Radiocarbon dating meets Egyptology and Biblical accounts in the city of Gezer

Phys dot org ^ | November 15, 2023 | Public Library of Science

[SunkenCiv]

Gezer is an ancient southern Levantine city, well known from Egyptian, Assyrian, and Biblical texts and associated with stories of power struggles and significant historical figures. It is also a rich archaeological site with abundant Bronze Age and Iron Age remains and with great potential for research into the daily lives of its denizens.

Recent excavations at the site have uncovered a continuous stratigraphic sequence that allows for detailed dating and the establishment of an absolute chronology for events at the site.

In this study, Webster and colleagues obtained 35 radiocarbon dates on organic materials (mostly seeds) from seven distinct stratigraphic layers at Gezer. These dates range from the 13th to the 9th centuries, a time period that covers numerous significant changes in the city, including multiple destructive events, rebuilding episodes, and the fortification of the city. Some of these events have been proposed to be linked to certain stories from ancient texts.

[SunkenCiv]

first is a dead link, but easily found with The Wayback Machine:

Did Joshua Destroy Canaanite Hatzor?
by Clarence H. Wagner, Jr.

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."

The Burning Of Hazor
by Abraham Rabinovich and Neil Asher Silberman

The 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.

[SunkenCiv]

One of *those* topics.

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• Joseph and The Exodus [02/17/2019]
• Three Skeletons And A Fiery Destruction [Tel Gezer] [03/13/2018]
• 'Solomon's Palace' discovered in Israel, . . . (truncated) [09/04/2016]
• Tel Gezer Water System Built by Canaanites? [11/23/2015]
• Ruins of ancient Egyptian temple unearthed under modern Cairo [10/06/2015]
• Paid sick days and physicians at work: Ancient Egyptians had state-supported health care [02/22/2015]
• Ancient City Discovered Beneath Biblical-Era Ruins in Israel [11/18/2013]
• The Future of Israel's Past [08/07/2013]
• Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief... [12/07/2010]
• Pharaoh Seti I's Tomb Bigger Than Thought [04/17/2008]
• Pharaohs and Kings - A Test of Time [07/31/2002]
• Deconstructing the Walls of Jerico [06/22/2002]

[SunkenCiv]

[frank ballenger]

Words found on tablet recording a conflict:

Get Off My Lawn.
——Old Gezer 👴

[SunkenCiv]

lol

[null and void]

I'm not an old Gezer!

Well, not that old anyway...

[SunkenCiv]

If I thought you were, I still wouldn’t tel anyone.

[null and void]

I didn’t.

(Wel played!)

[Ezekiel]

Gezer [גזר] is an ancient southern Levantine city, well known from Egyptian, Assyrian, and Biblical texts and associated with stories of power struggles

and significant historical figures...

...In this study, Webster and colleagues obtained 35 radiocarbon dates on organic materials (mostly seeds) from seven distinct stratigraphic layers at Gezer [גזר].

[ridesthemiles]

YOU WIN TODAY’S POSTS

[Noumenon]

I’m 72 - does that make me one the remaining Geezerites?

[frank ballenger]

You betcha.

Frank
Age 77

[frank ballenger]

My humble thanks.

[Long Jon No Silver]

I knew Geezer Butler was old, but not thousands of years old. Ages well