18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Radiocarbon dating makes it possible for the first time to check the extent to which archaeological findings match historical events from written sources

Researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences have published a new radiocarbon dataset for Tel Gezer, one of the most important Bronze and Iron Age sites in Israel. This makes it possible for the first time to check the extent to which archaeological findings correspond to historical events from written sources.

New dates provide detailed insights into the timing of events in the ancient city of Gezer, according to a new study published November 15, 2023, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Lyndelle Webster of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and colleagues.

Tel 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.

Due to its location along ancient trade routes, the city was one of the most important sites of the Bronze and Iron Ages (3rd to 1st millennium BC) and is mentioned in many Egyptian, biblical and Assyrian sources, where it is primarily associated with power struggles and conquests.

Aerial view with remains from different periods marked. Photo: © Lanier Center for Archaeology
Aerial view with remains from different periods marked. Photo: © Lanier Center for Archaeology

Lyndelle Webster, archaeologist at the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the OeAW: “We have taken more than 75 measurements on charred seeds from multiple settlement and destruction layers. The results of the 35 measurements from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age layers published in our study date to the 13th through 9th centuries BC. The dataset allows us for the first time to set the history of Gezer on a firm timeline.”

With the results of the 14C measurements, a reliable dating of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age layers is now available for the first time. However, the many written mentions of Gezer also make it possible to check whether the absolute dates can be related to historical events such as destruction, major architectural changes or the construction of fortifications.

Location of Gezer in the southern Levant. Photo: © OeAW-OeAI/ L. Webster
Location of Gezer in the southern Levant. Photo: © OeAW-OeAI/ L. Webster

The radiocarbon dates show that Gezer was heavily destroyed around 1200 BC. The event is possibly linked to a military campaign by the Egyptian king Merneptah, but is certainly connected to the general crisis that can be observed in this region and in the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The radiocarbon dating of the subsequent settlement layer contributes to a long-standing debate among experts about the dating of the “Philistine” culture. This arose in the nearby coastal plain and its influence reached Gezer around the middle of the 12th century BC, as evidenced by finds of “Philistine” pottery.

A further discussion deals with the transition to monumental public architecture and centralized administration in Gezer. According to the new radiocarbon data, this change can be dated to the first half of the 10th century BC rather than the 9th century BC. The result could mean that emerging political units, probably from the highlands, were associated with this development.

Remains of a monumental gate, casemate wall and large administrative building, now securely dated by radiocarbon to the early 10th century BC. Photo: © Lanier Center for Archaeology
Remains of a monumental gate, casemate wall and large administrative building, now securely dated by radiocarbon to the early 10th century BC. Photo: © Lanier Center for Archaeology

Shortly afterwards, around the middle of the 10th century BC, this first monumental architecture was destroyed. The city was then rebuilt, but suffered another major destruction soon afterwards, which is now clearly dated to around 900 BC. This is in contrast to earlier ideas, which linked it to a campaign by the Aramean king Hazael around 840 BC. The new radiocarbon dates clearly rule out this later scenario. Alternatively, non-military causes or conflicts between Judah, Israel and their neighbors are conceivable.

The data was collected by researchers from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) in collaboration with the US excavation team.

Austrian Archaeological Institute

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293119

Cover Photo: Aerial view of excavations along the southern edge of the mound. © Lanier Center for Archaeology

Related Articles

Nearly 300-million-year-old Oldest known fossilized reptile skin found in Oklahoma cave resembles that of modern crocodiles

17 January 2024

17 January 2024

Paleontologists say they’ve identified and described the oldest fossilized reptile skin ever found. A team of paleontologists from the University...

Archaeologists uncover intact 16th-century quayside in the Belgium town of Leper

24 March 2022

24 March 2022

Excavations at Leper (Ypres), located in the West Flanders province of Belgium, have uncovered a 16th-century quayside. The find was...

An extremely Rare Half-Shekel Coin From Year Three of the Great Revolt discovered

21 December 2022

21 December 2022

Recent excavations by archaeologists from the Hebrew University in the Ophel area south of the Temple Mount uncovered the remains...

5700-year-old monumental Menga Dolmen reveals it as one of the greatest feats of Neolithic engineering

6 December 2023

6 December 2023

A new investigation tracing the source of the gigantic stones that make up the Menga dolmen in southern Spain reveals...

Interesting Social Dimensions of Rare Diseases Seen in the Bronze Age

10 March 2021

10 March 2021

When it comes to Rare Diseases, what almost all of us think of is that this disease has affected very...

Archaeologists have discovered sandstone blocks belonging to a pharaoh’s temple covered with hieroglyphs in Sudan

2 March 2023

2 March 2023

Polish archaeologists have discovered sandstone blocks belonging to a pharaoh’s temple covered with hieroglyphs during excavations at Old Dongola in...

2000-year-old Ancient Greek ‘graduate school yearbook’ carved in stone found

5 June 2022

5 June 2022

Historians have discovered that an ancient Greek inscription on a marble slab in the collection of the National Museums of...

Archaeologists discovered an enigmatic complex of rooms, interiors of which covered with figural scenes unique to Christian art

7 April 2023

7 April 2023

Archaeologists of the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw discovered an enigmatic complex of rooms made...

2-Meter-Long Stone Block Found at 12,000-Year-Old Boncuklu Tarla Site in Southeastern Türkiye

18 December 2024

18 December 2024

A remarkable 2-meter by 20-centimeter processed stone block was discovered during the archaeological excavations at Boncuklu Tarla (Beaded Field), which...

Two monumental sculpted Roman heads unearthed in Carlisle, northern England

25 May 2023

25 May 2023

Two monumental statue heads believed to be dated to the early 3rd century have been unearthed during excavations at a...

Gravitational Wave Researchers Shed New Light on the Mystery of the 2,000-Year-Old Computer Antikythera Mechanism

28 June 2024

28 June 2024

Astronomers from the University of Glasgow who specialize in studying tiny ripples in space-time have shed new light on the...

Pompeii Reopening Antiquarium

6 February 2021

6 February 2021

The Antiquarium, a permanent museum within the Pompeii Archaeological pact, reopens. Opened in 1873, the Antiquarium was bombed during World...

Archaeological Finding Traces Chinese Tea Culture Back To 400 BC

7 February 2022

7 February 2022

An archaeological team from Shandong University, east China’s Shandong Province, has found the earliest known tea remains in the world...

Bronze age settlement found under in Swiss lake

23 April 2021

23 April 2021

For the first time, archaeologists discovered traces of a Bronze Age lakeside village beneath the surface of Lake Lucerne. The...

Archaeologists Unearth Carolingian Silver Treasure Hoard

6 May 2021

6 May 2021

A silver treasure hoard from the 9th century AD has been discovered in Poland‘s Osa and Drwęca basin. The hoard...