Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 2003
Special Section
Introduction
After the collapse of Mycenaean civilization around 1200 B.C., the Sea Peoples left their home in the Aegean world and proceeded to occupy the best land in Canaan—the coastal plain. Among the Sea Peoples were the feared Philistines, known from the Bible as ancient Israel’s frequent nemesis...Read more ›
How Did the Philistines Get to Canaan? One: by Sea
A Hundred Penteconters Could Have Carried 5,000 People Per Trip
Armadas of sleek warships carrying Philistine marauders and other Sea Peoples storm the beaches along the entire Levantine coast. At the same time, columns of ox-drawn carts descend from the north, carrying more Philistine warriors along with their wives and children. In the wake...Read more ›
How Did the Philistines Get to Canaan? Two: by Land
The Trek Through Anatolia Followed a Well-Trod Route
There is much I agree with in the preceding article by my colleague Tristan Barako, including the belief that the seemingly Philistine levels at sites in modern Israel actually represent the remains of Aegean settlers, rather than of an international trading elite, in an...Read more ›
Features
Is It or Isn’t It?
King Jehoash Inscription Captivates Archaeological World
Mystery, politics, Biblical implications, gold—a newly surfaced inscription purporting to be by King Jehoash has it all. And it may be a forgery! If authentic, it would be the first royal inscription ever found of an Israelite king. If authentic, it may provide evidence for Israel’s claim...Read more ›
Discovering Herod’s Shrine to Augustus
Mystery Temple Found at Omrit
There is something here I think you ought to see,” our good friend Moti Aviam told us over the phone. It was the summer of 1998 and Aviam, then in charge of western Galilee for the Israel Antiquities Authority, was touring the devastation from a wildfire in...Read more ›
Horsing Around in Toronto
“Come to our session on Megiddo,” a grinning Israel Finkelstein, director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute of Archaeology and co-director of the renewed excavations at Megiddo, urged me as we chatted at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) in Toronto...Read more ›