This is a short historical survey by an preeminent scholar. It helped me in my early studies of the Bible.

Some of the dates:
1281 B.C.E.: "In a stele found at Beth-shan in Palestine, dated 1281 B.C., it is said that "He [Rameses II] puts the Asiatics to flight...'" [p.15]
1220 B.C.E.: "The destruction of the last Canaanite Lachish is probably to be dated in or around 1220 B.C., immediately after the reference to Israel as a nomadic folk conquered by Egyptian arms on a triumphal stel of Marniptah, set up in 1219 B.C." [p.27]
14th century B.C.E.: "When these traditions are combined with the increasing evidence for the presence of 'Apiru in considerable numbers in Palestine during the fourteenth century B.C., it becomes clear that the Hebrew component in the population of western Palestine was relatively much larger than often assumed." [p. 32]
[time of Samuel?]: "Moreover, thanks to the extremely rapid diffusion of the art of buliding cisterns .... hundreds of new settlements had arisen where no Canaanite settlement had ever been..." [p. 46]
c. 1000 B.C.E.: "The writer's excavation of the remains of Saul's fortress at Gibeah illustrates the rustic simplicity of his court better than anything else can do." [p. 50]
"Recent archeological research strongly suggests that the casemated walls of Debir and Beth-shemesh were built by David as part of a line of defense against the Philistines." [p. 51]
"One of the chariot cities which Solomon rebuilt has been excavated; the excavators of Megiddo have estimated that in the following century there were some 450 well-built stalls for horses in that site alone." [p. 54]
"Thanks to Phoenician collaboration, Solomon constructed copper refineries at Ezion-geber at the northern end of the Red Sea (Gulf of 'Aqabah), where they have been recently excavated by Nelson Glueck." [p. 54]
"... the fortification of Gezer, Megiddo and Hazor has been confirmed by excavation ...." [p. 55]
"... at present we have only one Hebrew inscription which can be attributed with confidence to the ( )