Posted on 11/23/2015 11:10:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Gezer is mentioned in a well-known passage in the Hebrew Bible that states that Solomon used forced labor "to build the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, [and] Gezer" (1 Kings 9:15)... at Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer... most of the structures clearly belong to the Iron Age.
In contrast, the water system at Tel Gezer has now been dated by project archaeologists to a much earlier period -- the MBA -- with a date as early as 2000 B.C... Gezer is also the site of massive fortifications and other structures dating to the MBA -- in addition to the Iron Age monumental architecture of Biblical fame.
...the site of Tel Gezer includes two hills, east and west, with a low point called the "saddle" between them. Gezer was originally inhabited in about 3500 B.C. but remained a small settlement until the MBA, when massive fortifications were constructed throughout the site, including stone walls, possibly several stone towers, a glacis and a large gate on the south side of the west hill. In addition, ten massive standing stones, deemed a "high place," were put in place, possibly for cultic purposes or for use as an altar or perhaps to memorialize a treaty among tribes. The MBA "walled city" was destroyed in about 1500 B.C. at the end of the MBA...
When excavation of the Gezer water system resumed a few years ago, William G. Dever, long-time director of excavations at Tel Gezer beginning in the 1960s and a towering figure in his field, suggested that the water system dated to the Late Bronze Age (LBA) or the Iron Age. However, the current Water System Project archaeologists maintain that the system dates to the MBA: Pottery found by the archaeologists during the 2015 season seems to support the MBA dating.
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
Built by old Geezers? Of course.
Weren’t there some Giants among the Canaanites?
first is a dead link, but easily found with The Wayback Machine:Did Joshua Destroy Canaanite Hatzor?However, when Ben-Tor began his excavations in 1990 he came upon a palace near Yadin's which he dated, by means of its ceramics, to a few hundred years later - that is, to the last half of the second millennium or Late Bronze (LB) period... "We had taken it for granted that there were two palaces," he says. "I now think Yadin erred and that the palace whose corner he excavated may perhaps be part of the same Late Bronze palace we've been excavating, not an earlier palace from the Middle Bronze period. It will take another two weeks of digging next season to prove it, one way or the other."
by Clarence H. Wagner, Jr.The Burning Of HazorThe Egyptians could be responsible. Pharaoh Seti I, in an inscription describing his military campaign against Canaan ca. 1300 B.C., claimed to have destroyed Hazor. Another possibility is that Ramses II could have conquered the city, either on his way northward to Syria before the Battle of Kadesh in 1275 B.C. or on his return to Egypt afterward. Yet Ben-Tor believes that the intentional smashing of statues at Hazor, particularly those of the Egyptian kings, makes these possibilities unlikely. He also dismisses the likelihood of destruction at the hands of a rival Canaanite city-state because of the apparent absence of nearby cities powerful enough to attack Hazor. As for the Sea Peoples, Ben-Tor notes that not a single sherd of their distinctive decorated pottery has been found in the city, which is much further inland than the sites they are known to have conquered. That leaves the Israelites. The discovery of an archive at Hazor might pinpoint the date of the city's destruction, or provide information about the historical situation in Canaan in the years immediately preceding the Israelite settlement.
by Abraham Rabinovich and Neil Asher Silberman
I’m surprised this hasn’t been suggested before. Gezer was an important and well-known city long before the time of Exodus and Judges.
Also a convenient location for Israelites, being halfway between the port of Jaffa and Jerusalem.
Pottery found by the archaeologists during the 2015 season seems to support the MBA dating.IOW, the only reason for supposing an MBA dating is the pottery -- so the only way to date the strata is scientific testing of the pottery.
Deuteronomy 3:11 — For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
commentaries:
http://trivialdevotion.blogspot.com/2013/07/ogs-king-sized-bed-deuteronomy-311.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Og
There is a similar structure on the Geezer Plateau, otherwise known as Boca.
;’)
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