Biblical archaeology

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Biblical archaeology is the archaeology that relates to, and sheds light upon, the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. It was given its theoretical framework, and enjoyed its most influential period, in the early to mid 20th century through the influence of William F. Albright; the American "biblical archaeology" school which he founded had a profound influence on both biblical scholarship and evangelical theology of the time, cementing the view that archaeology had demonstrated the essential truth of the Old Testament narrative, especially that part relating to the Biblical Patriarchs, the Exodus, and the conquest of Canaan. This consensus was overturned in the 1970s, when Albrightian "biblical archaeology" was largely superseded by processual and post-processual archaeology, which sees archaeology as an anthropological rather than a historical discipline. Despite this, the reliance of American field excavation on denominational support has meant that the Albrightian paradigm continues to influence contemporary archaeology in the region.

Contents 1 Background 2 William F. Albright and the Biblical Archaeology school 3 Biblical archaeology today 4 Debates over the status of biblical archaeology today 5 Milestones prior to 1914 6 Milestones during 1914–1945 7 Milestones during 1945–1967 8 Milestones after 1967 9 Confirmed Biblical structures 10 Artifacts from documented excavations 11 Artifacts not from excavations, but with undisputed provenance 12 Artifacts with unknown, disputed, or disproved provenance 13 Footnotes 14 See also 15 External links 16 Further reading

[edit] Background

The foundations of biblical archaeology were laid in the 19th century with the work of scholars such as Johann Jahn, whose manual of biblical antiquities, Biblische Archäologie, (1802, translated into English 1839) was immensely influential in the middle years of the 19th century, and Edward Robinson, whose Biblical Researches in Palestine, the Sinai, Petrae and Adjacent Regions (1841) became a popular best-seller, demonstrating that scientific research could verify the accuracy and trustworthiness of the bible.^[1][2] In 1865 the Palestine Exploration Fund was established by a group of English clergymen and scholars "to promote research into the archaeology and history, manners and customs and culture, topography, geology and natural sciences of biblical Palestine and the Levant";^[3] it was followed by the Deutscher Palästina-Verein (1877), the École Biblique (1890), the American School of Oriental Research in (1900), and the British School of Archaeology in (1919). The research these institutions sponsored, at least in these early days, was primarily geographic; it was not until the 1890s that Sir Flinders Petrie introduced the basic principles of scientific excavation, including stratigraphy and ceramic typology.^[4]

[edit] William F. Albright and the Biblical Archaeology school

The dominant figure in 20th century biblical archaeology, defining its scope and creating the mid-century consensus on the relationship between archaeology, the bible, and the history of ancient Israel, was William F. Albright. An American with roots in the American Evangelical tradition (his parents were Baptist missionaries in Chile), Director of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), (now the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research) through the `1920s and 1930s, editor of ASOR's Bulletin until 1968, and author of over a thousand books and articles, Albright drew biblical archaeology into the contemporary debates over the origins and reliability of the bible. In the last decades of the 19th century Julius Wellhausen put forward the documentary hypothesis, which explained the bible as the composite product of authors working between the 10th and 5th centuries BC. "This raised the question whether the Genesis through 2 Kings material could be regarded as a reliable source of information for Solomon’s period or earlier."^[5]

Post-Wellhausen scholars such as Hermann Gunkel, Albrecht Alt and Martin Noth were suggesting that the written texts studied by Wellhausen rested on a body of oral tradition which reflected genuine history, but which could not themselves be regarded as historically accurate accounts of events. Albright saw archaeology as the search for the physical evidence which would test these theories through the comparative study of ancient texts (notably those from Ebla, Mari, the Tel Amarna and Nuzi) and material finds. In his conception biblical archaeology embraced all the lands mentioned in the Bible, taking in any finds which could "throw some light, directly or indirectly, on the Bible."^[6] By the middle of the 20th century the work of Albright and his students, notably Nelson Glueck, E. A. Speiser, G. Ernest Wright and Cyrus Gordon, had produced a consensus that biblical archaeology had provided physical evidence for the originating historical events behind the Old Testament narratives: in the words of Albright, "Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details of the Bible as a source of history."^[7] The consensus allowed the creation of authoritative textbooks such as John Bright's History of Israel (1959).^[8] Bright did not believe that the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph could be regarded as reliable sources of history, or that it was possible to reconstruct the origins of Israel from the biblical text alone; but he did believe that the stories in Genesis reflected the physical reality of the 20th–17th centuries BC, and that it was therefore possible to write a history of the origins of Israel by comparing the biblical accounts with what was known of the time from other sources.^[9]

