Conquest & Judges — biblical archaeology discoveries

Yehoshua, the settlement of the hills, the Philistines, Shiloh. 50 archaeological finds from this period that run alongside the biblical story: what was found, who found it, why it matters, the Hebrew word to know, and the Scripture passages each discovery touches.

• Jericho (Tell es-Sultan)
  Collapsed walls, burned grain jars, and a century-long dating debate · found 1907
• Hazor's Burned Palace and Defaced Statues
  The 'head of all those kingdoms' destroyed by fire in the 13th century BCE · found 1955
• יָבִין
  Hazor Cuneiform Tablets
  Letters and law fragments from the largest Canaanite archive south of Syria · found 1962
• Ai: et-Tell
  The traditional site of Ai, empty when Joshua is said to have taken it · found 1933
• Ai Candidate: Khirbet el-Maqatir
  A small Late Bronze I fortress proposed as Joshua's Ai · found 1995
• Mount Ebal Altar Site
  Zertal's Iron I stone structure identified by some as Joshua's altar · found 1980
• אָרוּר
  Mount Ebal Lead 'Curse Tablet'
  A folded lead piece said to read 'Cursed, cursed, cursed... by YHW' · found 2019
• Foot-Shaped 'Gilgal' Enclosures
  Iron I stone enclosures in the Jordan Valley shaped like a giant sandal · found 1990
• Shiloh (Tel Shiloh / Khirbet Seilun)
  Iron I storerooms, collared-rim jars, and an altar horn at the home of the Tabernacle · found 1926
• Bethel (Beitin)
  The 'house of El' where Jacob dreamed and Israel later worshiped · found 1934
• Gibeon: Inscribed Jar Handles and the Great Pool
  The city's own name stamped on wine-jar handles beside a rock-cut pool · found 1956
• לַיִשׁ
  Dan (Laish): The Tribe's Migration Layer
  Canaanite Laish replaced by pits, collared-rim jars, and a new people · found 1966
• Beth Shean: Egyptian Garrison and the Seti I Stelae
  Pharaoh's fortress inside Canaan, where Saul's body was hung · found 1921
• Megiddo Ivories
  A Canaanite king's treasure showing the world Israel entered · found 1937
• Lachish Level VI Destruction and the Fosse Temple
  A Canaanite city under Egypt, burned around 1150 BCE · found 1932
• Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription
  'Achish son of Padi... ruler of Ekron' carved in a Philistine temple · found 1996
• Ekron (Tel Miqne): Philistine Settlement
  From Sea Peoples' arrival to the world's largest olive-oil industry · found 1981
• Ashkelon Philistine Cemetery and DNA Study
  The first Philistine graveyard, and genes that point to Europe · found 2013
• Ashdod (Tel Ashdod)
  Dagon's city, where the Ark toppled the idol · found 1962
• Gath (Tell es-Safi): Goliath's Hometown
  The 2005 ostracon with Goliath-like names and Hazael's siege trench · found 1996
• Tell Qasile Philistine Temples
  Three superimposed shrines with roof-bearing pillars · found 1971
• Philistine Bichrome Pottery
  Red-and-black painted ware that maps where the Philistines lived · found 1899
• Sea Peoples Reliefs at Medinet Habu
  Ramesses III's carved record of the Peleset (Philistines) arriving · found 1799
• Izbet Sartah Abecedary Ostracon
  A schoolboy's alphabet from an Israelite village near Ebenezer · found 1976
• Israelite Settlement Surveys
  Hundreds of new hill-country villages appear around 1200 BCE · found 1978
• Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House
  A textbook early Israelite village near Ai and Bethel · found 1969
• Taanach Cult Stand
  Four tiers of lions, sphinxes, a tree, and a horse under a sun · found 1968
• The 'Bull Site' and Bronze Bull Figurine
  A hilltop shrine in Manasseh with a small bronze bull · found 1977
• Deir Alla Balaam Inscription
  'Balaam son of Beor, seer of the gods' written on a plaster wall · found 1967
• Aphek (Tel Afek): Egyptian Governor's Residence
  Where the Philistines camped before Ebenezer · found 1972
• Hebron (Tell Rumeida)
  Caleb's city, with Bronze Age walls and Late Bronze occupation · found 1964
• Kiriath-jearim (Deir el-Azar)
  The hill where the Ark rested for twenty years · found 2017
• Tel Beth-Shemesh
  A border town in Samson's valley that avoided pork · found 1911
• Timnah (Tel Batash)
  The Philistine town where Samson sought a wife · found 1977
• Mizpah (Tell en-Nasbeh)
  Benjamin's gathering place with a great Iron Age wall · found 1926
• Tel Burna (Libnah?)
  A Shephelah fortress proposed as Libnah of Joshua 10 · found 2009
• Tel Sera' (Tell esh-Shari'a): Ziklag Candidate
  An Egyptian governor's residence and hieratic tax receipts in the town many identify as David's Ziklag · found 1972
• Tell el-Far'ah (South): Egyptian Residency and Anthropoid Coffins
  Petrie's 'Beth-pelet', with Egyptian-style clay coffins and a governor's house on the Philistine frontier · found 1928
• Tell Beit Mirsim: Albright's 'Debir'
  The dig that built the pottery chronology of Palestine, in a Judahite hill town once thought to be Kiriath-sepher · found 1926
• Heshbon (Tell Hesban)
  Sihon's capital in Numbers, where a decade of digging found no Late Bronze city · found 1968
• Shiloh Monumental Iron I Building
  East-west structure on the northern platform proposed as the tabernacle's resting place · found 2019
• רִמּוֹן
  Shiloh Ceramic Pomegranate
  A clay pomegranate from the sacred area of Iron Age Shiloh · found 2018
• קֶרֶן
  Shiloh Altar Horns
  Three horned corner stones of a four-horned altar, found in secondary use · found 2019
• Shiloh Storage Rooms and Collar-Rim Jars
  Pillared storehouses and pithoi along the northern wall — the sanctuary's pantry · found 1981
• Shiloh Animal Bone Deposits
  Tens of thousands of bones from sheep, goats and cattle — with a bias toward the right side · found 2018
• Shiloh's Burnt Layer and Sacred-Precinct Wall
  The fiery end of Iron I Shiloh around 1050 BCE — the aftermath of Eben-ezer? · found 1929
• Hazor Shrine of the Stelae
  A small Canaanite chapel with a row of standing stones and hands lifted to the moon · found 1955
• Hazor Orthostat Temple (Area H)
  A three-room Canaanite temple whose plan foreshadows Solomon's · found 1957
• Tel Burna Canaanite Cult Enclosure
  Masks, goblets and giant Cypriot jars from a 13th-century shrine courtyard · found 2014
• Beth Shemesh Iron I Temple and Stone Table
  A 12th-century shrine with a massive flat stone — the 'large stone' where the ark rested? · found 2012

← All 533 discoveries by era

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