Newly discovered archeological evidence bear the existence of a united monarchy of Israel as far back as the 10th hundred BCE , which just so happens to coincide with the sovereignty of the Biblical King David . The findings have been issue in the journalRadiocarbon .
A team led by Avraham Faust and Yair Sapir , from Bar - Ilan University , have spent 10 years dig at the site of Tel ' Eton in the Hebron hills halfway between Jerusalem and Gaza , Israel . Here , they dig up a " four - room household " on the highest part of the hummock that dates back to the 10th century BCE , which they ’ve nicknamed the " Governor ’s abidance " on account of its grandness .
For age , it was believe that the dearth of archeological remains from the era of David and Solomon implied the civilization at the time was relatively rustic – predominate by a fistful of local gaffer rather than a sovereign who presided over a kingdom that expound beyond Jerusalem ’s urban center limits . Of course , these recover do not prove the existence of a man , who allot to the Bible , took down a giant and stamp down Jerusalem , but it does go to show that societal complexity live in Judah as far back as the former Iron Age – as well as just how lead astray archeological sites can be .
In astatement , the author stress that " the association with David is not establish on direct archaeological evidence , but only on circumstantial grounds . "
The building , which had two tarradiddle and a floorplan of 225 substantial measure ( 2,422 square foot ) , was destroy in the eighth century BCE , when the region was overrun by an Assyrian army . There are still the stiff of arrowhead scattered on the floor . However , the day of the month when construction started on the site has been much difficult to define .
To find out , the squad take out samples from the foundation and base and used radiocarbon dating to learn their long time . Aligning with other finds , including the foundation deposits themselves , the carbon 14 result reveal the earliest sections of the construction were assembled between the late 11th century and third quarter of the 10th one C BCE , at which peak the area was going through the other Iron Age ( 1200 BCE - 1000BCE ) .
It is much earlier than antecedently thought – a Hellenic example of the old family effect , the researchers say . This is when a construction or settlement had been active for one C but the only stay still in existence date back to its later phase , fall in archaeologists an unrealistic idea of the age of a edifice ( usually underestimating how previous it really is ) .
" From their foresighted life – sometimes centuries – very little will be find , and even less will be reported,“explainedFaust . " Archaeologists should therefore be heedful when they conclude that the rarity of finds from these geological era indicate that company was pitiable , and lack social complexness . "
