Radiocarbon Results from the Iron IIa Site of Atar Haroa in the Negev Highlands and Their Archaeological and Historical Implications

Abstract

In this article, we present a set of radiocarbon measurements from Atar Haroa, a site that belongs to the early Iron IIA Negev Highlands settlement system in southern Israel. The results place activity at the site in the 9th century BCE, with a possibility that it was founded in the 10th century BCE, probably in the second half. The Atar Haroa measurements seem to indicate that the early Iron IIA phase in the ceramic typology of Israel lasted until the mid-9th century BCE--somewhat later than previously suggested. These new data shed light on several issues related to the history of southern Israel in the late 10th and 9th centuries BCE.