What happened in Iron Age I?

I've been reading Hess's Israelite Religions lately. Most of it is pretty straight forward interpretaion of the archaeology and comparison with Ugarit, Mari, Ebla, etc. This little paragraph jumped out at me, though:

"With rare exceptions, there are no shrines or temples in the village culture of the Iron Age I highlands in contrast to the proliferation of such in the fortified cities of the Late Bronze Age. This suggests a change from the traditional religious worship of the preceding period to a 'simple, aniconic, noninstitutionalized cult' [Dever]. In addition, the absence of pig bones suggests an ethnic marker for people for whom eating pork is taboo."—Hess, Israelite Religions, page 234

<idle musing>
Something happened! Connect the dots; I happen to believe the dots are best connected by the Hebrew bible :)

Of course, you can choose otherwise, but you still have to explain the change. No, it is not seeking proof to bolster faith; rather, it is faith seeing the evidence and knowing why it is the way it is.
</idle musing>