What do archaeologists say was happening in Judah during the time of David and Solomon?

Judah’s settlement system (a mere handful of permanent villages) of the twelfth-eleventh centuries BCE continued to develop in the tenth century.  The number of villages and their size gradually grew, but the nature of the system did not change dramatically.  North of Judah, extensive orchards and vineyards developed on the western slopes of the highlands; in Judah they did not, due to the forbidding nature of the terrain.  As far as we can see on the basis of the archaeological surveys, Judah remained right up to and past the presumed time of David and Solomon, with no major urban centers and with no pronounced hierarchy of hamlets, villages, and towns.

                                                                                   Israel Finkelstein
                                                                                   The Bible Unearthed

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