The Phoenix ’s Reviews > The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts > Status Update

'The material culture of the highlands in the time of David remained simple. The land was overwhelmingly rural-with no trace of written documents, inscriptions, or even signs of the kind of widespread literacy that would be necessary for the functioning of a proper monarchy. From a demographic point of view, the area of the Israelite settlement was hardly homogeneous.'