Preliminary radiocarbon results for Late Bronze Age strata at Tel Azekah and their Implications.
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This article presents the first radiocarbon (14 C) results from the Late Bronze Age levels of Tel Azekah (Israel). The results testify to the long and prosperous occupation of the site during this period, commencing at least in LB IIA and ending with a severe destruction at the close of LB III. In the extra-mural quarter (Area S2), a pre-monumental building phase (S2-6) dates to the 14th or early 13th century BCE. Two sub-phases of a public building constructed above this yielded dates in the second half of the 13th century and first two-thirds of the 12th century BCE, suggesting that occupation persisted through the “Crisis Years” of the eastern Mediterranean region. On the top of the mound, in Area T2, the destruction of the final LB III level (T2-3) most likely occurred near the end of the 12th century BCE. The preliminary Azekah results are in good agreement with existing data from Lachish and Megiddo, but seem at odds with results from nearby Tel es-Safi/Gath.
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Gezer did not share the fate of Lachish and Azekah, which suffered site-wide destructions in the second part of the 12th century BC and were abandoned for more than a century.
“Perhaps for this reason, Gezer did not share the fate of Lachish and Azekah, which suffered impressive site-wide destructions in the second part of the 12th century BC, after which they were abandoned for more than a century [2, 91, 108, 150, 151].”
From The chronology of Gezer from the end of the late bronze age to iron age II: A meeting point for radiocarbon, archaeology egyptology and the Bible (2023) · cites this paper as [108]
The Results and Discussion (page not available) says both Azekah and Lachish experienced traumatic events at the end of the Late Bronze Age, in the late 12th century BCE. The excavation discussion describes widespread destruction at Azekah and abandonment of its extra-mural quarter until Iron Age IIB, but does not establish that both entire sites were abandoned for more than a century. The paper does not address Gezer’s contrasting fate. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant
Greenberg, R. (2019) · doi:10.1017/9781316275993 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Webster, L. C., Wolff, S. R., Ortiz, S. M., Barbosa, M., Coyle, C., Arbino, G. P., Dee, M. W., Hua, Q., & Jacobsen, G. E. (2023) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0293119 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Webster, L. C., Sergi, O., Kleiman, S., Lipschits, O., Hua, Q., Jacobsen, G. E., Tristant, Y., & Gadot, Y.
- Affiliations
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Webster, Lyndelle C
- ORCID
- Venue
- Radiocarbon
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2017-09-14
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 309-331
- ISSN
- 0033-8222 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-5755
- OpenAlex
- W2754248320
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 3.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- lirias.kuleuven.be
- Licence
- Locations
- Radiocarbon (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Institutional Repository (The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
- Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering
- Macquarie University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History
- Keywords
- Late Bronze Age, radiocarbon dating, public building construction, Eastern Mediterranean archaeology, Lachish, Megiddo
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