Israelite highland settlement

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In the early Iron Age, Canaan was characterized by a significant increase in a sedentary Israelite population.^[1]

Archaeological field surveys conducted since the 1970s found a large increase in the settled population dating to the 12th century BC Late Bronze Age collapse. 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 Canaanites or Sea People.

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.

The Book of Joshua describes the conquest of Canaan, including the Fall of Jericho and the Battle of the Waters of Merom.

This evidence does not prove there was a conquest, 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 (Judges 1:27–35), 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, Dor, Gezer, Aijalon, Shaalbim, and Jerusalem.

• Archaeology of Israel
• Biblical archaeology
• List of Biblical names
• List of cities of the ancient Near East
• Mount Ebal site

• Dever, William G. (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0975-8.
• Finkelstein, Israel; Neil Asher Silberman (2002). The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86913-6.
• Miller, Robert D., II (2005). Chieftains Of The Highland Clans: A History Of Israel In The Twelfth And Eleventh Centuries B.C. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0988-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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