In the Footsteps of Bagira: ethnicity, archaeology, and ‘Iron I ethnic Israel’

Abstract

This article has two aims. The first is to show that the search for ethnicity in archaeology is dependent on the way ethnicity is defined and on written sources. The second is to review studies of Iron Age I ‘ethnic Israel’. There is an ongoing, heated debate between ‘maximalists’ and ‘minimalists’, trying to prove or refute such identity. Which side in this debate is right?

Keywords

• Middle East
• Archaeology
• Ethnicity
• Ethnoarchaeology
• Israel -- History
• Iron Age -- Palestine