{"id":8094,"date":"2016-07-10T22:00:33","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T02:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/?p=8094"},"modified":"2016-07-10T22:01:30","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T02:01:30","slug":"breaking-archaeology-news-first-philistine-cemetery-ever-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/2016\/07\/10\/breaking-archaeology-news-first-philistine-cemetery-ever-discovered\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking Archaeology News! – First Philistine Cemetery Ever Discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As reported by The Times of Israel<\/a>,<\/p>\n

Archaeologists digging at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon announced Sunday the discovery of the first cemetery belonging to the ancient Israelites\u2019 dreaded and shadowy nemeses, the Philistines.<\/p>\n

\"Archaeological<\/a>
A student excavates a 10th-9th century BC burial in the excavation of the Philistine cemetery by the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon. (Melissa Aja \/Leon Levy Expedition)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The discovery of a sizable cemetery, with over 210 individuals, at a site conclusively linked to the Philistines, was a \u201ccritical missing link\u201d that allows scholars \u201cto fill out the story of the Philistines,\u201d said Master, a professor of archaeology at Wheaton College.<\/p>\n

The cemetery, discovered just outside the ancient city walls and dated to between the 11th and 8th centuries BCE \u2014 a period associated with the rise of the Israelites \u2014 may contain thousands of individuals, providing an abundance of material to study, he said.<\/p>\n

With that broad a population, \u201cwe\u2019re going to be able to reconstruct what the Philistines as a group were like,\u201d Master said.<\/p>\n

Throughout much of its 22 layers of settlement, Ashkelon was a \u201cgreat seaport,\u201d situated on the Mediterranean and on the main coastal trade route,\u201d Harvard University\u2019s Larry Stager, co-director of the dig, said. It was significantly larger than cities inland during the Bronze and Iron Age, with 10-12,000 people, because it could sustain greater population through commerce.<\/p>\n

Ashkelon was one of the five main Philistine cities for six centuries \u2014 , along with Gaza, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron \u2014 from the 1100s BCE down to Ashkelon\u2019s destruction by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s army in 604 BCE.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve uncovered their houses, we\u2019ve uncovered their trading networks, we\u2019ve uncovered all aspects of their culture,\u201d Master said. With the discovery of the cemetery, \u201cwe\u2019re finally going to see the people themselves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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