For example, Finkelstein, currently excavating Tel Megiddo, dates the site’s six-chambered gate to the ninth century, the time of Ahab. At that time, he says, Israel first built monumental architecture. In his view, a tenth-century construction could not have occurred because Solomon did not exist. Solomon did not exist because no evidence in the tenth century proves his existence. So goes the circular reasoning. To be fair, Finkelstein also argues his case on the basis of ceramics and other material remains.
