1.AL1GIlUN:ONTIlECO,.....vENGENCEOfnxrsA'\'DAlfl1l'AcrS 121toberelatedtoprecedingLiteBronzeAge?Ilowaretheyrel:lIcdtothe
following periods?Outof:ldauntingbibliographyrelated totheseand
otherquestions,thefollowingauthorsarehighlyrecommendedforback-
groundinformationandonentation:Willi~lmG.Dever,IsraelFinkelstein,
andNadavNa'aman.^11
Asecond topicregardsthe majorcontroversythaI nowexistsover
whetherornotthereeverwasaDavidic-Solomonicmonarchy.Involvedin
thisquestion isthe argumcnlforand against aSolomonic tcmple.The
majorvoiceshereareoncemorcIsraelFinkelstein.whocontinuestoargue
:-tgainstaSolomonicslate,andDever,whoarguestheoppositc.1^3
Perhaps a third topic-somewhat less controversial for integrating
arch:teologyand{exts~relates 10 issues:tboulwhatisusuallyrefcrred 10
asIronAgeIIil,C(roughly926--587/586H.C.I'.), Thereisanenormous
amountofarchaeologicaldatafromtheseperiodsthatholdoutthepossi-
bility for beinguscd responsibly forunderstanding biblical texts. One
could,forexample,makeuseofinscriptional,ceramic,regionalsurveys,
andotherartifac[ualevidencetodelineatethe outlinesofstatehoodfor
IsraclandJudahduringthefirstpartofthisperiod.
Anothertopicforwhichthereisanever-increasingamountofimpor-
tant data is thequestion of popular religious practices during these
periods.TheinscripllonsfromKUlllillet'AjrOdandKhirbetel-Qom,female
figurines,:tndcultic malerial fromAr~ld,Tel Dan(especiallythe~etsof
massebotreccntlydiscoveredbyAvr.tharnBiran).andelsewhereallr;;Iise
seriousquestionsconcerningthe"monotheistic" lensthroughwhichthe
DI-Iseems 10 havebeenwrinen.
StillOtherproblemsth<.ltcouldbearchacologicallyelucidatedarethe
politicHIdisastersof 722 and 586 H.C.E.:lndtheirimpactonlocalpopula-
tions,as wellas economicandsocial structures.There isconsiderable
archaeologicalevidenceforthephysicaldestructionofmanysitesduring
theseconflictsthatmightprofitablybeinrcgJ.tlcdwiththebiblic<lltexts.
12 WiIli;lI11G.Dc\"cr.K('C('I/IArc1)(/('(Jlo~it;(I/Di.w.;OI'(!l"ie,'ialldBihlica/Kesearch(Sc;llIlc'
Univer.~i1YofWa~hinl<lOnI're.~s.19'X)):idem."Arch;lcolo~y.Syro-l':tlcSlinbn:mdl3ihlic;II."
ABDt:354-67;idem."!sr;ICI.HiSlOryof(Arch;teolo~y;llldlhe·Conqtl...~t'J.-ABO3:545-58;
IsrddFinkdslein,nJf!Arc/Jl/e%8J'/ifIb('/smellieSell/ell/elll.(Jenlsalcm:t"r.wlExplor.uioll
Sociely.19&1):IsraelFinkchldnandN;ld;lV N:l·;Ull:Hl.cds..FromNOII/adism 10 MOl/archy:
Arcl)(u'OloRica({/ml//islon'n/IAS/JI.'CIS/iffar(l'/,,1"(1('/(JcrLJ~;L1cll1:br:ldExplof;uionSocie1y.
t9').1)
ljWhile],,,th""1",1;",,11.1\"l'ul>U,lIeJ""lull,;""".,I)""Ih;",1~']J;L."'-"t;'IIl,,,1'eu::ml},
Israell'il1kebldll;llldNcilA,Silbcrlll;m.71)1'IJjblcUl/cm1!Je(/'Arch(/('%!::y'sNell'IIiSiOlIoj
Anciel/t/smelandtheOn'Rll1ojlisSacredTexts(NewYork:Freel'r"....'.2001);andDever.
11"1)(/1DidIbeBiblicalIr'rilf'1"SKilOII'