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ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN / TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY

EXCAVATING THE ISRAELITE HOME. The characteristic design of the pillared or “four-room” house has long been considered a hallmark of Israelite identity during the Iron Age (c. 1200–586 BCE). Emerging as a development from earlier Late Bronze Age houses, four-room houses like this one from the site of Izbet Sartah in central Israel may represent an adaptation of earlier domestic forms to the nonurban agrarian lifestyle of the early Israelites. They typically were two-story structures, with the four rooms on the ground floor serving a variety of needs including craftwork, food preparation, and animal husbandry, while the upstairs area was for sleeping.