ARCHEAOLOGY AND THE OT

1. ARCHEAOLOGY AND THE OT “THE STUDY OF BEGINNINGS”

2. ITS BEGINNING • Started in the 19th century. • In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt. • His scientists and linguists collected Egyptian art pieces. • In 1821-22, Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered the Ancient Egyptian Language – hieroglyphics.

3. More discoveries were made in Syria. • In 1871, George Smith managed to read a Babylonian tablet. • It contained aFlood story similar to that of Noah, but was older. • This led to a rush to explore biblical lands. • In 1904, the German scholar Friedrich, announced that all the information needed about the Ancient Near East had been found. • But, there were more discoveries, later.

4. SUBJECT MATTER • Physical remains of the human past. • EXAMPLES: • Walls, roads, pieces of pottery, artwork, graves, etc. • Plant seed, animal bones, human skeletons. • Clay tablets, papyri rolls.

5. METHODOLOGY • The archaeologist must know: • Where to dig. • What to look for. • The best excavation method.

6. SITE FOR THE DIG • Large monuments, e.g., pyramids, temples. • Large mounts or hills that stand alone. • Such mounts are called “tells”. • Tell comes from the Arabic world for ruins.

7. Tells are artificial mounts. • Made up of accumulated bricks, mud, or refuse left by successive levels of occupation. • Some OT settlements were built upon earlier settlements. • The tell of Megiddo in Palestine stands 70 feet high.

8. FACTORS TO CONSIDER • A reading of a historical account in the OT. • Clues can be found in modern town names, e.g., the Arabic village of El Jib, was associated with Gibeon and this was confirmed. • Availability of money.

9. 4. Reliable water supply. 5. Good road network. 6. Accommodation. 7. Permission by local leadership. 8. Availability of workers. 9. Safety and security. 10. Food supplies.

10. STRATIGRAPHY • The primary concern of the actual digging. • It means noting and mapping the strata or levels of civilization and settlement on one particular mound. REQUIREMENTS: Training, Patient eyes, Skilful hands, Sharp tools, imagination.

11. MAJOR ASSUMPTION • Successive settlements on one place. • Each settlement is represented by one layer. • Each layer was deposited after the one below it. • The digger reaches earlier levels of occupation or settlements. • Styles or art or walls show different customs and artifacts used by each group.

12. METHODS OF DATING (A) CARBON-14 DATING • Remains of living beings such as bones, plant seed, or cloth, can be measured separately to find their age by checking the radioactive carbon that all living creatures accumulate.

13. Carbon 14 is a radioactive element of carbon. • It is produced in the upper atmosphere by radiation from the sun. • Land plants get their carbon from carbon dioxide in the air. • Some fraction of their carbon is c14. • Animals which eat plants get their carbon from plants. • Once an animal dies, c14 undergoes radioactive decay. • After some thousand years all of it will be gone. • The amount of carbon remaining in the remains can tell us how long ago it was alive.

14. 2. Radioactive carbon begins to decay when the creature dies. 3. It measures an unusually heavy carbon molecule of atomic weight 14. 4. It gives the general age of things. 5. Test is repeated and all the samples averaged. 6. The results are listed within a range on the scale. 7. E.g., a skeleton can be listed at 3 415 plus or minus 245 years. 8. The older the object, the greater the margins. 9. Not quite accurate.

15. THINGS THAT CAN’T BE CARBON-DATED • Aquatic creatures (Method only works with things that got their carbon from the air, not from dissolved carbonate rocks). • Things that are too old (over 50 000 yrs). • Oil paints because their oil is “old” carbon from petroleum. • Fossils because: • Too old; • Don’t contain any of the original carbon; and • Some have been contaminated. 5. Too young things can’t be carbon-dated.

16. POTTERY TYPOLOGY METHOD • Was discovered by Sir William Flinders Petrie in the 1890s in Egypt and at Tell-el-Hesi in Palestine. • Pottery was used by many ancient peoples. • The clay pots were hardened by fire. • The broken pieces of fired clay pots can’t be destroyed. • The method has been perfected over the years.

