Gath – the Key to Iron Age Levantine Chronology

Many of you are probably familiar with the arguments revolving around the high and low chronology of Israel during the Iron Age. In a nutshell, the two major points that are argued are the arrival of the Philistines and the date of the Iron Age IIA. The “traditional” high chonology places the arrival of the Philistines in the early part of the 12th Century BCE, and the Iron Age IIA begining in the 10th Century (e.g. Mazar, 1997, Levant 29:157-167). The low chronology places the arrival of the Philistines in the later part of the 12th Century BCE, and the onset of the Iron IIA in the early 9th century BCE (e.g. Finkelstein, 1995, Tel Aviv 22/2:213-239).