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Milestones Prior to World War I
Biblical Archaeology began after publication by Edward Robinson (American professor of Biblical literature; 1794-1863) of his travels through Israel during the first half of the 19th century (a time when the oldest complete Hebrew scripture only dated to the Middle Ages), which highlighted similarities between modern Arabic place-names and Biblical city names.
The Palestine Exploration Fund sponsored detailed surveys led by Charles Warren during the late 1860s (initially financed by Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts in 1864 to improve Jerusalem's sanitary conditions), which culminated with the formal publication of "The Survey of Western Palestine" from 1871-1877. The highlight of this period was Warren's work around the Temple Mount of Jerusalem, where he discovered the foundation stones of Herod's Temple, the first Israelite inscriptions on several jar handles with LMLK seals, and water shafts (probably pre-Israelite) under the City of David.
* 1890 Sir W.M.F. Petrie noticed strata exposed by waterflow adjacent to Tell el-Hesi (originally believed to be Biblical Lachish, now probably Eglon) and popularized details of pottery groups excavated therefrom. F.J. Bliss continued digging there in 1891-2.
Subsequent highlights of major sites mentioned in the Bible where excavations spanned more than one season:
* 1898-1900 F.J. Bliss and R.A.S. Macalister excavated 4 major sites in the [Shephelah]] region of Israel:
o Tell es-Safi (probably Biblical Gath)
o Tell Zakariya (probably Biblical Azekah)
o Tell ej-Judeideh (possibly Biblical Moresheth-Gath or Libnah)
o Tell Sandahannah (probably Biblical Mareshah)
* 1902-3, 1907-9 R.A.S. Macalister excavated Gezer, where the oldest Hebrew inscription (Gezer Calendar) was found on the surface
* 1902-4 E. Sellin excavated Taanach
* 1903-5 G. Schumacher excavated Megiddo
* 1905-7 H. Kohl, E. Sellin, and C. Watzinger surveyed ancient synagogues in Galilee
* 1907-9 E. Sellin and C. Watzinger excavated Shechem
* 1908, 1910-1 D.G. Lyon, C.S. Fisher, and G.A. Reisner excavated Samaria
* 1911-3 D. Mackenzie excavated Beth Shemesh
Milestones During the British Mandate
Following World War I, antiquities laws were established for Palestinian territory along with a Dept. of Antiquities (later to become the modern Israel Antiquities Authority) and the Palestine Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem (now named the Rockefeller Museum). J. Garstang was instrumental in these accomplishments. W.F. Albright dominated the scholarship of this period and had long-lasting influence on Biblical historians based on his analysis of Bronze Age and Iron Age pottery.
* 1921-3, 1925-8, 1930-3 C.S. Fisher, A. Rowe, and G.M. Fitzgerald excavated Beth Shean
* 1922-3 W.F. Albright excavated Tell el-Ful (probably Biblical Gibeah)
* 1925-39 C.S. Fisher, P.L.O. Guy, and G. Loud excavated Megiddo
* 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932 W.F. Albright excavated Tell Beit Mirsim (possibly Biblical Eglon or Debir--Kirjath Sepher)
* 1926-35 W.F. Bade excavated Mizpah
* 1928-33 E. Grant excavated Beth Shemesh
* 1930-6 J. Garstang excavated Jericho
* 1931-3, 1935 J. Crowfoot excavated Samaria
* 1932-38 J.L. Starkey excavated Lachish (the excavation terminated when he was killed by Arab bandits near Hebron while on his way to the opening ceremonies of the Palestine Archaeological Museum)
* 1936-40 B. Mazar excavated Beth Shearim
Biblical Archeological
Milestones After World War II
The Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient copies of the Bible manuscripts do not qualify as artifacts representing something mentioned in the Bible, although they are an important testimony to the antiquity of the texts, and the reliable manner in which they were preserved through the centuries. The first seven scrolls had initially appeared on the antiquities market, but when their enormous importance was recognized, archaeologists eventually found their source in a series of caves above the Dead Sea, and subsequent searches located thousands of similar fragments. Following the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 and the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, Biblical Archaeology gained new momentum. The science of archaeology had been digested and refined by new excavators who conducted numerous surveys of smaller sites during the second half of the 20th century, and re-excavations at major sites using modernized techniques.
* 1948-50, 1952-5 J. Kaplan excavated Jaffa
* 1954, 1959-62 Y. Aharoni excavated Ramat Rahel
* 1955-8, 1968 Y. Yadin excavated Hazor
* 1956-7, 1959-60, 1962 J.B. Pritchard excavated Gibeon
* 1961-7 K. Kenyon excavated Jerusalem (City of David)
* 1962-7 Y. Aharoni and R. Amiran excavated Arad
* 1962-3, 1965-72 M. Dothan excavated Ashdod
* 1963-5 Y. Yadin excavated Masada
* 1968-78 B. Mazar excavated the southwest corner of the Temple Mount
* 1969-76 Y. Aharoni and Z. Herzog excavated Beersheba
* 1969-82 N. Avigad excavated the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem
* 1973-94 D. Ussishkin excavated Lachish
* 1975-82 A. Biran excavated Aroer
* 1977-9, 1981-9 A. Mazar and G.L. Kelm excavated Timnah
* 1978-85 Y. Shiloh excavated Jerusalem (City of David)
* 1979, 1981-2, 1984-7, 1990-1, 1993-2000 D. Livingston excavated Khirbet Nisya
* 1981-2, 1984-8, 1990, 1992-6 T. Dothan and S. Gitin excavated Ekron
* 1996-7, 1999-2002 A. Maeir excavated Tell es-Safi (probably Biblical Gath)
The famous silver scrolls found in 1979 during G. Barkay's excavations at Ketef Hinnom uniquely preserve Biblical texts older than the Dead Sea Scrolls. Both of these amulets contain the Priestly blessing from the book of Numbers; one also contains a quote found in parallel verses of Exodus (20:6) and Deuteronomy (5:10 and 7:9). The same verses appear again even later in Daniel (9:4) and Nehemiah (1:5).
