Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Agricultural and Economic Change in the Iron II Judean Shephelah as a Result of Geopolitical Shifts: A View from Tel Burna

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
“And in Length of Days Understanding” (Job 12:12)

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

  • 623 Accesses

Abstract

Major geopolitical and social changes took place in the Southern Levant during the Iron II including the establishment of territorial states, and subsequently, the intervention of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires in local economies. These geopolitical shifts affected local economic and agricultural practices, along with other aspects of daily life and subsistence. This paper presents and analyzes changes in the economic practices of the people living in the Iron II site of Tel Burna in light of the geopolitical changes that occurred throughout the period.

The research presented here on Tel Burna was funded by grants of the Israel Science Foundation (Grants No. 522/16; 257/19).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 349.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 449.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For the role of these stamped handles as a Judahite administration tools, see recently: Lipschits 2021; for a discussion on the date of the stamped handles, see also: Lipschits et al. 2010.

  2. 2.

    For the debate on the dating of Kh. Qeiyafa, see for example: Garfinkel et al. 2012 and Finkelstein and Piasetzky 2015.

  3. 3.

    For the pre-Lmlk type see: Shai and Maeir 2003 and Gitin 2006.

  4. 4.

    To the west – all the coastal plain from Ashdod in the north to Gaza in the south; to the east the Hebron hills.

References

  • Bar-Matthews, M., & Ayalon, A. (2004). Speleothems as climate indicators, a case study from Soreq Cave located in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Israel. In R. W. Battarbee, F. Gasse, & C. Stickley (Eds.), Past climate variability through Europe and Africa (pp. 363–391). Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunimovitz, S., & Lederman, Z. (2016). Tel Beth-Shemesh – A border community in Judah renewed excavations 1990–2000: The Iron Age (Vol. 34). Penn State University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bunimovitz, S., Lederman, Z., & Manor, D. W. (2009). The archaeology of border communities: Renewed excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh, Part 1: The Iron Age. Near Eastern Archaeology, 72, 114–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen-Weinberger, A., Szanton, N., & Uziel, J. (2017). Ethnofabrics: Petrographic analysis as a tool for illuminating cultural interactions and trade relations between Judah and Philistia during the Iron Age II. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 377, 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dagan, Y. (2000). The settlement in the Judean Shephela in the second and first millennium B.C. – A test-case of settlement processes in a geographic region. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Tel Aviv University. (Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Demski, A. (1966). The ‘House of Achzib’ (A critical note on Micah 1:l4b). Israel Exploration Journal, 16, 211–215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eitam, D. (1996). The olive oil industry at Tel Miqne-Ekron during the Late Iron Age. In D. Eitam & M. Heltzer (Eds.), Olive oil in antiquity: Israel and neighbouring countries from the Neolithic to the early Arab period (pp. 167–198). Sargon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faust, A. (2020). Between the highland polity and Philistia: The united monarchy and the resettlement of the Shephelah in the Iron Age IIA, with a special focus on Tel ʿEton and Khirbet Qeiyafa. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 383, 115–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein, I., & Piasetzky, E. (2015). Radiocarbon dating Khirbet Qeiyafa and the Iron I-IIA phases in the Shephelah: Methodological comments and a Bayesian model. Radiocarbon, 57, 891–907.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein, I., Gadot, Y., & Langgut, D. (2021). The unique specialised economy of Judah under Assyrian rule and its impact on the material culture of the kingdom. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00310328.2021.1949531

