DAN IV - The Iron Age I Settlement

In this comprehensive final report David Ilan and 12 other contributing authors present the rich finds from the Iron Age I (circa 1200-950 BCE) levels at Tel Dan, located at the headwaters of the Dan tributary of the Jordan River, in the northeastern Hula Valley in northern Israel. The early Iron Age levels at Tel Dan have particular resonance in the light of their perceived association with the biblical account of the migration of the tribe of Dan, described in Judges 18. Much of what is portrayed in this volume is still visible at Tel Dan, in the national park located in the far north of modern-day Israel. The finds described in this volume were gleaned in the course of Avraham Biran's 1966-1999 excavations at the site. The architecture, ceramics, metal, flint, bone and ground stone objects and ecofacts all contribute to the portrayal of a cosmopolitan society that thrived, initially, under Egyptian imperial rule, subsequently forging its own way following the departure of Egyptian hegemony. The early Iron Age levels at Tel Dan show material evidence for the presence of local peoples, Egyptians, Cypriots, Aegeans, and Syrians, who together, negotiated a new identity, as Danites. Illustrated in colour and black & white throughout, and with five plans folded and within a pocket at the back of the volume.