Assyrians, Judaeans, Pastoral Groups, and the Trade Patterns in the Late Iron Age Negev

Abstract

This article gives a current reassessment of the evidence of trade between the Negev, Edom, and the Mediterranean in the Late Iron Age. To determine the characteristics of this trade pattern, textual (Assyrian, Biblical) and archaeological data – especially the distribution of Edomite wares in the Negev – are used to propose a model in which trade was controlled by the local nomadic pastoral groups.