Archaeology and Text, Vol. 2 (2018) | pp. 25–52 ISSN 2523-2355 (print) | ISSN 2521-8034 (online) | A Matter of Interpretation: On Methodology and the Archaeology of the United Monarchy Zachary Thomas, Macquarie University Abstract This paper re-examines the methodological framework for archaeological interpretation that has been commonly used by the major voices in the debate concerning the archaeological record of the Iron Age IIA and the related historicity of the biblical United Monarchy. It is contended here that this framework suffers from critical problems that undermine its applicability to an ancient Near Eastern polity, primarily its anachronistic sociological assumptions concerning how authority was legitimated in the native social context of ancient Israel, and how power was therefore conceived of and understood by such a polity's constituents. It is argued, therefore, that this is an undesirable framework to use for understanding the archaeological record of the tenth century B.C.E. Instead, this paper both describes a different understanding of authority more appropriate to ancient Israel and the wider Near East, and demonstrates the significant impact of such an understanding on the archaeological evaluation of the Iron Age IIA and the historicity of the United Monarchy. Introduction In 1995, and again in 1996, Israel Finkelstein argued that the conventional dating of the Iron Age IIA was incorrect and proposed that the period be re-dated (Finkelstein 1995, 1996). Whereas the Iron Age IIA had until then generally been understood to have covered the period from ca. 1000 to 925 B.C.E., Finkelstein maintained that in fact it only started near the close of the tenth century and ended at or near the end of the ninth. He dubbed this new dating the "Low Chronology." After challenging Finkelstein's initial arguments in 1997, Amihai Mazar, 1 who was to become his main opponent, proposed his own chronology for the Iron IIA 1 Amihai Mazar is hereafter referred to as A. Mazar, and Eilat Mazar as E. Mazar. DOI 10.21461/AT012018.25–52