Folia Theologica 16. (2005)

Solomon Pasala: Archaeological Evidences for Solomonic period

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES

137

Megiddo by the Oriental Institute team, and the dating of the Bichrome Philistine pottery.

The dating of Megiddo findings, especially stratum IV, to the Solomonic period is based on the reading of 1 Kgs 9/15. Yadin's mention of stratigraphy and chronology were connected to the Biblical testimony. This historical reliability of 1 Kgs 9/15 has not been confirmed: that is, we do not know whether it is Solomonic in date or whether it describes the supposed events of the tenth century from a later perspective34.

Coming back to Monochrome pottery, it has not been found in any of Twentieth dynasty Egyptian strongholds in the south. The claim that Monochrome pottery was not found at these sites because it was restricted to the Philistine Pentapolis must be rejected according to Finkelstein. One cannot accept the idea that daily pottery, which is not related to cult, food ways or burial customs, would remain restricted to the organized Philistine centers of several decades without even a single shred finding its way to nearby sites five or seven km. away. Accordingly, the monochrome pottery should be dated to 1135-1100 or even later, and Bichrome Philistine ware, which developed from the Monochrome while absorbing Canaanite and Egyptian traditions, was in use in the eleventh century until the mid tenth century BC. That means, in the opinion of Finkelstein, the first strata which post-dates the philistine Bichrome should be placed in the mid-to-late tenth century rather than in the early tenth century BC35.

The other possible anchor is found at Jezreel in the north and at Arad in the South. At Jezreel the excavators were apparently able to date a pottery assemblage to the mid-ninth century BC. At Arad it seems possible to identify the stratum related to the Shoshenq inscription36. In the light of the above findings, Finkelstein scrutinizes data and comes to the following conclusion:

"As mentioned above Megiddo docs not supply any reliable chronological anchor between the stratum VIIA (c.1135 BC) and the Assyrian city of the late eighth -early seventh century BC (stratum III). Put aside I Kgs

34 I. FINKELSTEIN, «The Archaeology», 179.

35 I. FINKELSTEIN. «The Archaeology», 180.

36 I. FINKELSTEIN, «The Archaeology», 180.