Confirmed
discoveries of Biblical structures
* Gibeon pool (at el-Jib)
* Hezekiah's tunnel under Jerusalem
* Jericho's walls
o They date to sometime between 2400-1300 BC and may have been destroyed by an earthquake. Opinions differ as to whether they are the walls referred to in the Bible. The walls were originally dated by John Garstang to c. 1400 BC. Kathleen Kenyon later disputed Garstang's dating and instead placed them c. 1550 BC, a date supported by the majority of archaeologists. Bryant Wood has recently argued that Garstang's dating was correct. Garstang and Wood's date is consistent with the dating of Joshua used by many Christian Bible scholars. However traditional Jewish dating places Joshua in the 13th century and the earliest archaeological evidence of an Israelite presence also dates to this period.
* Lachish siege ramp of Sennacherib
* Siloam pool (just unearthed in 2004)
* Second Temple (confirmed by Western/Wailing wall constructed by Herod the Great)
* 19 tumuli located west of Jerusalem, undoubtedly dating to the Judean monarchy, but possibly representing sites of memorial ceremonies for the kings as mentioned in 2 Chronicles 16:14, 21:19, 32:33, and the book of Jeremiah 34:5
Artifacts from documented excavations
* Arad ostraca (#18 mentions the Temple in Jerusalem)
* Balaam texts (ink/paint on plaster found at Deir 'Alla in Jordan that parallels Numbers chapters 22-24)
* Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, which depicts Jehu, son of Omri, and also mentions
Hazael of Aram/Damascus/Syria (2 Kings 8-10)
* Caiaphas (Qafa) family ossuaries (discovered in 1990 at the Jerusalem Peace Forest)
* Ebla (Tell Mardikh) cuneiform archives
o They reportedly contain references to the same five cities mentioned in the book of Genesis: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela/Zoar in the same order as in Genesis 14. Also reported are references to people with Semitic names and gods similar to those in the Bible. They include a king of Ebla named Ebrum, who some identify as the Biblical patriarch Eber (or Heber), after whom the Hebrews were named. The government of Syria continues to withhold complete publication of the texts, and this story remains a rumor. Quoting Paolo_Matthiae:
The tablets cover a thousand years before Abraham, and a thousand years, even in the fourth millennium before Christ, was a very, very long time. They tell us much, but what they don't tell us - what they can't tell us - is whether the Bible is true or not. They have nothing to do with the Bible, at least not directly, and what we have here is not a biblical expedition. If we have tablets with legends similar to those of the Bible it means only that such legends existed round here long before the Bible." ( C. Bermant and M. Weitzman, Ebla: A Revelation In Archaeology, Op. Cit., p. 2.)
* Ekron inscription (discovered in 1993 at Tel Miqne)
* GBON (גבען) jar handles recovered from the Gibeon pool
o Some inscribed "Hananiah" may have been associated with the person mentioned in Jeremiah 28:1
o Other incised names on Gibeon jar handles: Amariah, Azariah, Domla, Geder, Hananiah, Neri, Shebuel
* Gemariah the son of Shaphan seal impression stamped on bulla
o Found during Yigal Shiloh's excavations of Jerusalem in 1983, it probably belonged to the person recorded in Jeremiah 36:10
* Hezekiah's tunnel inscription (removed from Jerusalem in 1880)
* House of "Dwd" inscription on Tel Dan Stele (three fragments discovered in 1993)
* Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Shobi (יהוכל בן שלמיהו בן שבי) seal impression stamped on bulla
o Found during Eilat Mazar's excavations of an alleged palace of King David in 2005, it probably belonged to the person recorded in Jeremiah 37:3 and 38:1 (photo published in the August 6, 2005 edition of the Taipei Times)
* Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III found by J.E. Taylor (British Consul at Diyarbekir) in 1861, which mentions "2,000 chariots, 10,000 foot soldiers of Ahab the Israelite" (incident not mentioned in the Bible)
* Lachish ostraca
o Most of these terse texts were discovered in the 1930s. They depict conditions at Lachish during the end of the 7th century BCE shortly before the Chaldean invasion. One mentions signal fires from a nearby village, another mentions a warning from the prophet.
* Lachish reliefs from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh (depicting his conquest of it)
* Mesha stele
o A Moabite inscription discovered at Dhiban, Jordan, in 1868 that mentions an Israelite king, Omri. It also records vessels of YHWH as tribute.
* Merneptah stela (Egyptian reference to Israelites in the land of Canaan)
* Sargon II's Conquest of Samaria inscription (ANET 284) found by P.E. Botta at Khorsabad in 1843: "I besieged and conquered Samaria, led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it. ... The town I rebuilt better than it was before and settled therein people from countries which I myself had conquered." (2 Kings 17:23-24)
* Tiglath-Pileser III's inscriptions found by A.H. Layard at Nimrud:
o ANET 282: "I received the tribute of ... Jehoahaz of Judah" (incident not mentioned in the Bible)
o ANET 283: "As for Menahem I overwhelmed him ... I placed Hoshea as king over them." (alternate perspective in 2 Kings 15:19 and 17:3)
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