[edit] Biblical archaeology today

The Albrightian consensus was overturned in the 1970s. Fieldwork, notably Kathleen Kenyon's excavations at Jericho, was not supporting the conclusions the biblical archaeologists had drawn, with the result that central theories squaring the biblical narrative with archaeological finds, such as Albright's reconstruction of Abraham as an Amorite donkey caravaneer, were being rejected by the archaeological community. The challenge reached its climax with the publication of two important studies: In 1974 Thomas L. Thompson's The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives re-examined the record of biblical archaeology in relation to the Patriarchal narratives in Genesis and concluded that "not only has archaeology not proven a single event of the Patriarchal narratives to be historical, it has not shown any of the traditions to be likely." ^[10] and in 1975 John Van Seters' Abraham in History and Tradition reached a similar conclusion about the usefulness of tradition history: "A vague presupposition about the antiquity of the tradition based upon a consensus approval of such arguments should no longer be used as a warrant for proposing a history of the tradition related to early premonarchic times."^[11] At the same time a new generation of archaeologists, notably William G. Dever, was criticising the older generation for failing to take note of the revolution in archaeology known as processualism, which saw the discipline as a scientific one allied to anthropology, rather than a part of the corpus of the humanities linked to history and theology. Biblical archaeology, Dever said, remained "altogether too narrowly within a theological angle of vision,"^[12] and should be abandoned and replaced with a regional Syro-Palestinian archaeology operating within a processual framework.^[13]

Dever was broadly successful: most archaeologists working in the world of the Bible today do so within a processual or post-processual framework: yet few would describe themselves in these terms.^[14] The reasons for this attachment to the old nomenclature are complex, but are connected with the link between excavators (especially American ones) and the denominational institutions and benefactors who employ and support them, and with the unwillingness of biblical scholars, both conservative and liberal, to reject the link between the bible and archaeology.^[15] The result has been a blurring of the distinction between the theologically-based archaeology which interprets the archaeological record as "substantiating in general the theological message of a God who acts in history,"^[16] and Dever's vision of Syro-Palestinian archaeology as an "independent, secular discipline ... pursued by cultural historians for its own sake."^[17]

Currently, the Biblical Archaeology Society, founded in 1974, remains the primary organization publishing and discussing discoveries and issues relating to Biblical Archaeology.

[edit] Debates over the status of biblical archaeology today

Although many in the academic community today largely reject the approach of Albright^[18], saying that the Bible's histories are politically-motivated stories without historical basis, others claim the current scholarship itself has political biases, largely aimed at discrediting Zionism. ^[19][20]This school claims the current scholarship is heavily reliant on speculations that the Bible's history is largely "politically motivated fables", and that this hypothesis is unsupported by any evidence.^[21]

Prof. Israel Finkelstein and Prof. Neil Silberman, in their 2001 book "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts" and their 2006 "David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible’s Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition", on the basis of the lack of pottery and evidence of contemporary construction on the Jerusalem site, have posited that Jerusalem at the time of David and Solomon was nothing more than a small village. In 2005, Dr. Eilat Mazar (under the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; with the Ir David ("City of David", the original Jebusitic Jerusalem) Foundation, the Israel National Parks Authority, and the Israel Antiquities authority), in excavating Ir David, claimed to have found what they believe to be the remains of King David's massive palace; it dates to the proper era, is found in the proper location, and is distinctively Phoenician in architecture (the palace, according to II Samuel 5:11, was built by King Hiram of Tyre). If accepted, this would undermine the theory that the kingship of David was but a myth, and even more so the theory that Jerusalem was only a village at the time.^[22][23]

Debate still rages about the degree to which Jerusalem was the capital of a united Davidic Empire. For example, the Hebrew University’s Amnon Ben-Tor and Amihai Mazar, the University of Pennsylvania's Baruch Halpern, and Dr. Eilat Mazar. ^[24], have argued that evidence exists, but is difficult to interpret beneath modern Jerusalem. Furthermore, the new theories, in asserting the political or ideological nature of the Biblical history (especially its political history), have been accused themselves of relying on speculation of political context, which traditionalists claim is unsupported by any archaeological or literary evidence. ^[25]

