If the apiary dates from the 10th to early 9th  Centuries, as the article 
suggests, then that's too vague to be certain about  exactly why the apiary would 
have been abandoned. However, it's known  to have been an unsettled period, 
The Egyptian New Kingdom, which had ruled the  area, collapsed in the 11th 
Century BC, after a wave of invasions by the 'Sea  Peoples'. We're talking about 
the period of the Philistines, a 'sea people' who  continued until the 7th 
Century BC. So, war has to be the most obvious  guess, but it is a guess. We need 
more information; was the city abandoned, or  was it just this apiary? Is 
there any evidence of widespread destruction, which  might indicate that the city 
was taken and sacked? And so on.  

Regards,

Robert Brenchley,
Birmingham  UK




   

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