The history of Israel spans the Southern Levant, from prehistoric African migrations and the Natufian culture (c. 10,000 BCE) to the emergence of Canaanite civilization. During the Iron Age, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah formed, serving as the foundation for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The region was subsequently conquered by successive empires, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks. Following a century of independence under the Hasmonean dynasty, the area fell to the Roman Republic. The Jewish–Roman wars led to massive Jewish casualties and displacement,M. Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine Rule, Jerusalem 1984 pp. 12–14Mor, M. The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132–136 CE. Brill, 2016. P471/ after which a Christian majority emerged under Byzantine rule. The 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant introduced various Islamic caliphates, followed by the Crusades, Mamluk rule, and four centuries of Ottoman administration.
In the 19th century, Zionism drove increased Jewish immigration (aliyah). After World War I, Britain assumed control under the Mandate for Palestine, committing to a Jewish homeland via the Balfour Declaration. Rising tensions between Arabs and Jews led to the 1947 UN Partition Plan and a subsequent civil war. Israel's 1948 independence sparked the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, repelling neighboring armies but resulting in significant regional displacement. Despite peace treaties with Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994), and the Oslo I Accord (1993) establishing the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict remains unresolved.
Prehistory
The oldest evidence of early humans in the territory of modern Israel, dating to 1.5 million years ago, was found in Ubeidiya near the Sea of Galilee. Flint artifacts found beneath a basalt layer at Yir'on were dated to more than 2.4 million years ago. In 2006 archaeologist Avraham Ronen described Yir'on as the oldest known hominine site outside Africa. The Daughters of Jacob Bridge over the Jordan River provides evidence of the control of fire by early humans around 780,000 years ago, one of the oldest known examples.
Neanderthal and early modern human remains from the caves of Tabun and Skhul in the Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve provide the region's longest stratigraphic record, spanning roughly 600,000 years of human evolution since the Lower Paleolithic. Other significant Paleolithic sites include Qesem cave. A 200,000-year-old fossil from Misliya Cave is the second-oldest evidence of anatomically modern humans found outside Africa. Other notable finds include the Skhul and Qafzeh hominins, as well as Manot 1. Around 10th millennium BCE, the Natufian culture existed in the area. The beginning of agriculture in the region during the Neolithic Revolution is evidenced by sites such as Yiftahel, ʿAin Mallaha, Nahal Oren and Gesher.
Periodisation Here is one of the more common periodisations. Stone Age (pre-4500 BCE): hunter-gatherer societies, slowly evolving into farming and herding societies Palaeolithic Epipalaeolithic Early Middle Late. See Natufian culture (15,000-11,500 BP) Neolithic Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) Pre-Pottery Neolithic C (PPNC) Late Neolithic Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) Yarmukian culture Lodian (Jericho IX) culture Pottery Neolithic B (PNB) Wadi Rabah culture Timnian culture in southern Negev (and Sinai); pastoralist, persists through to the Bronze Age Chalcolithic (4500–3500 BCE): early metal-working and farming; see Timna Valley
Bronze Age Canaan
The Canaanites are archaeologically attested in the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE).Jonathan M Golden,Ancient Canaan and Israel: An Introduction, OUP, 2009, pp. 3–4. There were probably independent or semi-independent city-states. Cities were often surrounded by massive earthworks, resulting in the archaeological mounds, or 'tells' common in the region today. In the late Middle Bronze Age, the Nile Delta in Egypt was settled by Canaanites who maintained close connections with Canaan. During that period, the Hyksos, dynasties of Canaanite/Asiatic origin, ruled much of Lower Egypt before being overthrown in the 16th century BCE.
During the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE), there were Canaanite vassal states paying tribute to the New Kingdom of Egypt, which governed from Gaza. In 1457 BCE, Egyptian forces under the command of Pharaoh Thutmose III defeated a rebellious coalition of Canaanite vassal states led by Kadesh's king at the Battle of Megiddo.
In the Late Bronze Age there was a period of civilizational collapse in the Middle East,1177 B.C. : The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric CLine, Princeton University Press Canaan fell into chaos, and Egyptian control ended.Dever, William G. Beyond the Texts, Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2017, pp. 89–93S. Richard, "Archaeological sources for the history of Palestine: The Early Bronze Age: The rise and collapse of urbanism", The Biblical Archaeologist (1987) There is evidence that urban centers such as Hazor, Beit She'an, Megiddo, Ekron, Isdud and Ascalon were damaged or destroyed. Two groups appear at this time, and are associated with the transition to the Iron Age (they used iron weapons/tools which were better than earlier bronze): the Sea Peoples, particularly the Philistines, who migrated from the Aegean world and settled on the southern coast, and the Israelites, whose settlements dotted the highlands.
