Since the publication of the article by Israel Finkelstein in 1996 on the archaeology of the United Kingdom, the discussion regarding the nature and time of the Iron Age IIA has been forsaken. In the article we published on the south of the country in 2004 we proposed resolving the disagreement by distinguishing between two sub-phases of the period that differ from each other in their settlement model and the characteristics of their pottery.
We would like to examine the remains in the north of the Land of Israel in a similar manner. The pottery assemblage from the Yizre’el compound will be used as a typological starting point. A comparison of the pottery assemblages and the stratigraphic data of the key sites that were excavated in the region make it possible to conduct a renewed examination of the period’s characteristics. It turns out that the processes in the north are different than those that transpired in the south and are indicative of the unique process by which the Kingdom of Israel was formed. As opposed to the emphasis on security and defense that is evident in the construction of the fortified cities in Judah, the emphasis in the north was placed on the palatial compounds like those at Samaria and Yizre’el, and an elite class that underscored its status by means of ritual objects developed in many settlements.