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 extramural 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.

The 12th cent. B.C.E. was a period of dramatic change in the southern Levant. It was characterized by the decline of the Egyptian empire and the appearance of a new cultural entity, the so called “Sea Peoples”. In scholarly literature these changes are heavily debated, and questions regarding the nature of the process, the role of the different agents and the precise sequence of the events, are still unresolved. As a result of these concurrent dramatic changes, the Shephelah and the southern coastal plain figure prominently when unravelling the intense political and cultural transformations that took place in the southern Levant around the 12th cent. B.C.E. Tell Zakarīye/Azekah, a 12th cent. B.C.E. Shephelah site that fell victim to a severe destruction, has long been overlooked as a major player in the string of sites in the area. Recently excavated by the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition, the site and the finds from its destruction layer, presented below, not only provide in-depth understanding of the historical events that took place on the tell itself but also offer a new perspective of the archaeological evidence from prominent nearby sites such as Tell ed-Duwēr/Lachish, Tell es-Sāfī/Gath and Tell el-Ǧazarī/Gezer. Tell Zakarīye/Azekah’s archeological record bears witness to the significance of the Shephelah during the 12th cent. B.C.E., which was still characterized by typical Canaanite material culture and its cultural and economic connection to the Egyptian empire. The aim of this paper is to present new data from Tell Zakarīye/Azekah that clarifies the broad picture of historical events that occurred during the first half of the 12th cent. B.C.E. in southwestern Canaan, that enhances existing information regarding the region in the 12th cent. B.C.E. and that sheds new light on some of the prevailing traditions currently accepted by the scholarly community, including those regarding the “Sea Peoples”.

Published in Radiocarbon 2017:1-23; Please contact me via Email if you wish to receive a copy of the article