[edit] Milestones prior to 1914

Biblical Archaeology began after publication by Edward Robinson (American professor of Biblical literature; 1794–1863) of his travels through Palestine 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 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 Frederick J. Bliss and R.A.S. Macalister excavated 4 major sites in the Shephelah region of Israel:
  • Tell es-Safi (probably Biblical Gath)
  • Tell Zakariya (probably Biblical Azekah)
  • Tell ej-Judeideh (possibly Biblical Moresheth-Gath or Libnah)
  • 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 Ernest Sellin excavated Taanach
• 1903–5 Gottlieb Schumacher excavated Megiddo
• 1905–7 Herman Kohl, Ernest Sellin, and Carl Watzinger surveyed ancient synagogues in Galilee
• 1907–9 Ernest Sellin and Carl Watzinger excavated Shechem
• 1908, 1910–1 David G. Lyon, Clarence S. Fisher, and George A. Reisner excavated Samaria
• 1911–3 Duncan Mackenzie excavated Beth Shemesh

[edit] Milestones during 1914–1945

Following World War I, during the British Mandate of Palestine, antiquities laws were established for Palestinian territory along with a Department of Antiquities (later to become the modern Israel Antiquities Authority) and the Palestine Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem (now named the Rockefeller Museum).

John 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 Clarence S. Fisher, Alan Rowe, and Gerald M. Fitzgerald excavated Beth Shean
• 1922–3 William F. Albright excavated Tell el-Ful (probably Biblical Gibeah)
• 1925–39 Clarence S. Fisher, P.L.O. Guy, and Gordon Loud excavated Megiddo
• 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932 William F. Albright excavated Tell Beit Mirsim (possibly Biblical Eglon or Debir–Kirjath Sepher)
• 1926–7, 1929, 1932, 1935 William F. Bade excavated Mizpah
• 1928–33 Elihu Grant excavated Beth Shemesh
• 1930–6 John Garstang excavated Jericho
• 1931–3, 1935 John W. Crowfoot excavated Samaria
• 1932–38 James L. Starkey excavated Lachish (the excavation terminated when he was killed by bandits near Hebron while on his way to the opening ceremonies of the Palestine Archaeological Museum)
• 1936–40 Benjamin Mazar excavated Beit She'arim.

[edit] Milestones during 1945–1967

• In 1945 the Nag Hammadi library—a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts also known as the "Gnostic Gospels"—was discovered near the town of Nag Hammadi. Twelve leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by a local peasant. Some of these documents, such as the Gospel of Thomas, were specifically rejected by Eusebius and others in the early Catholic Church from inclusion in the New Testament.
• 1947 and later: The Dead Sea Scrolls are an important testimony to the antiquity of the texts. 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 Jacob Kaplan excavated Jaffa
• 1954, 1959–62 Yohanan Aharoni excavated Ramat Rahel
• 1955–8, 1968 Yigael Yadin excavated Hazor
• 1956–7, 1959–60, 1962 James B. Pritchard excavated Gibeon
• 1961–7 Kathleen Kenyon excavated Jerusalem (City of David)
• 1962–7 Yohanan Aharoni and Ruth Amiran excavated Arad
• 1962–3, 1965–72 Moshe Dothan excavated Ashdod
• 1963–5 Yigael Yadin excavated Masada
• 1964–74 G. Ernest Wright, William G. Dever, and Joe Seger excavated Gezer
  • This was the first Palestinian excavation to operate as a school by granting academic/college credit.

[edit] Milestones after 1967

Following the Six-day War, archeologists conducted more extensive excavations within the city limits of modern Jerusalem. One highlight in particular came from Ketef Hinnom just southwest of the Old City: two small silver scrolls 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 later in Daniel (9:4) and Nehemiah (1:5).

A major development of Processual and Post-processual archaeology has been the development of settlement studies in the highlands, which suggest that a process of state development only occurred after 950 BCE, possibly with the development of Omride Israel ^[26]

