Excavations Strengthen Dating To Kings David & Solomon

Israel National News ^ | April 16, 2003

[yonif]

A new, laboratory-based affirmation of the existence of a united Israelite monarchy headed by kings David and Solomon in the 10th century BCE has been revealed as the result of excavations carried out by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archeology. So reports the Jewish Agenda.

The findings have particular significance in view of the debate existing among archaeologists as to the authenticity of the Biblical account of the two kings and the period and extent of their reign.

The late famed Hebrew University archaeologist Prof.Yigal Yadin argued more than 40 years ago that a series of monumental structures – and particularly the city gates of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer as well as certain palaces at Megiddo – were founded by Solomon, corroborating the text in I Kings 9:15. However, during the last decade various scholars criticized this view and claimed that the United Monarchy of David and Solomon should be dismissed as a real historical period of any value in the history of Israel. Indeed, it has even been argued by these Bible critics that the findings described by Yadin were only from the 9th century BCE, the period of the Israelite kings Omri and Ahab.

Writing in the April 11 issue of Science magazine, Prof. Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University, Dr. Hendrik Bruins of Ben-Gurion University, and Prof. Hans Van der Plicht of Groningen University, Holland, tell of their findings from excavations at Tel Rehov, located some 5 kilometers south of the town of Beit She’an in the Beit She’an Valley. The scholars argue that these findings conclusively prove that they found at Tel Rehov signs of an urban society from the 10th century BCE that can be compared with finds from other sites in Israel, such as Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer, which were attributed in the past to the United Monarchy of David and Solomon.

The excavations at Tel Rehov have been carried out since 1997 under the direction of Prof. Mazar, the Eleazar L. Sukenik Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, with the financial support of John Camp of Minneapolis, Minn. The excavations revealed several strata dating from the time of the Judges (12-11th centuries BCE) until the Assyrian conquest of Israel in the 8th century BCE.

In the article in Science, Mazar, Bruins, and Van der Plicht write of radiometric carbon 14 tests that were carried out at Groningen University on charred grain and olive pits found in various strata at Tel Rehov. The dates achieved in this research were particularly precise, with minimal range. The authors further state that this is one of the best sets of radiometric dates based on stratigraphic sequence from any site related to the Biblical period.

The results show that two strata at Tel Rehov are safely dated to the 10th century BCE. One stratum was destroyed in heavy fire. The date of this destruction fits very well with the reign of Shishak, the Egyptian Pharaoh who invaded the Land of Israel around 925 BCE and whose invasion is mentioned both in the Bible (I Kings 14:25) and in his monumental inscription at the temple of Amun at Karnak, Egypt, where Rehov is mentioned among many other places conquered at that time.

Since the Shishak conquest occurred a few years after the death of Solomon, the identification of a city destroyed by him at Tel Rehov provides an anchor for dating other sites with similar material culture. This similar culture was found at Hazor and Megiddo in occupation levels which were identified as “Solomonic” in the past.

Thus, these results provide a new foundation for the traditional view concerning the attribution of occupation strata and buildings at Tel Rehov (and conjunctively other locales in the region) to the time of the United Monarchy of Solomon and David, and negates the view that all these finds should be dated to the 9th century.

[ThomasMore]

Please with the BCE crap!

For centuries it's been BC: Before Christ!

Before common era? Common to what? To Christ's birth!

This BCE / CE has been an attempt by the atheistic left to rid the calander of Jesus Christ.

[ckilmer]

I really like this stuff.

As far as I can tell the David/Solomon reign in Israel forms a kind of boundary line in the record. Going forward in the first millinium BC archaelogy has done a good job of verifying the basic biblical story.

But before the David/Solomon reign things get spotty. It looks like the pace of excavation is picking up. Also the quality of the archealogical tools is improving. I have heard there are a lot of libraries that have not been translated from kingdoms contemporary to Israel of the 2 millenium BC. But I don't know if more translators are coming into the field.

[ZULU]

Time and again, modern "scholars" have denigrated accounts passed on by ancient people as "myth", "fable",
"propganda", etc, only to be later refuted by careful research.

The criticism of prior scholars based on a lack of adequate data, rank with tales of space aliens building pyramids.

[yonif]

Actually, I believe the BCE determination was meant to be acceptable to believers of all faiths, not just Christians.

Yes.

[Destro]

Archeologists have found no evidence of the existance of a King named Solomon or David.

Just like the excavations at Troy have not uncovered anyone named Paris or Helen.

[ZULU]

"Archeologists have found no evidence of the existance of a King named Solomon or David."

They have found inscriptions referencing the House of David.

[Destro]

None from the period of King David. More like after the fact. The Greek kings up until the ROman Empire for example claimed to be from the house of Heracles with inscriptions aplenty.

[ZULU]

"None from the period of King David."

Sorry I can't recall the soource. It may have been the History channel. You are correct, there the reference to House of David was after the time of David, but it was a reference to a defeated King of Israel by one of his vanquishers.

I don't believe that Ancient People simply fabricated stories aboout people. I believe there was a basis in fact for characters they admired or claimed descent from.

Perhaps David was not such an important historical figure,
but I believe he existed. The same with Solomon.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 3,000 years is a long time, especially in an area continually torn by the kind of warfare that was witnessed in the Middle East.

[Destro]

I agree with you--I think there was a historical David and Solomon and a historical Achilles, etc.

My statement was not meant to point doubt on such a possibility.

[JoeSchem]

Actually, I believe the BCE determination was meant to be acceptable to believers of all faiths, not just Christians

Do believers of all faiths accept the months named after Roman Gods: January (Janus), March (Mars), June (Juno)? Or is it just the Christian faith that they find unacceptable? If so, how interesting!

[Natural Law]

BCE is not an atheist manifiestation; it is a PC manifestation. Remember that 5/6 of the earth's population is non-Christian and the exact year of Christ's birth has never been established or agreed to. Be content that the world universally accepts the Christian era.

[Destro]

Want complex? Orthodox Christians don't even acceptthe Gregorian "update" of the Julian! I think Napoleon won a battle once because the coalition failed to make clear that the date for the arrival of the Russians was needed in by the Gregorian standard. The Russians arrived on time--by their reckoning but too late to help their allies against Napoleon though.

[DensaMensa]

}I believe the BCE determination was meant to be acceptable to believers of all faiths, not just Christians.

I believe BCE was created as another PC "in your face" epithet. Something to do with definitions...

[SunkenCiv]

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