The Border between Yehud and Shamrain Provinces in the Persian Period

The border between the provinces of Yehud and Shamrain in the Persian Period has been a matter of debate in the last few decades. Most of the arguments are based on the interpretation of biblical sources, mainly Ezra and Nehemiah, and on the distribution of the YHWD stamped jar handles and coins. Some (e. g., Kallai, Galil, Rainey, Stern), following some of the lists in Nehemiah, draw the northern boundary of Yehud at the Jericho-Bethel-Hadid line; some (e. g., Levin, Schwartz, Carter, Lipschits) mark Tell en-Nasbeh as the northernmost site of Yehud, following other lists and the new typology of the YHWD stamped handles. Recently Israel Finkelstein argued for a smaller Yehud by suggesting that the northern boundary did not extend much north of Jerusalem, and that all the lists in Nehemiah reflect the Hasmonean period. This paper examines the updated archaeological data from northern Judah/Yehud and Southern Samaria/Shamrain from a long- term perspective. The settlement patterns in the southern parts of the former northern kingdom and the northern parts of the Judahite kingdom from the end of the Iron Age through the Persian period indicate an expansion of Yehud to the northwest and of Shamrain to the south in the last stages of the Persian period while leaving a vacant area in between.