Pharaoh's Fury: Merneptah's Destruction of Gezer

The ancient southern Levantine city of Gezer is well-known from Egyptian, Biblical and Assyrian sources, associated with power struggles, conquests, and intriguing tales involving figures such as Milkilu and Amenhotep III, Merneptah, the Philistines, Solomon and his unidentified pharaonic father-in-law, and Shishak / Sheshonq I. Since the identity of Gezer with "Tell Jezer" is quite literally 'set in stone' by some dozen boundary inscriptions, along with impressive Bronze and Iron Age remains, research at this site provides a unique opportunity to compare text and archaeology, as well as bring to light the undocumented everyday lives of the city's inhabitants. In this endeavour, independent scientific dating is crucial for anchoring the remains chronologically. This paper presents the first substantial radiocarbon dataset and Bayesian chronological analysis for Gezer spanning the last part of the Late Bronze Age (LBA; LB IIB) through Iron Age II. The dataset derives from an essentially continuous stratigraphic sequence exposed in recent years by the Tandy expedition along the central-southern edge of the site. The results allow us for the first time to independently determine the site chronology, test the viability (from a chronological perspective) of proposed historical correlations, and contribute to debates on Philistine and Iron Age chronology.

Palestine Exploration Quarterly , 1985

Near Eastern Archaeology, 2012

New Evidence for the 10th Century BCE at Tel Gezer, in A. Faust, Y. Garfinkel and M. Mumcuoglu (eds.) State Formation Processes in the 10th Century BCE Levant (Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology 1): 221–240., 2021

Recent excavations at Tel Gezer under the auspices of the Tandy Institute for Archaeology have systematically revealed a broad exposure west of the Iron Age gate complex (popularly referred to as the "Solomonic Gate"). This report focuses on the occupation layers of the 10th century BCE (our Strata 8 and 7, dated by 14C and ceramic analyses). Stratum 8 represents a unique period of Gezer's history when the city experienced a major shift in urban planning, as evidenced by a monumental administrative building and casemate fortifications that are associated with the Iron Age gate. This city was intensely destroyed, probably as a result of Sheshonq's campaign. Stratum 7, which was also destroyed, exhibits a major shift to domestic quarters.

Tel Aviv , 2002

Gezer is a relatively large mound, almost 10 hectares in size. The strategically located ancient city commanded the coastal plain, the Valley of Aijalon and the road that led to the highlands north of Jerusalem. The site is mentioned in quite a large number of Egyptian, Assyrian, biblical and Hellenistic sources spanning from the Late Bronze Age through to the Hellenistic period. According to the biblical text, it was located on the southwestern outskirts of the Northern Kingdom, facing Judah and the Philistine territories - a location that undoubtedly influenced its demography and material culture. All this makes it one of the most important archaeological sites in Israel.

BASOR 379, 2018

Fragmented texts in the Hebrew Bible mention a kingdom named Geshur, usually in contexts that denote its independent existence and relations with King David's royal court (e.g., 2 Sam 3:3; 13:37-38; 14:32; 15:8). Scholars investigating the history of this kingdom have frequently commented on the ambiguous and non-informative nature of these verses, especially in regard to political history and foreign affairs. Others have emphasized the contribution of archaeological research for elucidating some of the aspects mentioned above, and, in particular, for demonstrating the existence of a territorial entity around the Sea of Galilee during the early 1st millennium b.c.e. Nonetheless, the dynamic discussion has not inspired a reevaluation of the archaeological record in the northern Jordan Valley, the presumed home of the Geshurites, and most scholars have uncritically adopted the traditional archaeological views regarding the dating of sites located in this region. In this article, we challenge the common dating of some key sites (e.g., et-Tell and Tel ʿEn Gev) and consequently reexamine the nature of the political formation that emerged in the region in the early Iron Age and its possible identification with the kingdom of Geshur.

2008

The goal of this article is to review the history of Philistia and Judah in the Iron Age II (tenth-seventh centuries BCE), with a special focus on the city of Gath in the period following its destruction by Hazael, the king of Aram-Damaseus, in the late ninth century BCE. As will be shown below, the recently uncovered archaeological data from the surveys and excavations of this site, and a fresh look on relevant Biblical and Assyrian documents, shed new light on a muchdiscussed but still problematic subject of the political relations between Assyria, Philistia and Judah in the eighth century BCE. Although the center of gravity of this paper is the reinterpretation of the "Azekah Inscription'', most of the study is devoted to the historical and archaeological background of the period, in order to examine the significance of the inscription in the broadest possible context.