Architecture and Artifacts

of the Iron Age:

The Material Context of the Hebrew Bible
 Pottery

Assorted IA pottery,
Hazor
 Pottery

Assorted IA pottery
 Stampe
d
handles

LMLK seals: stamped

on the handles of large
storage jars, found
mostly in and around
Jerusalem during the
reign of King Hezekiah
(8th c BCE). This
LMLK
handles
 Pottery

Philistine bichrome
pottery, IA I. Stylistic
features include red
or black decoration
on a white slip with
motifs of
stripes, birds, or fish.
 Figurine
s

Tel Motza, Israel (Near Jerusalem)

ca. 9th century
Artifacts
Figurines

”Pillar” figurines, Judea,

8th-6th century
 Figurines

”Pillar” figurines, Judea,

8th-6th century
Figurines

Pataikos, 9th-8th century

Figurines
Figurin
es
 Figurines

“And Josiah “destroyed

the horses that the kings
of Judah had set up in
honor of the sun at the
entrance to the House of
the Lord.” (2 Kings 22:2)
 Cult vessels

Philistine cult stand from Yavneh

favissa, ca. 9th-8th century
Cult vessels

Judahite cult stand, Tanaach,

ca. 9th-8th century
Cult vessels

Israelite cult stand, Tell Rehov,

ca. 10th-9th century
Cult objects

Moon stela, Bethsaida, 9th century BCE

Cult
objects
 Monumental
architecture

Khirbet Qeiyafa,
southern gate,
10th century BCE
 Monumental
architecture

Khirbet Qeiyafa,
southern gate,
10th-9th century
BCE
 Monumental
architecture

Megiddo,
th th
 Monumental
architecture

Hazor, 10th-9th
 Monumental
architecture

Gezer, Palace and

gate, 10th-9th
century BCE
 Monumental
architecture

Megiddo Palace
6000, 10th-9th
 Monumental
architecture
Storehouses.
"And Hezekiah made
for himself store-
houses for the
increase of corn, and
wine, and oil; and
stalls for all manner
of beasts, and
shelters for flocks.”
Beersheva,
8th century BCE.
 Monumental
architecture
Water system at
Hazor, 46 m square
shaft, 123 steps to
bedrock.
9th-8th century
BCE
 Monumental
architecture
Water system at
Hazor, 46 m square
shaft, 123 steps to
bedrock.
9th-8th century
BCE
 Monumental
architecture

Water system
Megiddo, 35 m deep,
fed by a spring.
 Monumental
architecture

The water system

at Beersheva is
40m below city
level. It is
composed of five
spaces, holding a
capacity of
700m3. 
9th century BCE.
 Monumental
architecture

The water system

at Beersheva is
40m below city
level. It is
composed of five
spaces, holding a
capacity of
700m3. 
9th century BCE.
 Monumental
architecture

The water system

at Beersheva is
40m below city
level. It is
composed of five
spaces, holding a
capacity of
700m3. 
9th century BCE.
 Domestic
architecture

Four-room house,
Izbet Sarta (Judea),
10th century
 Domestic
architecture

Four-room house,
Beersheva,
10th-9th century