After the time of Joshua, the judges judged Israel for a period of at least three hundred years. This is the minimum slice of time derived from adding up the chronological notes in the book. Jephthah says the people of Israel had been in the country three hundred years. There can be really very little doubt but that the Biblical evidence points to a period earlier than the middle of the thirteenth century for the attack on Ai, even though this late date is held by those who lean most heavily on the current interpretation of the pottery finds on et Tell . Thus, the problem is clear.
None can deny that the archaeologists have been careful in their work.
Khirbet Haiyan does not yield evidence of an occupation farther back than the time of the Romans in Palestine. Here have been found only Byzantine ruins, burial caves, and tombs along the side of Wady Asas yielding some Herodian and Roman pottery. Twenty-seven acres lie on the top of the mound called et Tell . Only a fraction of the surface has been uncovered. This small amount of acreage studied has nonetheless yielded perhaps as much as 20,000 pieces of pottery, along with several hundreds of whole objects.