• 1968–78 Benjamin Mazar excavated Jerusalem (southwest corner of the Temple Mount)
• 1969–76 Yohanan Aharoni and Ze'ev Herzog excavated Beersheba
• 1969–82 Nahman Avigad excavated Jerusalem (Jewish Quarter)
• 1973–94 David Ussishkin excavated Lachish
• 1975–82 Avraham Biran excavated Aroer
• 1977–9, 1981–9 Amihai Mazar and George L. Kelm excavated Timnah
• 1978–85 Yigal Shiloh excavated Jerusalem (City of David)
• 1979–80 Gabriel Barkay excavated Ketef Hinnom
• 1979, 1981–2, 1984–7, 1990–1, 1993–2000 David Livingston excavated Khirbet Nisya
• 1981–2, 1984–8, 1990, 1992–6 Trude Dothan and Seymour Gitin excavated Ekron
• 1989–96 Amihai Mazar excavated Tel Beit-Shean
• 1994–2007 Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin excavated Megiddo (ongoing annually)
• 1996–2002, 2004–2008 Aren Maeir excavates at Tell es-Safi (identified as Biblical Gath) of the Philistines
• 1997– Amihai Mazar excavated Tel Rehov
• 1999–2001, 2005 Ron Tappy excavated Tel Zayit (Zeitah)
• 2005 Oded Lipschits excavated Ramat Rahel
• 2005 Amir Gorzalczany and Gerald Finkielsztejn excavated Nahal Tut
• 2007 Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor excavated Khirbet Qeiyafa

[edit] Confirmed Biblical structures

• Gibeon pool (at el-Jib)
• Hezekiah's tunnel under Jerusalem
• Jericho's walls. John Garstang in the 1930s dated Jericho's destruction to around 1400 BC, but Kathleen Kenyon's excavation in the 1950s redated it to around 1550 BC. Bryant Wood's 1990 proposed redating of Kenyon's work to Garstang has not been supported by subsequent studies.(Radiocarbon Vol. 37, Number 2, 1995.). [1] [2]
• Lachish siege ramp of Sennacherib
• Pool of Siloam (unearthed in 2004)
• Second Temple pre-Herodian Walls. The outline of the walls of the square platform that predates the Herodian expansion and, therefore, dates either form the reconstruciton in the Persian period under Ezra and Nehemiah or is a survival of the pre-exilic first Temple have been located on the surface of the present platform. The northwestern corner was visible (until it was concealed recently by a waqf) as the lowest step in a flight of stairs that parallets the eastern wall of the Mount, the north eastern corner as a protruding stone, the south eastern corner as a slight alteration in the angel of the eastern wall where the older platform joins the Herodian expansion. The courses of stone that form the center of the eastern wall are also pre-Herodian, and match the stone masonry of the north west corner of the original platform, now a concealed bottom step. (Leen and Kathleen Ritmeyer, Secrets of Jerusalem's Temple Mount,Biblical Archaeology Society, Washington D.C., 2006)
• Second Temple (confirmed by Western/Wailing wall constructed by Herod the Great)
• Shechem temple (spanning the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age) corresponding to the "House of (the god) Baalberith" in Judges 9
• 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
• Gezer Walls and City Gate. Verification of the site comes from Hebrew inscriptions found engraved on rocks, several hundred meters from the tel. These inscriptions from the 1st century BCE read "boundary of Gezer."
• [Nehemiah]'s wall. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546753493&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[edit] Artifacts from documented excavations

• Arad ostraca (#18 mentions the Temple in Jerusalem)

• Azariah bulla (seal impression) found in 1978 during Yigal Shiloh’s excavation of old Jerusalem. The inscription consists of two lines of writing separated by two parallel lines. It reads “Belonging to Azaryahu, son of Hilkiyahu.” The impression does not mention the title of the owner. Yigal Shiloh, “A Group of Hebrew Bullae From the City of David,” Israel Exploration Journal 36 (1986), pp. 16–38

• 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. These include a king of Ebla named Ebrum, who some identify as the Biblical patriarch Eber (or Heber), after whom the Hebrews were named.^{[citation needed]} Also reported are references to people with Semitic names and gods similar to those in the Bible. They are also rumored^{[citation needed]} to 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. The government of Syria continues to withhold complete publication of the texts, and this story remains a rumor.^{[citation needed]} 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)

• Gath ostracon
  • Found by A. Maeir while excavating Tell es-Safi in 2005
  • Incised with nine letters representing two names (אלות ולת) etymologically related to Goliath (גלית)

• GBON (גבען) jar handles recovered from the Gibeon pool
  • Some inscribed "Hananiah" may have been associated with the person mentioned in Jeremiah 28:1
  • Other incised names on Gibeon jar handles: Amariah, Azariah, Domla, Geder, Hananiah, Neri, Shebuel

• Gemariah the son of Shaphan seal impression stamped on bulla
  • Found during Yigal Shiloh's excavations of Jerusalem in 1983, it probably belonged to the person recorded in Jeremiah 36:10