17. THE PROCESS • Gathering of broken pieces of pots. • Gathering of a multi-disciplinary experts. • Cataloguing. • Sequencing of the pottery. • Matching of the pottery with the pottery clock.

18. Clay Pots

19. MAJOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS INPALESTINE • ARAD • In the bible it was known as the cananite stronghold that prevented Moses from invading from the Sinai (Num 21:1-3). • It was conquered by Joshua (Josh 12:14).

20. 2. GEZER: one of the fortresses of Judah. It came into the possession of king Solomon in the 10th c BCE. 3. HAZOR: Situated in the North of the Sea of Galilee. It is the largest Tell in Palestine (Josh 11:10). It became Solomon’s fortress. 4. JERICHO 5: JERUSALEM: was taken from the Jebusites by king David (2 Sam 5:6-10). 6. LACHISH: it was the second city in the south from Jerusalem.

21. 7. MEGIDDO: one of King Solomon’s chariot cities ( 1 Kings 9:15-19). SAMARIA: this was founded by King Omri in the 1st half of the 9th C BCE by King Omri. It was the capital city of the Nothern Kingdom. It was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. It formed the capital of Israel after the retune from exile in 539 BCE. 8. SHECHEM: was connected to Abraham, Jacob, and it’s the place where Joshua renewed the covenant (Josh 24). 9. OTHER: Ashkelon, Beer-Sheba, Gath, Ashdod, Tell Qasileh, Ai, Tanaach, Tirzah, Beth-shean.

22. Archaeological Sites in Palestine

23. MAJOR FINDINGS IN SYRIA • UGARIT: in 1929 a library of books was found here. The books cover politics, economics, religion, myths, etc. • MARI: it is situated on the Euphrates boarder with Iraq. In 1933, Andre Parrot excavated the palace of King Zimri Lim. 250 rooms were found. 20 000 tables written in Akkadan were discovered. These have been used in determining the origins of the OT prophecy.

24. 3. EBLA/TELL MARDIKH: it was discovered by Italian diggers in 1968, and many tablets were found there. 4. EMAR: a temple to Baal was found. 5. AIN DARA: a temple was discovered and it had many similarities with the Solomonic Temple.

25. EXTRA BIBLICAL TEXTS FOUND • ENUMA ELISH: Babylonian creation Epic. Forces of darkness fighting forces of good. It has many similarities to the Genesis creation story but older than it. • GILGAMESH EPIC: it’s about the Babylonian King, Gilgamesh, and his search for immortality. It parallels the story of Noah.

26. 3. HAMMURABI’S LAW CODE (282 laws, 3 (66-99 missing): was similar to the Ten Commandments 4. ARMANA TABLETS: tablets were found about kings of the small city states in Palestine writing letters to the Pharaoh of Egypt asking for help against the Hapiru were raiders and lawless. Some scholars have related the Hapiru with the Hebrews.

27. 5. MERNEPTAH STELE: Pharaoh Merneptah claimed to have wiped out the Israelites about 1208 BCE. 6. SHESHONG INSCRIPTION: The Pharaoh attacked Judah and Israel in 918 BCE (1 Kings14:25-26). 7. THE BLACK OBELISK: King Shalmaneser III of Assyria left a memorial column on which he pictures King Jehu of Israel (842-815) bowing down to him as a sign of accepting Assyrian Rule (2 Kings 9-10). 8. SENNACHERIB’S PRISM: He failed to capture Jerusalem because of Isaiah's oracle.

28. LIMITATIONS OF ARCHAEOLOGY • It does not have all the answers to our questions. • Some important pieces of evidence are lost. • No full story.

29. 4. Contradictions between finds. 5. Dating material is tricky. 6. No findings on the historicity of Abraham and Jacob. 7. Does not deal with individual, but general patterns. 8. The historicity of the discovered peoples might be the creation of writers.

30. THE VALUE OF ARCHAEOLOGY • Much can be suggested of Ancient times. • It provides strikingly helpful evidence for customs and practices mentioned in the bible. • The information supports the accuracy of OT writers.