{ "version": "23.0.0", "generated": "2026-07-31", "methodNote": "V23 separates excavation context, published stratigraphy, radiocarbon measurement, calibrated/model-derived ranges, provenance history, object reading, historical inference, and biblical correlation. Simplified sequences are navigation aids and never replace excavation reports.", "sequences": [ { "id": "lachish-levels", "siteId": "lachish", "title": "Lachish level sequence", "sequenceKind": "simplified published level synthesis", "referenceIds": [ "cambridge-lachish-fortifications" ], "caveat": "Dates are broad research ranges; level terminology and absolute chronology must be checked against the relevant excavation publication.", "phases": [ { "id": "lachish-vi", "label": "Level VI", "start": -1220, "end": -1130, "period": "Late Bronze Age", "evidence": "Canaanite city and destruction horizon", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "lachish-v", "label": "Level V", "start": -1000, "end": -900, "period": "Early Iron Age II", "evidence": "Renewed fortified settlement and early state-formation context", "confidence": "debated" }, { "id": "lachish-iv", "label": "Level IV", "start": -900, "end": -760, "period": "Iron Age IIB", "evidence": "Judahite fortified city preceding Level III", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "lachish-iii", "label": "Level III", "start": -760, "end": -701, "period": "Iron Age IIB", "evidence": "Assyrian siege destruction associated with 701 BCE", "confidence": "high" }, { "id": "lachish-ii", "label": "Level II", "start": -700, "end": -586, "period": "Iron Age IIC", "evidence": "Rebuilt Judahite city ending in Babylonian destruction", "confidence": "high" }, { "id": "lachish-i", "label": "Level I and later", "start": -539, "end": -300, "period": "Persian–Hellenistic", "evidence": "Later administrative and settlement phases", "confidence": "broad" } ] }, { "id": "hazor-upper-city", "siteId": "hazor", "title": "Hazor upper-city phase sequence", "sequenceKind": "area-sensitive phase synthesis", "referenceIds": [ "bechar-hazor-2021" ], "caveat": "The lower city and upper city require separate stratigraphic treatment.", "phases": [ { "id": "hazor-mb", "label": "Middle Bronze urban apex", "start": -1800, "end": -1550, "period": "Middle Bronze Age", "evidence": "Large Canaanite city and administrative center", "confidence": "high" }, { "id": "hazor-lb", "label": "Late Bronze palace city", "start": -1550, "end": -1230, "period": "Late Bronze Age", "evidence": "Administrative palace and major destruction horizon", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "hazor-iron-i", "label": "Iron I resettlement", "start": -1200, "end": -1000, "period": "Iron Age I", "evidence": "More limited post-destruction settlement", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "hazor-iron-ii", "label": "Iron II fortified city", "start": -1000, "end": -732, "period": "Iron Age II", "evidence": "Fortifications and state-level architecture with debated subphase dates", "confidence": "debated" } ] }, { "id": "jericho-periods", "siteId": "jericho", "title": "Tell es-Sultan occupation synthesis", "sequenceKind": "cross-expedition period synthesis", "referenceIds": [ "nigro-jericho-2023" ], "caveat": "This visualization does not equate the Wheeler–Kenyon and Italian-Palestinian field systems.", "phases": [ { "id": "jericho-eb", "label": "Early Bronze urban city", "start": -3300, "end": -2300, "period": "Early Bronze Age", "evidence": "Fortified urban phases", "confidence": "high" }, { "id": "jericho-mb", "label": "Middle Bronze fortified city", "start": -1950, "end": -1550, "period": "Middle Bronze Age", "evidence": "Major defensive and domestic occupation ending in destruction", "confidence": "high" }, { "id": "jericho-lb", "label": "Late Bronze reduced occupation", "start": -1550, "end": -1200, "period": "Late Bronze Age", "evidence": "Limited and debated settlement evidence rather than a large fortified city", "confidence": "debated" }, { "id": "jericho-iron", "label": "Iron Age occupation", "start": -1200, "end": -586, "period": "Iron Age", "evidence": "Intermittent or limited occupation in relevant sectors", "confidence": "broad" } ] }, { "id": "qeiyafa-sequence", "siteId": "khirbet-qeiyafa", "title": "Khirbet Qeiyafa occupation sequence", "sequenceKind": "short-duration horizon", "referenceIds": [ "cambridge-qeiyafa-state", "cambridge-qeiyafa-second", "cambridge-qeiyafa-bayesian" ], "caveat": "The radiocarbon evidence constrains the occupation; political identification and the exact Iron I–IIA label remain interpretive.", "phases": [ { "id": "qeiyafa-iron", "label": "Fortified Iron Age city", "start": -1050, "end": -970, "period": "Late Iron I / early Iron IIA", "evidence": "Short-lived fortified settlement, inscriptions, and destruction/abandonment horizon", "confidence": "high for date range; debated for affiliation" }, { "id": "qeiyafa-later", "label": "Later reuse", "start": -350, "end": 650, "period": "Hellenistic–Byzantine", "evidence": "Later installations and reuse distinct from the early Iron city", "confidence": "broad" } ] }, { "id": "arad-fortress", "siteId": "arad", "title": "Tel Arad fortress-mound sequence", "sequenceKind": "published stratum sequence", "referenceIds": [ "v23-arad-final-publication" ], "caveat": "The lower Early Bronze city and the fortress mound are separate archaeological contexts.", "phases": [ { "id": "arad-xiii", "label": "Stratum XIII", "start": -2700, "end": -2500, "period": "Early Bronze Age", "evidence": "Remains of the earlier city on the mound", "confidence": "broad" }, { "id": "arad-xii", "label": "Stratum XII", "start": -1000, "end": -900, "period": "Iron Age IIA", "evidence": "Village or enclosed settlement preceding the fortress sequence", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "arad-xi-vi", "label": "Strata XI–VI", "start": -900, "end": -586, "period": "Iron Age IIB–IIC", "evidence": "Successive Judahite fortress phases, sanctuary, and ostraca", "confidence": "high for sequence; phase dates vary" }, { "id": "arad-v-iii", "label": "Strata V–III", "start": -539, "end": 100, "period": "Persian–Roman", "evidence": "Later forts retaining the strategic function of the mound", "confidence": "broad" } ] }, { "id": "megiddo-iron", "siteId": "megiddo", "title": "Megiddo Iron Age sequence", "sequenceKind": "published stratum synthesis", "referenceIds": [ "v23-megiddo-gates" ], "caveat": "The absolute dates and royal attribution of individual monumental phases are major chronology debates.", "phases": [ { "id": "megiddo-via", "label": "Stratum VIA", "start": -1100, "end": -950, "period": "Iron Age I", "evidence": "Substantial settlement ending in major conflagration", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "megiddo-va-ivb", "label": "Strata VA–IVB", "start": -950, "end": -880, "period": "Early Iron Age II", "evidence": "Monumental architecture and six-chambered gate phase", "confidence": "debated absolute date" }, { "id": "megiddo-iva", "label": "Stratum IVA", "start": -880, "end": -760, "period": "Iron Age IIB", "evidence": "Palaces, stables/administrative complexes, and gate modifications", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "megiddo-iii", "label": "Stratum III", "start": -760, "end": -609, "period": "Late Iron Age", "evidence": "Assyrian-period city and later destruction/transition", "confidence": "moderate" } ] }, { "id": "qumran-periods", "siteId": "qumran", "title": "Qumran settlement-period synthesis", "sequenceKind": "interpretive settlement phases", "referenceIds": [ "v23-qumran-loc" ], "caveat": "Phase labels are useful research conventions, but the site’s function and relationship to the scroll deposits remain debated.", "phases": [ { "id": "qumran-hasmonean", "label": "Hasmonean establishment", "start": -140, "end": -31, "period": "Hasmonean", "evidence": "Settlement development and communal/industrial installations", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "qumran-herodian", "label": "Herodian rebuilding and occupation", "start": -31, "end": 68, "period": "Early Roman", "evidence": "Reoccupation, rebuilding, and final destruction/abandonment during the revolt era", "confidence": "moderate" }, { "id": "qumran-caves", "label": "Manuscript deposition horizon", "start": -250, "end": 68, "period": "Second Temple", "evidence": "Cave deposits spanning multiple manuscript dates and deposit histories", "confidence": "broad" } ] }, { "id": "avaris-phases", "siteId": "avaris", "title": "Avaris historical occupation synthesis", "sequenceKind": "regional multi-area synthesis", "referenceIds": [ "arce-hyksos", "stantis-hyksos" ], "caveat": "Tell el-Dab‘a phase labels vary by excavation area; this is a historical overview rather than a literal column.", "phases": [ { "id": "avaris-mb", "label": "Levantine settlement growth", "start": -1900, "end": -1650, "period": "Middle Bronze Age", "evidence": "Increasing Near Eastern population and cultural connections in the eastern Delta", "confidence": "high" }, { "id": "avaris-hyksos", "label": "Hyksos capital phase", "start": -1650, "end": -1550, "period": "Second Intermediate Period", "evidence": "Royal center of western Asiatic rulers in northern