• Herod's tomb at Herodium

• House of David inscription on Tel Dan Stele
  • It consists of three fragments: the first and largest was discovered in 1993, and two smaller fragments were discovered in 1994.)
  • The meaning of the inscription is disputed

• Izbet Sartah ostracon; 2 fragments excavated in 1976
  • 5 incised lines of 80–83 letters (readings of epigraphers vary), the last line being an abecedary
  • Found in the silo of an unfortified village (possibly Biblical Eben-Ezer, 2 miles east of Philistine Aphek at Antipatris) occupied from 1200–1000 BC
  • See Chapter 3 of In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language (Hoffman 2004) for the linguistic importance of the Hebrew.
  • See plates in The Text of the Old Testament (Wurthwein 1995) for a facsimile of the ostracon

• Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets ^[27]
  • Excavated from Babylon during 1899–1917 by Robert Koldewey, stored in a barrel-vaulted underground building consisting of rows of rooms near the Ishtar Gate^[28]
  • Babylon 28122: "...t[o] Ia-'-u-kin, king..."
  • Babylon 28178: "10 (sila of oil) to ...[Ia-'-kin, king of Ia[...] 2 1/2 sila to [...so]ns of the king of Ia-a-hu-du (Judah)"
  • Babylon 28186: "10 (sila) to Ia-ku-u-ki-nu, the son of the king of Ia-ku-du (Judah), 2 1/2 sila for the 5 sons of the king of Ia-ku-du (Judah)"
  • Cf. 2 Kings 24:12,15–6; 25:27–30; 2 Chronicles 36:9–10; Jeremiah 22:24–6; 29:2; 52:31–4; Ezekiel 17:12

• Jaazaniah, servant of the king (ליאזניהו עבד המלך) striated agate seal with fighting cock icon
  • Found in Tomb 19 at Tell en-Nasbeh (probably Biblical Mizpah)
  • Possibly belonged to an army captain at Mizpah mentioned in 2 Kings 25:23

• Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Shobi (יהוכל בן שלמיהו בן שבי) seal impression stamped on bulla
  • 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)

• Lachish ostraca
  • Most of these terse texts, discovered in the 1930s, depict conditions during the end of the 7th century BC shortly before the Chaldean conquest.
  • Letter #3 mentions a warning from the prophet.
  • Letter #4 names Lachish and Azekah as among the last places being conquered as recorded in Jeremiah 34:7.
  • Letter #6 describes a conspiracy reminiscent of Jeremiah 38:19 and 39:9 using phraseology nearly identical to 38:4.

• Lachish reliefs from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh (depicting his conquest of it)

• Nabonidus cylinder
  • A cuneiform inscription found at the Temple of Shamash in Sippara that names Belshazzar as the son of the last king of Babylon
  • Daniel chapters 5, 7, and 8 name Belshazzar as a king, but that was probably due to Aramaic convention (e.g., the bilingual inscription on the statue of Haddayishi from Gozan calls him a "governor" in the Akkadian language but "king" in Aramaic); also note that Belshazzar offers third place in his kingdom as a prize rather than second
  • Nabonidus and not Belshazzar, as stated in Daniel, was the last King of Babylon. Moreover, the inscriptions show that up to the time that Belshazzar was killed by Gubaru (one of Cyrus's governors), he was referred to as "The King's Son." At no time did Babylonian records refer to Belshazzar as a king. Moreover, he died before his father did. Nabonidus/Babylon was captured by the Persians under Cyrus the Great—not Darius the Mede as stated in Daniel 5:30–31. Belzhassar was the son of Nabonidus. Nor was Nabonidus or Belzhassar a son or descendant of Nebuchadnezzar as stated in Dan.5:2,11,18.

• Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet from Sippar that names an official of Nebuchadrezzar II from Jeremiah 39:3

• Pim weights
  • First specimen found by R.A.S. Macalister at Gezer; many others found since
  • Inscribed with a previously unknown word that facilitated a better translation of 1Samuel 13:21

• Pontius Pilate inscription found in secondary use in a stairway of the Roman theater in Caesarea
  • "The prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, erected the Tiberium (in honor of Tiberius Caesar)"
  • Actual text of 3-line inscription (eroded portion in brackets is speculative but undisputed):

TIBERIEUM

[PON]TIUS PILATUS

[PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E

• 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)

