Danite Territory, once more

Nearly a year ago I posted about a topic that I had been thinking about, which is the boundaries of the northern territory of Dan, the one they conquered after leaving their original coastal territory. Last Shabbat (yesterday), I started thinking about how mapping out something like this would work, given that the Tanach doesn't give us any explicit information regarding their new territory, save for their central city, Laish/Leshem/Dan.

It occurred to me that the next best thing would be to mark the boundaries of all countries and tribal territories around them- and the middle space will be that of Dan. I don't know if it's entirely possible, though. But we could probably mark up well the boundaries of Naftali and the Transjordanian half of Menashe. That would give us Dan's western and southern borders. In the east we have the Aramean petty kingdoms (new term I heard...): Geshur, Tov, Ma'achah, Aram Tzovah, Aram Damascus (I hope I didn't forget anyone). Archeological data reveals that the northern Israelite border constantly changed hands between Aram and Israel, but perhaps we can nonetheless delineate an area which is clearly Aram, as opposed to questionable territory. And in the north we have the Sidonians. That area was also a bit iffy, as we know that Chiram/Chirom, the architect of the First Temple may have had some Sidonian ties (least of which is evident by his name, which he shares with several Sidonian kings). Even if his father wasn't a Canaanite Tyrian, it seems evident from the name and his place of origin that the Israelite-Sidonian boundary wasn't so clearly delineated.

Finally, there will need to be an examination of the archeological information regarding Iron Age sites in the region. The favored sites would be ones with identifiable Israelite or Judahite material finds, such as "pillared houses", Israelite/Judahite pottery, Judahite pillar figurines, lack or almost lack of pig bones.

Bonus sources - though I do not know whether any such exist - would potentially be Assyrian, Aramean, Sidonian and/or Babylonian sources that refer to Israelite settlements. If any such exist, the might clue us in on the ancient names of the sites in the marked area.

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