The Gezer Discrepancy: Comments on Recently Published Radiocarbon Dates

A set of radiocarbon results for samples extracted at Gezer in Israel have recently been published (Webster et al. 2023). They cover the Late Bronze IIB to Late Iron IIA strata unearthed by the Tandy excavation in the southern sector of the site, near the Iron Age gate and casemate wall. The authors consider the results against important events and cultural processes in the history of the region: Merenptah’s campaign in the late thirteenth century BCE, the appearance of Philistine pottery, King Solomon’s building activities referred to in 1 Kgs 9:15, Sheshonq I’s campaign to Canaan in the tenth century BCE, and Hazael of Aram Damascus’s assault on the Northern Kingdom in the late ninth century (see also Webster, Wolff, and Ortiz, this issue). They conclude that “We have been able to help place developments at Gezer in regional perspective and check the chronological viability of multiple proposed historical correlations” (Webster et al. 2023: 27). This article focuses on two words in this statement: “regional perspective.”1