69 Chapter Four Four-room Structures at Late Bronze/ Iron I Age Hill Country Workstations by Gloria London A rchaeology contributes to the awareness and evidence of ordinary people whose leaders and societies are recorded in the Hebrew Bible (Dever 2001: 74). W. G. Dever has observed that names derived from the Bible and assigned to pots, peoples, in fact our entire disci- pline, have repercussions for the ancient sites cho- sen for excavation as well as subsequent interpre- tations of the data (Dever 1985, 1990, 1993, 1995a, 1995b, 1998, 1999). Here I examine archaeologi- cal remains excavated in central Israel/Palestine at late second millennium B.C.E. hill country sites known for their limited habitation space and mini- mal artifact diversity. A proposal follows concern- ing the function of these small sites, their rela- tionship to other types of sites, as well as an as- sessment of the archaeological remains of those who are largely invisible in biblical texts. TRANSITIONAL LB/ IRON I AGE HILL COUNTRY SITES Hundreds of small sites, often characterized by a relatively short period of duration towards the end of the second millennium B.C.E., have been recorded for the hills of Israel/Palestine (Zertal 1986–87; Finkelstein 1988, 1988–89, 1996, 1999; Mazar 1990a: 334–36; Campbell 1991; Finkelstein and Magen 1993; Finkelstein, Lederman and Bunimovitz 1997; Finkelstein and Zertal 1997). In the region of Samaria, sites frequently located on hilltops adjacent to valleys ranged in size from less than two acres to twenty acres, but further south, architectural remains were found on smaller sites, 1–1.5 acres, hidden on remote hilltops (Mazar 1990a: 335). In addition to small sites were the more substantial LB II and Iron I tell deposits. A lack of diversity characterized the material culture at late second millennium B.C.E. sites on remote hilltops in central Israel/Palestine. The preponderance of utilitarian ceramics, ground stone and small structures implies a limited range of activities at sites here designated as workstations. The proposed workstations were contemporaneous with habitation sites, buri- als, and sacred spaces located elsewhere. Differences in the location, size, and assemblage composition at these four sites categories contrasted with similarities detected in certain ce- ramics and architecture. When viewed together in terms of the activities carried out at each type of site, despite the apparent discrepancies in artifacts, the sites complimented each other and represented a multi-faceted society that coped with a challenging environment and social landscape.