Shiloh as a name of a location does not appear in the Pentateuch, the name only appears in a Prophecy in Genesis 49, that can be interpreted as about the later Shiloh but we Christians like to see it is ultimately about Jesus.
If I used the Pentateuch alone to deduce where God intended the final resting place of The Tabernacle to be, I would assume it was Bethel based on Genesis 28. Genesis 12 and 13 use the name Bethel retroactively, it was because of the events of Genesis 28 that Israelites called where Jacob rested Bethel and in time that also applied that name to the nearby town of Luz.
Bethel is one of the more indisputable locations in Biblical Archeology, I do not dispute that modern Beitin is where the city of Luz/Bethel was. In Joshua 16 and 18 Bethel is located on the border of the Ephraim and Benjamin as a place that in some sense belongs to both.
Shiloh as a place name is introduced in the Book of Joshua but not during the accounts of the conquest or as part of allotment of lands to the Tribes, it first appears as the place where Joshua set up The Tabernacle that housed The Ark of The Covenant. 1 Samuel seems to imply The Ark remained consistently in Shiloh all through The Judges period until they lost it to The Philistines. And yet Judges 20:26-27 places The Ark at Bethel in the only reference to The Ark in the Book of Judges.
Really the only Bible passage that gives us any clue where Shiloh is located in Judges 21:19.
It’s first described as “on the Northside of Bethel” but that does not read to me as “North of Bethel” per se, certainly not closer to Shechem then Bethel where it’s traditionally placed. Rather it sounds more like it’s identifying it as Northern Bethel, in the context of how Bethel is allotted in Joshua you could say Ephraim’s side of Bethel.
But the verse also then places Shiloh to the East, towards the rising sun, on the road going up to Shechem.
Back in Genesis 12-13 Abraham’s Bethel Altar wasn’t in the city proper but east of it, between Bethel and Hai/Ai on the road as he traveled to and from Shechem. The place where Jacob rested is assumed to be the same.
This Biblical Archaeology YouTube channel talks about the ruins of a Church built East of Bethel and West of Hai/Ai that is presumed to have commemorated that very location.
I used Google Maps to get a better sense of this geography than the very primitive maps provided in the video. And these ruins are indeed east of modern Beitin, but specifically of Northern Beitin, very far north.
So I believe that was the true location of Shiloh, where the name was principally used of The Tabernacle. I don’t think it was ever much of its own distinct city but may have been at times synonymous with northern Bethel or Ephraimite Bethel.
The Daughters of Shiloh from Judged 21:21 I think refers to the Women by the Gate of the Tabernacle.
The Prophet Ahaijah was called a Shilonite I think because he liked to live a Hermit like lifestyle nearby the former Tabernacle location rather than as an indication of citizenship to a specific City.
I think the Shilonites of 1 Chronicles 9:5 are really a variation of Shelanites (Numbers 26:20) given how it appears between Pheraz and Zerah discussing the Tribe of Judah.
Just north of the border of Benjamin is a better location for The Tabernacle because in Joshua 21 only Benjamin, Judah and Simeon housed the cities the Sons of Aaron lived in. Gibeon and Geba were both pretty close to Bethel so convenient cities for The High Priest to live in.
The Levites settled in Ephraim (as well as West Manasseh and the original allotment of Dan) were the other descendants of Aaron's grandfather Kohath. Those include the children of Korah who 1 Chronicles 9:19 said were the keepers of the Gate of the Tabernacle, which would place them to the East of it. In Joshua 21:22 Kibzaim is the name of one of the cities given to the Kohathites but that name doesn't appear anywhere else in The Bible. It means ""Double Heap", since Hai/Ai means Heap it's possibly another name for the same city since Hai/Ai doesn't show up in Joshua 15-21 at all.
The Children of Korah were also the authors of a group of Psalms including Psalm 84 which refers to a Valley of Beca/Baka. That name comes form Bakah which means Weeping/Wept and is used in Judges 20:23-26 and 21:2 to referring to Weeping the Children of Israel did at Bethel during the civil war with Benjamin.
When you make a Map of the layout of The Holy Land in Ezekiel 40-48 you will notice that the Temple/Tabernacle isn’t in The City YHWHW-Shamah but significantly to the north of it. If YHWH-Shamah is Jerusalem then perhaps this Mishkan is Shiloh east of Bethel once again, but even that assumption could be wrong.
I think the city that is today most commonly traditionally identified with Shiloh is actually the Taanathshiloh located in northern Ephraim in Joshua 16:6.
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