After the period of the Judges, the 12 tribes of Israel established a unified kingdom. Its first king was Saul who reigned only two years because he had been busy in conflicts against the Philistines. He died during his last battle at Mount Gilboa and his last surviving son succeeded him. But not for long because this surviving son was assassinated by his own army chief, given his inability to govern and also to put an end to a civil war between the tribes. So after 7 years, all the tribes agreed to choose David, king of Judea and hero against Goliath, as king over all Israel. David put an end to the wars with the Philistines and a period of peace finally began, apart from the rebellion of his son Absalom. With David, peace had thus returned to the tribes of Israel.​

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Let's look at the continuation of the historical and biblical chronologies (for earlier dates, refer to previous articles since Adam):

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• year 2495 (1265 BCE): entry into Canaan; fall of Jericho and Ai; Joshua's altar on Mount Ebal

• year 2536 (1224 BCE): death of Joshua at the age of 110

• year 2552 (1208 BCE): campaign and stele of Pharaoh Merneptah

• year 2648 (1111 BCE): birth of Samuel the prophet

• year 2699 (1061 BCE): reign of Saul, first king of Israel

• year 2700 (1060 BCE): David against Goliath

• year 2708 (1052 BCE): reign of David over all Israel

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The biblical text lists the different cities in which the Israelites settled. In particular for part of the descendants of Simeon, to whom no territory had been assigned by Joshua and to whom the tribe of Judah had offered part of its own territory in the south to settle the tribe of Simeon, it is said:

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And at Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susim, and at Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim [Shaarayim]. These were their cities unto the reign of David. (1 Chronicles 4:31)

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All these cities had been identified by archaeologists but only Shaarayim remained unknown. But it must necessarily have been located in the same sector as the others, all to be found in the Judean Lowlands region, because it was part of the cities assigned to a given family. Some of these cities were originally Canaanite and had been taken over by the Israelites when they settled there. Thus, they had Canaanite construction characteristics, in part, but also with specific Israelite innovations from the point of view of urban architecture.

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In 2005, Saar Ganor of the Department of Antiquities in Israel inspected a hill in the Judean Lowlands. Although not interesting at first glance, as he thought of agricultural terraces, he nevertheless identified a fortification wall. In 2007, a team led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem arrived on site. The site, spread over 2.3 hectares, is located on a hill opposite the Valley of Elah, where the fight between David and Goliath took place between Sokho and Azekah (I Samuel 17:1). This site bears the Arabic name of Khirbet Qeiyafa, as ruins, according to 19th century maps.