The Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition involves profound cultural and political changes in the southern Levant. The transition is dated to the 12th century BC, based on archaeological artifacts and historical documents. A more precise absolute date for this transition for the southern Levant based on radiocarbon is difficult since the 14 C calibration curve reduces precision significantly due to wiggles that form an approximately 200-yr-long plateau. This article analyzes 14 C samples from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age transition at Qubur el-Walaydah. To increase the resolution of 14 C dates within the plateau, 14 C samples were collected only from well-defined multilayered contexts. 14 C dates from 11 contexts were obtained and these were analyzed using a Bayesian model that incorporated the stratigraphic information. Using this integrative approach we date the Late Bronze Age III levels at Qubur el-Walydah, containing the initial phase of locally produced Philistine pottery between 1185-1140 BC, and the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition between 1140-1095 BC.

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1 fn ve.stigations aJ t/l e open-air sltrf11e ami cairn complex at Ramat Saharonim in the Makhtesh Ramon in 1/te central Negev reveal a sai:red precinc/ or ritua/ ce111er with a focus on a morcuary cult, artributable to .tlie Late Neolirliir, ra. 5000 n.c. The fou r shrines are aligned wirh the set1in1: Still of the s11111mer solstice. along with other landscape features. The tilree /1111111/i l!Xrm•ared, mughly rontemporary with the shrines. revea/ed primary and secondary /Juriai.f and inlentimia/ bnne realig11111ent. Excavations al Shrine 4 allow derailed recon. 'i/rttf'lirm of siteformatio11 pmces. ves, demonstrating fo11g-1e rm development of the fen111res of the complex. ln general, the megalithic aspect of the site, 1he symbolic nspear 1~{ tlw alig11111en1.1•, and the a11riburio11 11• the Lme Neolithic suggest a close rela1io11s/Jip berween 1he rise of the de.sert cuit and tribal sociery associated witlz the earlieJI intmductin11 of domestic herd animais i11to the central Negev.

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