New Evidence for the 10th Century BCE at Tel Gezer
Sam Wolff2021, 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.
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Abstract
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.
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Key takeaways
- The Iron Age I strata consist of a possible perimeter wall, perhaps an earlier rendition of the later Iron Age casemate wall system, and a series of single-room storage buildings built up against the north face of the wall.
- The Stratum 10 city continued to use the series of rooms along the perimeter wall, but the rest of its plan was very different, although a few of the same wall lines were used in the construction of the new walls.
- Moving from the gate to this latter courtyard, the Stratum 8 surfaces north of the administrative building rise incrementally by about half a meter, while the contemporary surfaces within the building remain level as one moves westward, suggesting that the western end of the administrative building may have been cut into the slope of the tell when it was constructed.
- Most of the Stratum 7 remains were patchy due to Stratum 6 construction and trenching in the Macalister excavations.
- Stratum 7 remains, which abut the casemate wall at least a meter above its founding level, have yielded reliable radiocarbon dates that place it in the late 10th/early 9th centuries BCE.
