Archaeology bombshell: Discovery of 145 human remains that 'solves biggest Bible mystery'

The researchers found a Philistine cemetery in Israel – home to 145 human remains dating back to between the 11th and the 8th centuries BC. The discovery, made in 2013 and finally revealed in 2016, may yield answers to an enduring mystery surrounding the origins of the Philistines. It came at the end of a 30-year excavation by the Leon Levy Expedition. The Philistines were an ancient people who lived from the 12th century BC until 604 BC. They are known for their biblical conflict with the Israelites.

Did one of the stiffs have a note in his back pocket that says, “From this day forward we will be known as ‘Palestinians” and we own the title to all the land.”

Was thinking that too: The Palestinian extremists will use this to “prove” Israel was always an illegal occupying enemy.

Samson's father was from the tribe of Dan (which later migrated to the extreme northern part of the Promised Land) so I don't know if Samson can be considered "a nice Jewish boy." Aren't Jews primarily descended from the tribe of Judah?

Besides, if you read the stories about Samson, the term "nice" isn't the first word that comes to mind.

The Cretan poet Epimenides said that "the Cretans are always liars." So if the Philistines said they were from Crete, should we believe them?

Of course if Epimenides was a Cretan, he must have been lying when he said that Cretans are always liars.

What about the Cherethites and Pelethites (David's mercenaries: see II Samuel 8.18)? Where were they from? "Cherethites" suggests a connection to Crete.

Ignoring the logic games bit, I haven’t a clue what the truth is.

There were some similarities in culture and sea faring ways, and it is an old argument. Also early adoption of iron weapons. The DNA will tell the tale I suspect.

For all I know, they were Proto Vikings.

Geneticists have scanned the genomes of 173 Armenians from Armenia and Lebanon and compared them with those of 78 other populations from around the world. They found that the Armenians are a mix of ancient populations whose descendants now live in Sardinia, Central Asia and several other regions... Armenians share 29 percent of their DNA ancestry with Otzi, a man whose 5,300-year-old mummy emerged in 1991 from a melting Alpine glacier. Other genetically isolated populations of the Near East, like Cypriots, Sephardic Jews and Lebanese Christians, also share a lot of ancestry with the Iceman, whereas other Near Easterners, like Turks, Syrians and Palestinians [sic], share less.
Armeniapedia

The name Goliath, like Achish, is not Semitic, but rather Anatolian (McCarter 1980, 291, Mitchell 1967, 415; Wainwright 1959, 79). Not all agree though; the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (2:524) proposes that Goliath may have been a remnant of one of the aboriginal groups of giants of Palestine who now were in the employ of the Philistines. [1. Naveh (1985, 9, 13 n. 14) states that Ikausu, the name of the king of Ekron in the seventh century b.c., is a non-Semitic name that can be associated with that of the Achish of Gath in David's time. The name in the seventh century has a shin ending that is non-West Semitic.]
Giving Goliath His Due, Marco Polo Monographs, No. 7. | 'Philistines' | by Neal Bierling | foreword by Joe E. Seger

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