It was first proposed by Israel Finkelstein in 1996. According to this approach, the transition from Iron Age I (rural society in Israel and Judea) to Iron Age II (urban society in Israel and Judea) did not occur around 1000 BC, but only around 900 BC.

Hence, during the time of David and Solomon there was still a tribal social organization, living in villages, without formal cities and without centralized government. The paucity of findings from the excavations of Jerusalem, which is supposed to be the capital of the United Kingdom, allows such claims to be made.