When the Israelites settled in Canaan, their towns and cities took on some unique characteristics that archaeologists can easily identify today. One of the hallmarks of these early Israelite settlements was the prevalence of a distinctive type of pottery called a collared-rim storage jar.
One archaeological excavation in particular, south of Mount Hermon and near sources of the Jordan River, has uncovered evidence of a city built in the Late Bronze II era, which was destroyed in the early 12th century. Evidence clearly shows that the city was immediately rebuilt, and particularly rebuilt in the Israelite style. This rebuilt city featured a circular settlement arrangement made up of four-room houses. There were no temples or idols, and no pig bones in the garbage pits. There were remnants of simple pit burials, and of household storage pits, many of which contained those large ceramic jars with a distinctive collared rim.
When the clay from these storage jars was examined through petrographic analysis, archaeologists discovered that these ceramic jars had been manufactured elsewhere in Israel and then brought to the new city. This strongly suggests that the city had been resettled by outsiders who had attacked the previous city and displaced its residents.
This exactly parallels the Old Testament account of the Israelite tribe of Dan.
According to the book of Judges, during the 12 century BC the Israelite tribe of Dan was searching for a place to settle because they had been unable to drive out the Philistines from the territory Dan had been allotted. They decided upon an city north of the Sea of Galilee, originally called Laish. The location and disposition of Laish is well documented in many different sources, including the Egyptian Execration Texts and the Karnak list of Pharaoh Thutmose III. Laish was an easy target, being isolated in an area usually quiet and secure.
The tribe of Dan attacked this city, destroyed it, and then resettled the area and named the city Dan after their tribe (and patriarch), rebuilding and transforming it into a city of the Israelite style.
