Israelite highland settlement refers to an ancient Israelite settlement in the highlands north of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

discovered in archaeological field surveys conducted in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

since the 1970s. These surveys found a large increase in the settled population dating to 1200 BCE. It is not known whether the Israelites arrived in the wake of conquests or the new villages were established by former nomads or displaced persons. A similar increase was not found in the surrounding lowland areas. According to archaeological evidence, these areas may have been inhabited by

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ites or

Sea People The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...

. A 2005 book by Robert D. Miller applies statistical modeling to the sizes and locations of the villages, grouping them by economic and political features. He found highland groupings centered on Dothan, Tirzah, Shechem, and Shiloh. The tribal territory of Benjamin was not organized around any main town. This evidence does not prove there was a conquest as described in the Book of Joshua, but if the biblical reference to "daughter villages" means all villages closest to a specific town, the list of Canaanite towns not taken in the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...

(), which begins: "Nor did Manesseh drive out Bet Shean and her daughter-villages ...", the correspondence to the survey results is remarkably accurate. Towns not captured in the central zone were Taanach, Ibleam,

Megiddo Megiddo may refer to: Places and sites in Israel * Tel Megiddo, site of an ancient city in Israel's Jezreel valley * Megiddo Airport, a domestic airport in Israel * Megiddo church (Israel) * Megiddo, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel * Megiddo Junctio ...

, Dor,

Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region roughly midway between Jerusalem and Tel Av ...

Aijalon The Ayalon Valley ( he, or , ''ʾAyyālōn'') is a valley in the lowland of the Shephelah in the States of Palestine and Israel, identified in the 19th century as Yalo at the foot of the Bethoron pass, a Palestinian Arab village located sout ...

, Shaalbim, and Jerusalem.

Bibliography

* * * 1970s archaeological discoveries * Ancient Israel and Judah Biblical archaeology Hebrew Bible mountains Israelites {{biblical-studies-stub

See also

Bibliography