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

Abstract

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.

Fig 1. Location of Gezer and sites mentioned in the text.

Fig 2. Location of the Tandy excavation relative to previous archaeological fieldwork at Gezer.

Image adapted from [41] (front plan) under a CC BY license, with permission from J. Seger, original copyright 2013.

Fig 3. Aerial view of the Tandy excavations, with a wide exposure of iron age strata on the central-southern edge of the Gezer mound between fields VII and III of Hebrew Union College.

Fig 4. Plan of Tandy excavation stratum 12B elite residence with radiocarbon dated contexts marked.

The insert shows Individual #3.

Fig 5. Plan of Tandy excavation strata 11 and 10B with radiocarbon dated contexts marked.

Fig 6. Plan of Tandy excavation strata 10A and 9 with radiocarbon dated contexts marked.

Fig 7. Plan of Tandy stratum 8 with radiocarbon dated contexts in the courtyard-type administrative building marked.

Fig 8. Plan of Tandy stratum 7 domestic units with radiocarbon dated contexts marked.

Fig 9. Independently calibrated ¹⁴C data from the Tandy excavation.

Pairs of measurements from the same seed are marked blue. Highest probability density (hpd) ranges at 68.3% and 95.4% are marked with bars below each result.

Fig 10. Bayesian ¹⁴C models (A and B) for the Tandy excavation.

The models use OxCal’s outlier analysis. Model A includes all data, whereas Model B excludes two outliers in Tandy Stratum 8 (Beta-436538 and Beta-436540). Individual probability distributions before and after modelling are shown in light and dark grey respectively. Calculated transition boundaries are colored green, while date estimates for strata are red. Highest posterior density (hpd) ranges after modelling (68.3% and 95.4%) are marked with bars below each result. Prior and posterior outlier probabilities are indicated in square brackets after the laboratory number and locus. The OxCal code is provided in S1 Appendix.

Fig 11. Comparison of ¹⁴C dated transitions at Gezer with key data from nearby sites and the Egyptian chronology.

The ¹⁴C-based Egyptian chronology follows Dee [3] and Manning [4] and is updated with IntCal20 [137]. It assumes the ultra-high reign lengths of Aston [144] for Thutmoses III through Ramesses II and reign lengths from Schneider [145] for all others. Absolute date estimates based on traditional methods are shown for Schneider (same line as the ¹⁴C-based estimates) and Kitchen [146] (separate line below). Key results from sites neighboring Gezer are colored brown. Source models and data references for these sites are provided in S1 Appendix.