Blurb:

How do the results from the Iron IIB–C and Persian periods indicate the role that those settlements at ʿUmayri played within the empire systems at the time? There was almost no settlement at the site during Iron IIA, but a small village was established in the Iron IIB period (Stratum 8) probably somewhere in the 8th century B.C., according to the dating of a discovered house and other fragmentary finds. But the situation was very different during the Iron IIC–early Persian periods (Strata 7–5) when an administrative center and associated domestic dwellings were built, probably to administer nearby small agricultural estates, and found with associated seals and other indications of governmental activities.