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The layout and structure of the villages and their houses fit the Biblical descriptions of ancient Israelite life. They are characterized by clusters of buildings known as four-room houses, which were unique in that place and time.

The photo shows a reconstructed and subdivided example from Samaria. Dever cites the work of Lawrence Stager, who has shown that the four-room house and the village layout match the living arrangements and lifestyles from the Biblical period of the Judges as described in the books of Joshua, Judges and Samuel. For Dever, the evidence of the villages and houses demonstrates that archaeology can play a role in identifying the ancient Israelites or their direct predecessors; it is not, as some academic revisionists claim, “mute.”