THE SOUTHERN STEPPE OF THE LEVANT ca. 1050-750 BCE: A FRAMEWORK FOR A TERRITORIAL HISTORY.

The article deals with the territorial history of the southern steppe areas of the Levant in the period between ca. 1050-750 BCE. In the early days of the Iron Age, until the mid-9th century BCE, parts of them, were ruled by local desert entities: in the late Iron I a Moabite polity and in the early Iron IIA and the early years of the late Iron IIA the Tel Masos-Beer-Sheba-Negev Highlands Highlands entity. This situation changed in the later years of the Iron IIA as a result of Damascus' rise to hegemony in the Levant. In the second half of the 9th century BCE Judah, under Damascene domination, expanded for the first time into the Beer-Sheba Valley. In the first half of the eighth century BCE, with the revival of Assyrian power in the days of Adad-nirari III, Damascene authority was replaced by north Israelite domination in the south. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]