The Assyrian–Egyptian–Babylonian transition in the southern Levant as seen from Megiddo: a response to recent suggestions

In the southern Levant, the stormy 7th century BCE saw the transition from Neo-Assyrian to Egyptian to Babylonian imperial control. Historical sources illuminating this process are scarce, as are high- precision archaeological data. Tel Megiddo, the site of the Assyrian provincial capital Magiddû, is one of the archaeological exceptions as it preserves a late Iron Age stratigraphic sequence. Recently published data and interpretations by the Megiddo expedition claimed to support the traditional view, according to which Megiddo remained a fortified administrative hub throughout the 7th century BCE, eventually serving as an Egyptian (Saitic) stronghold. We challenge this reconstruction. Based on a re-examination of the site’s stratigraphy and main ceramic categories — Phoenician, Greek, Egyptian and Assyrianizing — we argue that Megiddo was abandoned c. 640 BCE, well before the collapse of the Assyrian Empire and was not resettled in any significant measure during the Iron Age. Both Strata III and II are accordingly understood as successive phases of Neo-Assyrian Magiddû, with no archaeologically attested Neo-Babylonian occupation at the site. This revised chronology also suggests that the imperial transition in the southern Levant was not a short-term process, but a complex, gradual one that began decades earlier than previously understood. The high-resolution archaeological record of Megiddo opens a new window into this obscure period.