It is important to stress that no account may be taken of stray seal impressions discovered in later strata.  This is a rule in every stratigraphic excavation.  Older sherds will always be found in later strata, having been brought up by activities such as construction, filling, & excavation carried out on the tells during all periods.  One may reckon with only 3 factors:

1. A vessel in situ (a complete jar or a major part of it found on a floor as a vessel in its proper stratum)
2. The earliest appearance of the impressions (sherds may also work their way down among the strata, but this occurrence is rare, & for that reason the earliest appearance of the seals in a particular stratum may generally be accepted as trustworthy)
3. A certain quantitative factor (a large number of impressions found in a particular stratum, while rare in other strata of later date)

The paragraph above was written by Yohanan Aharoni in "The Archaeology of the Land of Israel" (p. 257).

Note:  Rows are sorted by seal sets (separated by white rows) to help determine their age (usage period).  The colors help separate the major stratifications.  So far, the x2D seals (& therefore the concentric circle incisions) appear to be later than x2U seals, while x4C & x4L seals appear to be equally early.

Note:  The Event column abbreviations are "7-B" for late 7th-century Babylonian conquest & "8-A" for late 8th-century Assyrian conquest; higher strata corresponding to later periods are listed as a single group since they probably represent recycling of the jars & are not relevant ("n/r") to this study; surface finds are completely unusable & not listed; the lowest stratum corresponds to the 9th-century or early 8th-century preceding the Amos 1:1 earthquake ("8-E") during Uzziah's reign.

• Arad information is based on photos of 2 handles that can be corroborated with the report in "Arad Inscriptions" attributing them to 7-B; one additional H2x handle was attributed to 8-A but its present location is unknown so its seal type cannot be determined; H2D #15287/1, originally attributed to 8-A as 2887/1, has been reassessed to an earlier--probably 9th-century--stratum; visit the Arad page for an in-depth analysis.
• Ashdod information is from "'Atiqot vol. 9-10" by M. Dothan.
• Beersheba information is from "Beer-Sheba I" by Yohanan Aharoni.
• Debir information is from TA vol. 1 #1 by Moshe Kochavi.
• Gibeon Pool information is presented on a separate page.
• Hurvat Shilhah information is from "Eretz-Israel vol. 17" by A. Mazar, D. Amit, & Z. Ilan.
• Jerusalem information is from 3 distinct excavations:
• Jerusalem (AJQ [Avigad's Jewish Quarter]) information is from "Jewish Quarter Excavations vol. I" by Hillel Geva, Nahman Avigad, & Gabriel Barkay.
• Jerusalem (MTM [Mazar's Temple Mount]) information is from Qedem 29 by Eilat Mazar & Benjamin Mazar (note--the S4L handle from Room 23043 described as being of "stratigraphic significance" cannot be precisely assigned to either the 7-B or 8-A groups; its simply Iron II).
• Jerusalem (SCD [Shiloh's City of David]) information is from Qedem 41 by Donald T. Ariel & Yair Shoham; handles from uncertain 8-A/7-B stratification (i.e., "12-11", "16-8", or "12-10") are unusable (note--bear in mind that Jerusalem was never conquered by Sennacherib so its stratification is not quite as pure (for lack of a better word) as that of the other sites distinguished between 8-A/7-B for the purposes of this LMLK seal analysis).
• Khirbet es-Samrah information is from "Ancient Agriculture in the Judaean Desert" by Lawrence E. Stager.
• Lachish information is from 3 distinct excavations:
• "Lachish (A)" designates handles from Aharoni's excavations & is from "Investigations at Lachish" by Yohanan Aharoni.
• "Lachish (U)" designates handles from Ussishkin's excavations & is from "Excavations at Tel Lachish" (TA vol. 5 & 10) & "The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish (1973-1994) Volume IV" by David Ussishkin.
• At this time, the 300+ handles excavated by Starkey's Wellcome-Marston team are unusable; David Diringer & Olga Tufnell published specific loci where handles were found but never cross-referenced handle ID numbers to photos (with the single exception of #7165 listed above as "Lachish (S)" due to Ussishkin's identification of it at the University of London as reported in BASOR 223).
• Nasbeh information is unusable since the handles were excavated from a single stratification (except for one x2x handle found in a clear 9th-century context) covering a period of time that encompassed the LMLK lifecycle (note--a representative of every major seal set was found here--at least 12 of the 20+ seal types).
• Ramat Rahel information is unusable since the handles were excavated from debris gathered from different chronological periods beginning in the latter half of the 8th century (Stratum 5-B) that may have been mixed to form a building foundation in the latter half of the 7th century (Stratum 5-A); pottery evidence indicates that although it may have been conquered by the Assyrians in the late 8th century, it was reoccupied immediately afterward (note--a representative of every major seal set was found here (at least 12 of the 20+ seal types)).
• Tell 'Ira information is unusable since the only handle found there was unstratified.
• Tell Beit Mirsim information is from BASOR 223 by David Ussishkin.
• Timnah information is from Qedem 42 by Amihai Mazar & Nava Panitz-Cohen.