The Iron Age II period in the Central Negev Highlands and Edom: A comparison of settlement intensification and land exploitation.

Abstract

During the Iron Age II period of the Southern Levant, both the Central Negev Highlands and the Edomite Plateau experienced intensified settlement. Using excavation and recently published survey reports, this dissertation classifies the types of sites which have been discovered, and subsequently displays their topographic distribution on regional maps. The settlement pattern is examined alongside an analysis of the regional environment in order to propose arguments about the motivation behind settlement intensification. Additionally, pertinent dating evidence is summarized (<italic>i.e</italic>. ceramic, epigraphic, and historical). The Central Negev Highlands settlement occurred in about the 10<super> th</super> century B.C. (Iron Age IIA). The Edomite Plateau was settled beginning in the late 8<super>th</super> or early 7<super>th</super> century B.C. (Iron Age IIB), continuing into the 6<super>th</super> century B.C. (Iron Age IIC or perhaps into the Persian period (5<super>th</super> to 4<super>th</super> centuries B.C.). It was discovered that, although the Central Negev Highlands settlement preceded that of the Edomite Plateau, the clear motivation behind an augmented sedentary population in both regions was increased agropastoral production. Defense was an important feature of this settlement. Active long-distance trade is not indicated in either region. The ashy destruction layer of the Central Negev Highlands casemate structures was possibly a result of Pharaoh Shishak's 10<super>th</super> century B.C. invasion, but could also have been left by nomadic raiders or post-occupational squatters. The settlement could have been a response to the impending invasion, or to protect the southern frontier from other threats. It is also possible that the settlement represented a failed effort to exploit the land for cultivation and the rearing of animals. Edomite copper production in the Wadi 'Arabah may have been in response to Neo-Assyrian demand for tribute, but no direct evidence exists for why the Edomite settlement and agropastoral production occurred mostly during the Iron Age IIB and IIC periods. The evidence indicates the controlling influence of an Edomite king, who perhaps initiated settlement and land exploitation as the ruling administrator of a secondary state of the Empire. Only future research will clarify the extent of cultivation, and intersite relationships in the heavily occupied areas of both of these regions.