• Shelomit seal, found during a Jerusalem excavation with a name mentioned in 1Chronicles 3:19 and Ezra 8:10

• [Son of] Immer (ליהו [בן] אמר[?]) seal impression stamped on bulla
  • Found September 27, 2005, while sifting debris discarded from the Temple Mount of Jerusalem in 1999
  • May be related to a priest serving in Solomon's Temple per Jeremiah 20:1

• Tiglath-Pileser III's inscriptions found by A.H. Layard at Nimrud:
  • ANET 282: "I received the tribute of ... Jehoahaz of Judah" (incident not mentioned in the Bible)
  • 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)

• Zayit Stone
  • Limestone boulder incised with a Paleo-Hebrew abecedary and remnants of several other inscriptions found at Zeitah (Tel Zayit) in-situ in a stratum dated to the 10th century BC

[edit] Artifacts not from excavations, but with undisputed provenance

Items in this list mostly come from 19th-century surveys, and undocumented collections whose provenance is not relevant due to the genuine nature of their content. In other words, they were discovered at a time when knowledge was so limited that they could not have been faked.

• Elephantine papyri
  • Date to the Persian period, from an archive of Jews living in Egypt.
  • One was written by someone in Jerusalem named Hananiah, who may have been the person mentioned in Nehemiah 7:2

• Hanan's signet ring
  • Owned by a Paris collector, this valuable ring has been known to the scholarly world since 1984. The seal’s origin is unknown, but the shape of the letters indicate that it was used during the seventh century B.C. The seal is inscribed in three lines, each line separated by two parallel straight lines. The band is almost 1/10 of an inch in diameter, suggesting that it was designed for a man’s finger. The inscription reads: “Belonging to Hanan, son of Hilqiyahu, the priest.”
  • This Hilqiyahu is better known to us as Hilkiah, the high priest during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah in the last part of the seventh century B.C. The ending yahu is a theophoric (divine) element often found in ancient Hebrew names in Judah; the names in the Northern Kingdom carried yah as an ending. It seems that this Hilqiyahu was the same high priest who discovered the scroll of Torah in the temple that triggered religious reform in Judah (see 2 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 34).
  • 1 Chronicles 6:13 and 9:11 indicate that Azariah, not Hanan, succeeded Hilkiah. The explanation could be that Azariah succeeded his father as high priest, while his younger brother Hanan functioned as a priest, just as the inscription on the seal suggests.

• 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)

• Merneptah Stele
  • A stele (monumental stone inscription) of the Egyptian pharoah Merneptah; contains the earliest reference (1209/1208 BC) to a people called Israel.

• Mesha stele
  • A Moabite inscription discovered at Dhiban, Jordan, in 1868 that mentions an Israelite king, Omri. It also records vessels of YHWH as tribute.

• Siloam inscription
  • Originally situated near the center of the Hezekiah tunnel, where two teams of excavators tunneling toward one another met.
  • Robinson documented the tunnel in 1838, but the inscription was not discovered until 1880. It was removed from Jerusalem the same year, and is presently in the Archaeological Museum at Istanbul.

[edit] Artifacts with unknown, disputed, or disproved provenance

Items in this list mostly come from private collections via the antiquities market, but also from chance finds prior to the establishment of antiquities laws. Their authenticity is highly controversial and in some cases has been demonstrated to be fraudulent.

• Ark of the Covenant
  • The Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Axum, Ethiopia claims to possess it; local tradition maintains that it was brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I following a visit to his father King Solomon.

