The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science

by Thomas Levy, Thomas Higham

Overview

Over the past several years, a number of Levantine archaeologists working on the Iron Age (ca. 1200 - 586 BCE) have begun to employ high precision radiocarbon dating to solve a wide range of chronological, historical and social issues. The incorporation of high precision radiocarbon dating methods and statistical modelling into the archaeological 'tool box' of the 'Biblical archaeologist' is revolutionizing the field. In fact, Biblical archaeology is leading the field of world archaeology in how archaeologists must deal with history, historical texts, and material culture. A great deal of debate has been generated by this new research direction in southern Levantine (Israel, Jordan, Palestinian territories, southern Lebanon & Syria, the Sinai) archaeology. This book takes the pulse of how archaeology, science-based research methods and the Bible interface at the beginning of the 21st century and brings together a leading team of archaeologists, Egyptologists, Biblical scholars, radiocarbon dating specialists and other researchers who have embraced radiocarbon dating as a significant tool to test hypotheses concerning the historicity of aspects of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. As this book "raises the bar" in how archaeologists tackle historical issues as manifest in the interplay between the archaeological record and text, its interest will go well beyond the 'Holy Land.'

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845530563
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/01/2005
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Thomas Levy, Thomas Higham

Table of Contents

Preface; I. Introduction to the Problems; 1) Radiocarbon Dating and the Iron Age of the Southern Levant: Problems and Potentials for the Oxford Conference - Thomas E. Levy and Thomas Higham; 2) The Debate over the Chronology of the Iron Age in the Southern Levant: Its History, the Current Situation, and a Suggested Resolution - Amihai Mazar; 3) The Low Chronology: Archaeology, History and Bible - Israel Finkelstein; 4) Shishak, King of Egypt: The challenges of Egyptian calendrical chronology - Andrew Shortland; II. Some Methodological Issues; 5) Improving the Resolution of Radiocarbon Dating by Statistical Analysis - Christopher Bronk Ramsey; 6) The Early Iron Age Dating Project: Introduction, Methodology, Progress Report and an Update on the Tel Dor Radiometric Dates - Ilan Sharon, Ayelet Gilboa, Elisabetta Boaretto and A.J. Timothy Jull; III. Jordan in the Iron Age; 7) Lowland Edom and the High and Low Chronologies: Edomite State Formation, the Bible and Recent Archaeological Research in Southern Jordan - Thomas E. Levy, Mohammad Najjar, Johannes van der Plicht, Thomas Higham, and Hendrik J. Bruins; 8) Radiocarbon dating of the Khirbat-en Nahas site (Jordan) and Bayesian Modelling of the Results - Thomas Higham, Johannes van der Plicht, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Hendrik J. Bruins, Mark Robinson, and Thomas E. Levy; 9) Mesha, the Mishor and the Chronology of Iron Age M DAB - Timothy P. Harrison and Celeste Barlow; IV. Around the Eastern Mediterranean in the Iron Age; 10) Radiocarbon Calibration in the East Mediterranean Region: The East Mediterranean Radiocarbon Comparison Project and the Current State of Play - Sturt W. Manning, Bernd Kromer, Sahra Talamo, Michael Friedrich, Peter Ian Kuniholm and Maryanne W. Newton; 11) A Dendrochronological 14C Wiggle-match for the Early Iron Age of North Greece: A Contribution to the Debate about this Period in the Southern Levant. - Maryanne W. Newton, Peter Ian Kuniholm, and Kenneth A. Wardle; 12) High Precision Dating and Archaeological Chronologies: Revisiting an Old Problem - Sue Sherratt; V. Israel in the Iron Age; 13) Ladder of Time at Tel Rehov: Stratigraphy, Archaeological Context, Pottery and Radiocarbon Dates - Amihai Mazar, Hendrik J. Bruins, Nava Panitz-Cohen and Johannes van der Plicht; 14) Quality Control of Groningen 14C results from Tel Rehov: Repeatability and Intercomparison of Proportional Gas Counting and AMS - Johannes van der Plicht and Hendrik J.Bruins; 15) 14C Results from Megiddo, Tel Dor, Tel Rehov and Tel Hadar: Where do They Lead Us? - Israel Finkelstein and Eli Piasetzky; 16) High or Low: Megiddo and Rehov - Israel Finkelstein; 17) Correlation and Chronology: Samaria and Megiddo Redux - Norma Franklin; 18) Iron-Age 14C Dates from Tel Dan: A High Chronology - Hendrik J. Bruins, Johannes van der Plicht, David Ilan & Ella Werker; 19) Iron I Chronology at Ashkelon: Preliminary Results of the Leon levy Expedition - Daniel Master; 20) Desert Settlement through the Iron Age: Radiocarbon Dates from Sinai and the Negev Highlands - Hendrik J. Bruins and Johannes van der Plicht; VI. Historical Considerations; 21) Stamp-seal amulets and Early Iron Age Chronology - An Update - Stefan Munger; 22) Problems in the Paleographic Dating of Inscriptions - William M. Schniedewind; 23) Some Methodological Reflections on Chronology and History-Writing - William G. Dever; 24) David Did It - Others Did Not: The Creation of Ancient Israel - Baruch Halpern; VII. Conclusion; 25) The view from Mount Nebo - Andrew Sherratt