14C Results from Megiddo, Tel Dor, Tel Reḥov and Tel Hadar: Where do they lead us?

All available data that correspond to 14C measurements of short-lived samples from two destruction horizons known from several key sites in Northern Israel (Megiddo, Tel Dor, Tel Rehov and Tel Hadar) have been used to judge which of the two Iron Age chronological hypotheses is correct. Unlike traditional methods, we have chosen not to calibrate each datum but rather to translate the two hypotheses into uncalibrated dates and compare them to the measurements. This method reduces the uncertainties and allows using normal distribution to evaluate the deviation between each datum and the prediction by each hypothesis. The procedure we have used shows unambiguously better agreement of the data with the ‘Low Chronology’ system. It allows us to determine that the ‘High Chronology’ system has little probability of being correct.