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Finger-impressed jar handles at Khirbet Qeiyafa: new light on administration in the Kingdom of Judah

Abstract Excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa in 2007–13 revealed an extraordinary number of finger-impressed jar handles of the Iron Age. They are classified into six types and their geographical and chronological distributions examined. Although some excavators define them as potter's marks, this is not the case. It is also clear that the number of impressions is not related to the jars' capacity. This paper attempts to understand the finger-impressed handles as part of the Judean tradition of stamped jar handles, and we suggest that they may be a precursor of the LamMeLeKh (LMLK) jars and a marker of administration in the early Iron Age IIA. The impressed jar handles are indicative of a major change in political organization, from Bronze Age Canaanite city states to Iron Age nation states.