Some 2nd millennium inscriptions about the semi-nomadic Habiru people are believed to be connected to the Hebrews, who were generally synonymous with the Biblical Israelites.William David. Reyburn, Euan McG. Fry. A Handbook on Genesis. New York: United Bible Societies. 1997. Many scholars regard this connection to be plausible since the two ethnonyms have similar etymologies,See above the discussion of the Akkadian and Aramaic expressions eber nari and avar nahara respectively, corresponding to Hebrew ever nahar, being widely used in the ancient Near-East. although others argue that Habiru refers to a social class found in every Near Eastern society, including Hebrew societies.
Ancient Israel and Judah: Iron Age to Babylonian period
Early Israelites (Iron Age I)
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel (as ) occurs in the Egyptian Merneptah Stele, erected for Pharaoh Merneptah c. 1209 BCE. Archeological evidence indicates that during the early Iron Age I, hundreds of small villages were established on the highlands of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan River, primarily in Samaria, north of Jerusalem. These villages had populations of up to 400, were largely self-sufficient and lived from herding, grain cultivation, and growing vines and olives with some economic interchange. The pottery was plain and undecorated. Writing was known and available for recording, even in small sites. William G. Dever sees this "Israel" in the central highlands as a cultural and probably political entity, more an ethnic group rather than an organized state.
Modern scholars believe that the Israelites and their culture branched out of the Canaanite peoples and their cultures through the development of a distinct monolatristic—and later monotheistic—religion centred on a national god Yahweh.Mark Smith in "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" states "Despite the long regnant model that the Canaanites and Israelites were people of fundamentally different culture, archaeological data now casts doubt on this view. The material culture of the region exhibits numerous common points between Israelites and Canaanites in the Iron I period (c. 1200–1000 BCE). The record would suggest that the Israelite culture largely overlapped with and derived from Canaanite culture... In short, Israelite culture was largely Canaanite in nature. Given the information available, one cannot maintain a radical cultural separation between Canaanites and Israelites for the Iron I period." (pp. 6–7). Smith, Mark (2002) "The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities of Ancient Israel" (Eerdman's)Rendsberg, Gary (2008). "Israel without the Bible". In Frederick E. Greenspahn. The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship. NYU Press, pp. 3–5 According to McNutt, "It is probably safe to assume that sometime during Iron Age I a population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'", differentiating itself from the Canaanites through such markers as the prohibition of intermarriage, an emphasis on family history and genealogy, and religion.
Philistine cooking tools and the prevalence of pork in their diets, and locally made Mycenaean pottery—which later evolved into bichrome Philistine pottery—all support their foreign origin. Their cities were large and elaborate, which—together with the findings—point to a complex, hierarchical society.
Israel Finkelstein believes that the oldest Abraham traditions originated in the Iron Age, which focus on the themes of land and offspring and possibly, his altars in Hebron. Abraham's Mesopotamian heritage is not discussed.
Israel and Judah (Iron Age II)
In the 10th century BCE, the Israelite kingdoms of Judah and Israel emerged. The Hebrew Bible states that these were preceded by a single kingdom ruled by Saul, David and Solomon, who is said to have built the First Temple. Archaeologists have debated whether the united monarchy ever existed,The debate is described in Amihai Mazar, "Archaeology and the Biblical Narrative: The Case of the United Monarchy" (see bibliography), p.29 fn.2: "For conservative approaches defining the United Monarchy as a state "from Dan to Beer Sheba" including "conquered kingdoms" (Ammon, Moab, Edom) and "spheres of influence" in Geshur and Hamath cf. e.g. Ahlström (1993), 455–542; Meyers (1998); Lemaire (1999); Masters (2001); Stager (2003); Rainey (2006), 159–168; Kitchen (1997); Millard (1997; 2008). For a total denial of the historicity of the United Monarchy cf. e.g. Davies (1992), 67–68; others suggested a 'chiefdom' comprising a small region around Jerusalem, cf. Knauf (1997), 81–85; Niemann (1997), 252–299 and Finkelstein (1999). For a 'middle of the road' approach suggesting a United Monarchy of larger territorial scope though smaller than the biblical description cf.e.g. Miller (1997); Halpern (2001), 229–262; Liverani (2005), 92–101. The latter recently suggested a state comprising the territories of Judah and Ephraim during the time of David, that was subsequently enlarged to include areas of northern Samaria and influence areas in the Galilee and Transjordan. Na'aman (1992; 1996) once accepted the basic biography of David as authentic and later rejected the United Monarchy as a state, cf. id. (2007), 401–402". with those in favor of such a polity existing further divided between maximalists who support the Biblical accounts, and minimalists who argue that any such polity was likely smaller than suggested.