This volume contains the papers from an international colloquium held in Jerusalem, and attended by historians and archaeologists from Israel, Europe and the United States, on the theme of the formation of the early Israelite state. The ten papers presented here have been grouped into three topics: method (Thompson, Halpern), society (SchSfer-Lichtenberger, Lemche, Hopkins) and sources (Edelman, Auld, Na''aman, Fritz, Dietrich). These papers represent the latest research on this highly controversial period in ancient history, which has enormous significance for biblical traditions about the ''united monarchy''.