1 jan 1000 ano antes da era comum - 10th Century Fortifications

Descrição:

Early City Planning in the Kingdom of Judah: Khirbet Qeiyafa, Beth Shemesh 4, Tell en-Naṣbeh, Khirbet ed-Dawwara, and Lachish V
Yosef Garfinkel

In 1978, Shiloh recognized a particular plan that characterized early Iron Age cities. It consisted of a peripheral belt with three components: a casemate city wall, residential houses abutting the city wall, and a street. This urban pattern has been observed in at least four early 10th-century BCE sites: Khirbet Qeiyafa, Beth Shemesh, Tell en-Naṣbeh, and Khirbet ed-Dawwara. As Khirbet ed-Dawwara was built in an arid zone that could not support a large population, it comprised a smaller settlement. In addition, Tel Sheva and Tel Beit Mirsim applied the same urban plan in the 8th century BCE.

Most of the dates produce an orderly chronological sequence. Khirbet al-Ra‘i VII is the earliest, followed by Khirbet Qeiyafa IV, and Beth Shemesh 4 (Fig. 4). Although all of these sites produced a few earlier radiometric dates falling in the early–mid-11th century BCE, they did not include Iron Age I Philistine pottery typical of this time. Therefore, Khirbet al-Ra‘i VII, Khirbet Qeiyafa IV, and Beth Shemesh 4 ought to be assigned to the 10th century BCE. The radiometric dates from Lachish V are the latest in the sequence, falling in the second half of the 10th century BCE and the first half of the 9th century BCE.

During the early Iron Age IIA, the kingdom of Judah encompassed at least three cities: Khirbet Qeiyafa, Beth Shemesh, and Tell en-Naṣbeh. They featured the same underlying urban plan comprised of an outer casemate city wall and a belt of houses abutting the casemates, on the one side, and facing a peripheral road, on the other. Furthermore, none was more than a day’s walk from Jerusalem and, thus, may be considered as marking the kingdom’s geographical core. They were calculably positioned to guard strategic roads leading into the kingdom: Khirbet Qeiyafa controlled the Elah Valley, Beth Shemesh controlled the Soreq Valley, and Tell en-Naṣbeh controlled the northern road to Jerusalem.

As Beth Shemesh 4 and Khirbet Qeiyafa feature the same material culture, they illuminate various aspects of the earliest phase of the Iron Age IIA in Judah. Particularly notable are the (proto-)Canaanite inscriptions found in both sites (Grant 1931–1932: Pl. X; Misgav, Garfinkel, and Ganor 2009; McCarter, Bunimovitz, and Lederman 2011; Garfinkel et al. 2015a). The spread of writing indicated by these inscriptions is a sign of increasing demand for communication and a marker of centralized authority.

In the middle Iron Age IIA, a fortified city was founded at Lachish (Level V), occupying only the northeastern side of the mound. Unlike the earlier cities mentioned above, Lachish’s city wall was solid, reflecting its importance as a regional center as early as the second half of the 10th century BCE.

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