Studies in the History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Judah

The archaeological and historical study of the southern Levant during the first millennium BCE – the Iron Age kingdoms and their societies as well as their successors during the Persian and Hellenistic periods -has dramatically developed in recent decades. This is the result of two common and overlapping trends: the vast archaeological exploration of the southern Levant and the shift in the studies of biblical literature. The ten contributions in this volume demonstrate the range of questions, methods, and theoretical frameworks employed in the current study of Judah and neighbouring regions during the first millennium BCE and beyond.Omer Sergi/Ido Koch: Introduction − Efrat Bocher: Organization and Reorganization of Extravagant Complexes in the Post-Destruction Southern Outskirts of Jerusalem − Karen Covello-Paran: Village People: The Jezreel Valley during the Intermediate Bronze Age − Liora Freud: Judahite Pottery during the Sixth Century BCE − Sabine Kleiman: Interpreting Ancient Artefacts: The Case of the So-Called »Toilet Seats« from Iron Age Judah − Yitzhak Lee-Sak: Reassessment of the Benjaminite Settlements in the Southern Levant in Fifth and Fourth Centuries BCE: Archaeological and Textual Snapshots − Nadav Na'aman: Saul's Story-Cycle: A North Israelite or Judahite Composition? − Omer Sergi/Ido Koch: The Transformative Capacities of Destructions in the Lowlands of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah − Nitsan Shalom: Sensible Havoc? The Neo-Babylonian Campaigns to the Southern Levant and Ideological Aspects of Destruction − Abra Spiciarich: Animal Economy and Sacrifice in First Temple Jerusalem: An Inter-Site Analysis of Iron Age II Faunal Assemblages − Alexandra Wrathall: »Before the Earthquake« (Amos 1:1): Evaluating New Archaeological Evidence for the »Amos Earthquake« in Judah