  • Garfinkel, Y., Streit, K., Ganor, S., & Hasel, M. G. (2012). State formation in Judah: Biblical tradition, modern historical theories, and radiometric dates at Khirbet Qeiyafa. Radiocarbon, 54, 359–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garfinkel, Y., Hasel, M. G., Klingbeil, M. G., Kang, H., Choi, G., Chang, S., Hong, S., Ganor, S., Kreimerman, I., & Bronk Ramsey, C. (2019). Lachish fortifications and state formation in the biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings. Radiocarbon, 61, 695–712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gitin, S. (1997). The Neo-Assyrian empire and its western periphery: The Levant, with a focus on Philistine Ekron. In S. Parpola & R. Whiting (Eds.), Assyria 1995: Proceedings of the 10th anniversary symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project (September 7–11) (pp. 77–103). Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gitin, S. (2006). The LMLK jar-form redefined: A new class of Iron Age II oval-shaped storage jar. In A. M. Maeir & P. De Miroschedji (Eds.), I will speak the riddles of ancient times (Archaeological and historical studies in honor of Amihai Mazar on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday) (Vol. 2, pp. 505–524). Eisenbrauns.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, J. W., Rollston, C. A., & Blakely, J. A. (2012). Biblical geography in Southwestern Judah. Near Eastern Archaeology, 75, 20–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janovský, M., Horák, J., Ackermann, O., Tavger, A., Cassuto, D., Šmejda, L., Hejcman, M., Anker, Y., & Shai, I. (2020). The contribution of POSL and PXRF to the discussion on sedimentary and site formation processes in archaeological contexts of the southern Levant and the interpretation of biblical strata at Tel Burna. Quaternary International, 618, 24–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.11.045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann, G., & Niemann, H. M. (2014). When did the Shephelah become Judahite? Tel Aviv, 41, 77–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipschits, O. (2021). Age of empires: The history and administration of Judah in the 8th–2nd centuries BCE in light of the storage-jar stamp impressions. Penn State University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lipschits, O., Sergi, O., & Koch, I. (2010). Royal Judahite jar handles: Reconsidering the chronology of the lmlk stamp impressions. Tel Aviv, 37(1), 3–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maeir, A. M., Welch, E. L., & Eniukhina, M. (2021). A note on olive oil production in Iron Age Philistia: Pressing the consensus. Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 153, 129–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazar, A. (1985). Between Judah and Philistia: Timnah (Tel Batash) in the Iron Age II. Eretz Israel, 18, 300–324. (Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Na’aman, N. (2013). The Kingdom of Judah in the 9th century BCE: Text analysis versus archaeological research. Tel Aviv, 40, 247–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orendi, A., Smejda, L., McKinny, C., Cassuto, D., Sharp, C., & Shai, I. (2017). The agricultural landscape of Tel Burna: Ecology and economy of a Bronze Age/Iron Age settlement in the Southern Levant. Journal of Landscape Ecology, 10, 165–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riehl, S., & Shai, I. (2015). Supra-regional trade networks and the economic potential of Iron Age II sites in the southern Levant. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 3, 525–533.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shai, I. (2017). Tel Burna – A Judahite fortified town in the Shephelah. In O. Lipschits & A. M. Maeir (Eds.), “…as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the Shephelah” (I Kings 10:2) recent archaeological research in the Shephelah of Judah: The Iron Age (pp. 45–60). Eisenbrauns.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shai, I., & Maeir, A. M. (2003). Pre-lmlk jars: A new class of Iron Age IIA storage jars. Tel Aviv, 30, 108–123. https://doi.org/10.1179/tav.2003.2003.1.108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shai, I., & McKinny, C. (2020). Canaanite votive offerings and their significance within their context at Tel Burna. Israel Exploration Journal, 70, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shai, I., & Uziel, J. (2014). Addressing survey methodology in the southern levant: Applying different methods for the survey of Tel Burna. Israel Exploration Journal, 64, 172–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shai, I., Cassuto, D., Dagan, A., & Uziel, J. (2012). The fortifications at Tel Burna: Date, function, and meaning. Israel Exploration Journal, 62, 141–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shai, I., Dagan, A., Riehl, S., Orendi, A., Uziel, J., & Suriano, M. (2014). A private stamped seal handle from Tel Burna, Israel. ZDPV, 130, 121–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharp, C., Šmejda, L., McKinny, C., Nicoll, K., Orendi, A., & Shai, I. (2020). Bedrock installations used and reused outside Tel Burna. Judea and Samaria Research Studies, 29(1), 5–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tappy, R. (2008). Historical and geographical notes on the “lowland districts” of Judah in Joshua xv 33-47. Vetus Testamentum, 58, 381–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ussishkin, D. (Ed.). (2004). The renewed archaeological excavations at Lachish (1973–1994). Tel Aviv University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uziel, J., & Shai, I. (2010). The settlement history of Tel Burna: Results of the surface survey. Tel Aviv, 37, 227–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

    Itzhaq Shai

Authors
  1. Itzhaq Shai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Itzhaq Shai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Erez Ben-Yosef

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Ian W. N. Jones

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Shai, I. (2023). Agricultural and Economic Change in the Iron II Judean Shephelah as a Result of Geopolitical Shifts: A View from Tel Burna. In: Ben-Yosef, E., Jones, I.W.N. (eds) “And in Length of Days Understanding” (Job 12:12). Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27330-8_30

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27330-8_30

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-27329-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-27330-8

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation