The Beginning of Philistine Settlement in Canaan and the Northern Boundary of Philistia

Radiocarbon Dating Shows an Early Appearance of Philistine Material Culture in Tell es-Safi/Gath, Philistia

“…The date was mainly based on the historical interpretations of the Medinet Habu inscription and Papyrus Harris I (Killebrew 2005:232 n. 111). The middle chronology was recently reaffirmed in Ashkelon (Master et al 2011) and Qubur el-Walaydah , and is consistent with published studies (Mazar 1985;Singer 1985;Stager 1985). The middle chronology hypothesis assumes that the Philistines (associated with Philistine 1 pottery) appeared in the southern coastal plain, at the eighth year of Ramses III (around 1175 BC), and that after the Egyptian rule ended in the southern Levant, during the time of Ramses IV and VI (around 1130 BC), Philistine 2 appeared (Carmi and Ussishkin 2004;Mazar 2007;Sherratt and Mazar 2013).…”

An ultra-low chronology of Iron Age Palestine

“…Dating the termination of Megiddo VIIA depends on the significance attributed to a pedestal of Ramesses VI which was found buried in the previous occupational level, stratum VIIB. Although some scholars (Mazar 1985a: 97;Singer 1985;Ussishkin 1995: 259-60) have taken this as evidence that Megiddo VIIA continued into the reign of Ramesses VI, others (Weinstein 1992;Bietak 1993) minimized the importance of this intrusive item, while Finkelstein (1996: 171) even suggested that the city could have been destroyed as early as the eighth year of Ramesses 111. Proposed dates for the termination of Megiddo VIIA therefore range from c. 1190 BC, the high date of Ramesses 111's eighth year, to 1133 BC, the low value of Ramesses VII.…”

“…In a paper in which he proposed a new 'low' relative chronology, Finkelstein (1995: 2 1 6 1 8 ) dubbedDothan's chronology 'high andthat ofMazar (1985a;1992),Singer (1985) and others 'middle'. These terms are not to be confused with the 'high' and 'low' absolute Egyptian chronology.…”