Egypt", "confidence": "high" }, { "id": "avaris-newkingdom", "label": "Egyptian reconquest and reuse", "start": -1550, "end": -1250, "period": "Early New Kingdom", "evidence": "Military/royal reuse and later regional transformation toward Pi-Ramesses", "confidence": "high" } ] } ], "bibliography": [ { "id": "v23-intcal20", "title": "The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 cal kBP)", "authors": "Reimer et al.", "year": 2020, "kind": "calibration standard", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.41", "note": "Northern Hemisphere atmospheric calibration curve; calibration is not the same as a direct calendar measurement." }, { "id": "v23-oxcal", "title": "OxCal radiocarbon calibration and chronological analysis", "authors": "Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit", "year": 2026, "kind": "method documentation", "url": "https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html", "note": "Software and documentation for calibration and archaeological chronological modeling." }, { "id": "cambridge-qeiyafa-state", "title": "State Formation in Judah: Biblical Tradition, Modern Historical Theories and Radiometric Dates at Khirbet Qeiyafa", "authors": "Garfinkel et al.", "year": 2012, "kind": "peer-reviewed radiocarbon study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200047147" }, { "id": "cambridge-qeiyafa-second", "title": "King David's City at Khirbet Qeiyafa: Results of the Second Radiocarbon Dating Project", "authors": "Garfinkel et al.", "year": 2015, "kind": "peer-reviewed radiocarbon study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2015.2" }, { "id": "cambridge-qeiyafa-bayesian", "title": "Radiocarbon Dating Khirbet Qeiyafa and the Iron I–IIA Phases in the Shephelah: Methodological Comments and a Bayesian Model", "authors": "Finkelstein and Piasetzky", "year": 2015, "kind": "peer-reviewed methodological response", "url": "https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_rc.57.18336" }, { "id": "cambridge-lachish-fortifications", "title": "Lachish Fortifications and State Formation in the Biblical Kingdom of Judah in Light of Radiometric Datings", "authors": "Garfinkel et al.", "year": 2019, "kind": "peer-reviewed radiocarbon study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2019.5" }, { "id": "bechar-hazor-2021", "title": "The Destruction of Late Bronze Age Hazor", "authors": "Bechar et al.", "year": 2021, "kind": "peer-reviewed archaeological study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1553/AEUNDL31S45" }, { "id": "cambridge-tel-eton", "title": "The Governor's Residency at Tel ‘Eton, the United Monarchy, and the Impact of the Old-House Effect", "authors": "Faust and Sapir", "year": 2018, "kind": "peer-reviewed radiocarbon study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2018.10" }, { "id": "cambridge-atar-haroa", "title": "Radiocarbon Results from the Iron IIA Site of Atar Haroa in the Negev Highlands", "authors": "Boaretto et al.", "year": 2010, "kind": "peer-reviewed radiocarbon study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200056472" }, { "id": "cambridge-azekah-lba", "title": "Preliminary Radiocarbon Results for Late Bronze Age Strata at Tel Azekah and Their Implications", "authors": "Webster et al.", "year": 2018, "kind": "peer-reviewed radiocarbon study", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2018.80" }, { "id": "v23-arad-final-publication", "title": "The Fortress Mound at Tel Arad: Final Publication Project", "authors": "White-Levy Program / Harvard Semitic Museum", "year": 2026, "kind": "institutional project record", "url": "https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/fortress-mound-tel-arad-excavated-yohanan-aharoni-1962-1967" }, { "id": "v23-megiddo-gates", "title": "Tel Megiddo 2018: Stratigraphic Observations on the Iron Age Gates", "authors": "Israel Antiquities Authority excavation report", "year": 2021, "kind": "official excavation report", "url": "https://hadashot.iaa.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=25996&mag_id=133" }, { "id": "nigro-jericho-2023", "title": "Tell es-Sultan/Jericho in the Late Bronze Age: An Overall Reconstruction", "authors": "Lorenzo Nigro", "year": 2023, "kind": "academic site synthesis", "url": "https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1700491" }, { "id": "v23-qumran-loc", "title": "The Qumran Community: Artifacts from the Qumran Site", "authors": "Library of Congress", "year": 1993, "kind": "institutional exhibition record", "url": "https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/scrolls/art2.html" } ] }