Archaeological correlates of the united monarchy of ancient Israel: evaluating and reconsidering interpretive frameworks

This thesis seeks to apply the idea of ancient Israel as a patriarchal and patrimonial state within its ancient Near Eastern context as adumbrated by David Schloen to the debate concerning the historicity of the biblical United Monarchy. Specifically, this thesis will apply this sociological idea to the archaeological aspects of this debate, a debate that has so far not taken account of the form and nature of ancient Israelite society as an aspect of the interpretation of the relevant archaeology and associated issues. Rather it has been content with a functionalist approach to archaeological interpretation that has not yet explored or justified its own assumptions about the social world and the legitimation of authority in ancient Israel. This thesis will discuss and analyse this functionalist approach, before moving on to apply a sociologically-informed approach centred upon patrimonial society to the methodology of the interpretation of the archaeological correlates for the United Monarchy.