• Artifacts originating from the antiquities dealer, Oded Golan. In December 2004 he was indicted by the Israeli police, together with several accomplices, for forging the following artifacts:
  • The James Ossuary inscribed James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus suspected of being forged on a genuine ancient ossuary.
  • The Joash tablet (Jehoash inscription) recording repairs to the Temple in Jerusalem suspected of being forged on a genuine ancient stone panel.
  • Various ostraca mentioning the Temple or place names from the Bible.
  • A seven-nozzle stone lamp, bearing decorations of a Temple menorah and the seven species
  • A stone seal with gold rim, attributed to King Manasseh of Judah.
  • A quartz bowl bearing an inscription in ancient Egyptian, indicating that the Minister of the Army of King Shishek conquered the ancient city of Meggido.
  • An ivory pomegranate inscribed Property of the priests of the temple… allegedly forged on a genuine ancient piece of ivory.
  • A pottery jug bearing an inscription claiming that it was given as a contribution to the Temple.
  • Numerous bullae including ones which mention Biblical figures including King Hezekiah of Judah, the scribe Baruch and the prophet Isaiah.
• Shroud of Turin
  • Critics claim it contains a painted image of Jesus forged in the Middle Ages; others maintain the image was formed by some energetic process that darkened the fibers (such as a flash of light the instant the resurrection occurred). Radiocarbon dating seemed to limit its origin to the Middle Ages, but some analysts suggest the tests were erroneously performed using samples taken from patches sewn onto the ancient cloth during the Middle Ages, or contaminated from fires it was exposed to. Other analysts suggest that the dating results are skewed by limestone residue which is present on the shroud.
• Stone of Scone, also known as Jacob's Pillar
  • For centuries, this rock has been an integral compenent of coronation ceremonies for kings in the British isles. It is believed to be the rock upon which Jacob (later renamed Israel) received a vision, and a crack in it may have resulted from Moses striking it to bring forth water. None of this can be proven, and attempts to link it to Palestine via Jeremiah lack foundation.
• Veil of Veronica
  • A cloth with an image of a bearded man on it. The faithful believe the cloth was used by Veronica to wipe sweat from the face of Jesus along the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary. Critics say it appears to be a man-made image.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] See also

• Archaeology of Israel
• The Bible and History
• History of ancient Israel and Judah
• List of Biblical figures identified in extra-Biblical sources
• Palestinian archaeology
• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures

[edit] External links

• Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana.
• Resources > Archaeology Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Robert I Bradshaw, "Archaeology & the Patriarchs": introductory survey with a full bibliography of accessible material in English
• The Biblical Archaeology Society
• The Palestine Exploration Fund
• Digmaster Archaeology Database: An online database of artifacts
• The 2003– Iraq War & Archaeology Information about looting in Iraq.
•   "Christian Archaeology". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 

[edit] Further reading

• William F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1940)
• John Bright, A History of Israel(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1959).
• Chapman, and J.N. Tubb, Archaeology & The Bible (British Museum, 1990)
• Cornfeld, G.and D.N. Freedman, Archaeology Of The Bible Book By Book (1989)
• Davies, P.R., In Search of 'Ancient Israel': A Study in Biblical Origins, Sheffield (JSOT Press, 1992). A key resource in the maximalist/minimalist controversy by a leading minimalist scholar.
• Dever, William G., "Archaeology and the Bible : Understanding their special relationship", in Biblical Archaeology Review 16:3, (May/June 1990)
• Dever, William G. (2002). What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-2126-X. 
• Dever, William G. (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-0975-8. 
• Finkelstein, Israel, and Neil Asher Silberman (2002). The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86913-6. 
• Frend, William Hugh Clifford, The Archaeology of Early Christianity. A History, Geoffrey Chapman, 1997. ISBN 0-225-66850-5
• Frerichs, Ernest S. and Leonard H. Lesko eds. Exodus: The Egyptian Evidence. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1997 ISBN 1-57506-025-6 Collection of six essays. Denver Seminary review
• Keller, Werner, The Bible as History, 1955. A widely-read but very out dated popular account, approximately fifty years old.
• Kitchen, Kenneth A., On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003)
• Kuntz, John Kenneth. The People of Ancient Israel: an introduction to Old Testament Literature, History, and Thought, Harper and Row, 1974. ISBN 0-06-043822-3
• Lance, H.D. The Old Testament and The Archaeologist. London, (1983)
• Mazar, A., Archaeology of the Land of the Bible (The Anchor Bible Reference Library, 1990)
• Mykytiuk, Lawrence J. (2004). Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 B.C.E. SBL Academia Biblica series, no. 12. Atlanta, Ga.: Society of Biblical Literature.
• Negev, Avraham, and Gibson, Shimon, (eds.) (2003). Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group. 
• Ramsey, George W. The Quest For The Historical Israel. London (1982)
• Robinson, Edward (1856) Biblical Researches in Palestine, 1838–52, Boston, MA: Crocker and Brewster.
• Thiollet, J-P, Je m'appelle Byblos, Paris (2005).
• Thompson, J.A., The Bible And Archaeology, revised edition (1973)
• Winstone, H.V.F. The Life of Sir Leonard Woolley of Ur, London, 1990
• Wright, G. Ernest, Biblical Archaeology. Philedelphia: Westminster, (1962).
• Yamauchi, E. The Stones And The Scriptures. London: IVP, (1973).