Canaan have received a great deal of scholarly attention. As well, scholars have also devoted much attention to the expansion of Philistine interaction with Levantine societies prior to the Philistines' assimilation in the late Iron Age. While most studies view Philistine integration and acculturation as a gradual process, a close examination of the detailed faunal and ceramic evidence suggests otherwise. It appears that due to various processes of boundary maintenance, the Philistines maintained high ethnic boundaries with their neighbours for at least 150-200 years, before (quite suddenly) losing most of their unique traits in the tenth century BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text of 1 Sam 17:4-7 gives a detailed account of the arms and armor of the Philistine champion who battled David in the Elah Valley, a description unmatched for detail in any other biblical text. The text seems to contain enough information to provide an approximate sense, of Goliath's appearance. However, this is where the heart of the debate lies. Previous approaches have viewed the description of Goliath as modeled on an infantry man, be it a Mycenaean warrior of the Iron Age I, a Greek hoplite of the sixth century, or something of a mix of the two. However, if he is understood as a chariot warrior, a member of the Philistine elite warrior class, there is nothing in the description of his equipment that demands a late date for the text's origin. In fact, all his gear matches well with what might be expected of an Aegean-Levantine chariot warrior of the Iron I period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstact: This paper presents new evidence, together with previous findings, for the appearance of charred seeds of Lathyrus sativus (grass pea)/Lathyrus cicera. This grain legume was a food staple in ancient times, principally in the Aegean region, but also appeared sporadically and in a limited way in the archaeological record of the southern Levant. It is encountered there first in the Late Bronze Age but disappears in the record at the end of the Iron Age. Although a palatable, nutritious plant adapted for growing under adverse conditions, its seeds can be toxic when consumed in large quantities. Apparently L. sativus/cicera made its way to the lowlands of the southern Levant, either by trade or with Philistine immigrants. It is absent at other south Levantine Bronze Age (i.e., Canaanite) and Iron Age sites and it remained a food component in the southern coastal region (i.e., Philistia, the region associated with the biblical Philistines) up to the end of Iron Age II, suggesting a possible ethnic association. Evidence of L. sativus/cicera joins that of another Aegean archaeobotanical import from an earlier, Middle Bronze Age II context, Lathyrus clymenum, found at Tel Nami, a coastal site farther to the north of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an analysis of various aspects relat- ing to the changes in cooking vessels during the Iron Age in Philistia and the southern Levant, with particular em- phasis on the morphology, manufacturing technology, and regional distribution of cookingjugs. We have combined archaeological data and petrographic analyses to evaluate the technological aspects of these vessels. It is argued that cookingjugs, while first appearing in Philistia, subsequent- ly spread to other regions and cultures. The relationship of this process of dissemination to other factors, such as economic and social changes in the southern Levant, is discussed, and it is argued that the possible incorporation of Philistine cooking practices into the neighboring Iron Age cultures may have implications for understanding the multifaceted, ifat times ambiguous, relationships between the Philistines and their neighbors.* [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of recent archaeological finds from Iron Age Philistia and comparative evidence from Aegean and ancient Near Eastern cults, a new interpretation is suggested for the term 'opalim (םילפע), mentioned in the 'ark narrative' (e.g. 1 Sam. 5.6; 6.5). Although most often interpreted as relating to 'haemorrhoids' or the bubonic plague, it is suggested that this, in fact, is a term referring to an affliction of the Philistines' membra virile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tel Miqne (Khirbet Muqanna), the largest Iron Age site in Israel, is identified as biblical Ekron, one of the cities of the Philistine pentapolis. Sediment samples were collected from different contexts with a twofold objective in mind. First, confirmation was sought for the identification of particular Philistine loci as occupation surfaces. Since little is known about Philistine daily life, the second objective was to discern through phytolith analysis the plant or plants that contributed phytoliths to the sediments. Phytoliths from the sediments were compared to those extracted from a reference collection of modern grasses, sedges, and rushes known to occur in Israel. In particular, the possibility was explored that the Philistines may have used a reedgrass, Phragmites australis, that currently grows in the adjacent wadifor mats, thatch, and basketry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acculturation influenced the development of Philistine culture for its entire 600-year history. Using an anthropological approach to examine archaeological and textual data, this article develops a model of the process of Philistine acculturation, which eventually led to the "Levantization" of Philistine culture. It concludes that the commonly held assumptions that the Philistines "lost their cultural core" or assimilated into Canaanite society are unjustified. The Philistines absorbed many outside cultural influences, but they modified those influences to suit their own needs and retained a distinct cultural and political identity throughout the Iron Age. The case of Philistine acculturation provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how archaeologists working in Syria-Palestine can contribute to, and benefit from, anthropological research while addressing historical problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several shifts in the animal production systems that supported Tel Miqne-Ekron mark the transition between the Bronze Age occupations and the period of Philistine influence that signals the onset of the Iron Age. Pigs and cattle became more important in the economy at the expense of sheep and, in particular, goats. The pattern of change is in the direction of greater emphasis on intensively herded stock and a de-emphasis on extensive forms of management. The species selected reflect less interaction with hill country pastoral production. The animal bone statistics that suggest these conclusions were based on samples dated by ceramic context, an approach that produces sharper definition of patterns of change than stratigraphic position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper surveys and discusses the updated archaeological evidence for Philistine cult and religion, and cult and religion in Philistia during the Iron Age. The evidence can be related to public or official cult, represented in temple and shrine structures, and to that coming from households, representing possibly more popular religion. The evidence of public cult, so far mostly from peripheral sites, includes largely cultural elements linked with the local Canaanite cult and religion. Yet, within households at the Philistine cities there is more evidence for cultic elements of Aegean affinity during Iron Age I. In particular, figurines and ceramic figurative vessels and objects will be discussed. It seems that the Philistine religion may have retained certain distinctive elements also during Iron Age II. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to reconstruct the details of the nature of the Philistine religion due to the limited amount of evidence and lack of textual records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented, in which the author discusses various topics within the issue on topics including study of the Philistine material culture, glyptics from the Bronze and Iron Age, and overall effect on planning and results of the project Uziel and Maeir.

The author examines conditions in early Iron Age Judah in relation to current archaeological discoveries at a fortified site in Judah called Khirbet Qeiyafa. He presents a background of conditions in the region following the dissolution of the Egyptian Empire and when Hebrew settlements faced pressure from the expansionist aims of the Philistines. He examines Egyptian records that support a scenario in which the fortifications served as defensive measures. The author also argues against labeling the site as Davidic or Solomonic.