ABSTRACT
In the past century, enormous gains have been made in the recovery of archaeological evidence from the southern Levant. But the accumulation of artifacts has raised the question of how to interpret these remains for a historical period and people long viewed through the biblical writings. In response, this study advances an interpretive framework modeled on an assemblage. The advantage of this approach, it is argued, is that it encompasses distinct and even discordant types of traces, material or written, without according precedence to any one form. This investigation concludes with a case study of how this interpretive approach unfolds, one centered on the history of Jerusalem from 1300 to 1000 BCE.
