Khirbet qeiyafa: Absolute chronology

Based on averaging four radiocarbon determinations, Garfinkel and Ganor (2009) have dated the Iron Age layer at Khirbet Qeiyafa to ca. 1025–975 BCE and declared the demise of the Low Chronology for the Iron Age strata in the Levant. We show that in the case of Khirbet Qeiyafa averaging is not a legitimate procedure. The five available measurements represent the life-span of the site rather than a single event. With the available data, all one can say is that activity at the site started ca. 1050 BCE and ended sometime during the 10th century, no later than 915 BCE. The Khirbet Qeiyafa ¹⁴ C determinations line up with the large number of measurements from late Iron I sites in both the north and south of Israel and support the Low Chronology.