For many years it has been fashionable to deny the historicity of the earlier periods of Old Testament history.
In particular, the period of a united monarchy, Saul, Solomon and David, has been dismissed as the stuff of legend. While there has been circumstantial evidence for a centralised administration in the land of Judah and Israel there have been arguments over the dating of the various locations, and sceptical scholars could point to a lack of inscriptions with the names of such kings.
David’s standing stone
This began to change in 1993 with the discovery of the first part of the Tel Dan stela. This fragment of a standing stone was the earliest direct reference to the dynasty of King David, from outside of the Bible.
