001_naman_co_481-497 13/02/15 11:20 Pagina 492 492 NADAV NA’AMAN Finkelstein recently analyzed the results of the excavations at Tell el-Fûl 51. He dated the early stratum to the Iron I and the first part of the Iron IIA period. The accumulation of debris in the site is minimal, and the fortresses of the late Iron II and Hellenistic pe- riods destroyed all the building remains of the Iron I-early Iron IIA. Finkelstein thus maintained that no building remains in the resi- dential part of the site can securely be associated with the site’s early period. Moreover, most of the floors of the Iron Age buildings were removed, and no two superimposed floors with assemblages of finds were discovered at the site 52. Thus, the archaeological ex- cavations demonstrate that Tell el-Fûl was inhabited in the 11th-10th centuries, but on the basis of the archaeological evidence alone it is impossible to establish its nature in this period. IV. The Jebusites under King Saul Gibeah, Saul’s residence, was located about 11 kilometres north of Jerusalem, and yet the latter city and its Jebusite inhabitants are not mentioned in the king’s history. Their absence from Saul’s story-cycle cannot be accidental and must be explained as a delib- erate decision of the author. This situation raises two questions: (a) What were the historiographical and ideological reasons for the omission? (b) What might have been Saul’s relations with the neighbouring place and its Jebusite inhabitants? Saul’s history does not supply answers to these questions. Yet, indirect evidence exists that might possibly provide us with a clue regarding the relations. One of the most surprising elements in Saul’s history is the request of the delegates of Jabesh-gilead to come to their aid and his willingness to mobilize his troops and de- fend the remote city (1 Sam 11,1-11). Jabesh (Tell el-Maqlūb) 53 is located in western Gilead, about 75 kilometres northeast of Gibeah, and yet Benjaminite troops rather than troops of nearby clans or 51 FINKELSTEIN, “Tell el-Ful Revisited”, 106-114. 52 FINKELSTEIN, “Tell el-Ful Revisited”, 109-110. 53 For the identification of Jabesh-gilead at Tell el-Maqlūb, see M. NOTH, “Jabes-Gilead”, ZDPV 69 (1953) 28-41; E. GASS, Die Ortsnamen des Richter- buchs in historischer und redaktioneller Perspektive (ADPV 35; Wiesbaden 2005) 504-509, with earlier literature.