Maybe there was some king named David

When I first heard that trendy Old Testament scholarship has claimed (for several decades) that Kings David and Solomon never existed as recorded in the biblical accounts (2Samuel-1Kings, 1-2Chronicles), I was only mildly surprised. The trend seems to be what scholars call the 'minimalist' approach to biblical history - a presumption that all the details of the story should not be trusted until they can be independently verified.

Various powerful interests in the Israel/Palestine region make it difficult to carefully dig up much that might verify the biblical accounts. For instance, the most likely site for uncovering ruins of the First (Solomon's) or Second (Herod's; where Jesus worshiped) Temple has been controlled by Islamic interest since 1967, apparently. The Koran (I've been told) claims that the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures have been corrupted, and the true history must be obtained through Islam's corrective accounts of biblical history. So, Islamic interests have reason to hope that the Hebrew Scriptures cannot be independently verified. Enter Dr. Eilat Mazar, a Jewish archaeologist. She claims to have discovered part of a massive wall that is likely David's magnificent palace, constructed with the help of Hiram, king of Tyre (2Samuel 5; 1Chronicles 14). The article is from 2005, so more might now be known.

Maybe there was some king named David who was a regional power around the 10th century BC.