This map shows the plan of the Siloam Tunnel (also known as Hezekiah's Tunnel), which was carved around 701 BCE to reroute the water of the Gihon Spring so that it was accessible to the people living inside Jerusalem's city walls and inaccessible to the besieging Assyrian army. The source is the Gihon Spring, #2 on the plan, and the Siloam Pool is #16. Warren's Shaft, the place from which people had previously accessed the water, is #6. Note the sharp curves in the middle of the tunnel. This is where, according to the Siloam Tunnel Inscription, workers starting at each end and cutting toward each other, heard the sound of the other team's voices calling out as they got close to each other, and thus cut toward the sound until an opening was created.
This inscription, which was found carved into the wall at the end of the Siloam Tunnel (also known as [King] Hezekiah's Tunnel), tells the story of the carving of the tunnel. It reads, '…the tunneling. And this was how the tunneling was completed: As [the stone cutters were swinging their] picks, each man toward his fellow, when there were 3 cubits remaining the voice of a man calling out to his fellow [could be heard], because it got louder (or 'because there was a crevice') on the right. And on the day that the tunnel was completed, each stone cutter cut toward his fellow, pick against pick, and the water flowed from the source to the pool, 1,200 cubits. The height of the rock above the stone cutters' heads was 100 cubits.' The script is consistent with other known inscriptions from the late 8th century BCE. Compare 2 Chronicles 32:1-3, 30 and 2 Kings 20:20.
This photograph shows the modern entrance steps that lead down to the Gihon spring, which was the water source for the city of Jerusalem in antiquity. When Sennacherib, King of Assyria, came to besiege Jerusalem in 701 BCE, the Judahite king Hezekiah had a tunnel built that would reroute the water so that it was within the city walls and therefore inaccessible to the besieging troops. The steps and the arch seen in the photograph were probably built in the medieval period.
This map shows the ancient Near East and the expansion of the Assyrian kingdom. The core of the Assyrian kingdom was in Assyria (in the upper right portion of the red area), and the red area depicts the kingdom's expansion under Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE). The orange areas, which include the land of Israel/Palestine, were conquered by Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BCE), the green areas (which include the Nile Delta) were conquered by Esarhaddon (681-699 BCE), and the blue area (the rest of Egypt) was conquered by Asshurbanipal (685-627 BCE).
This photograph shows the inside of the Siloam Tunnel. The water level is higher in the winter than in the summer, this photograph probably having been taken in the winter. The carved ceiling corners and pick marks are clearly visible. The tunnel does not get much lower than this; in other places it reaches 20 feet or more in height. The overall length of the tunnel is approximately 1/3 of a mile.
This bronze bull was found on a hilltop southwest of Mt. Gilboa, all the way at the northern end of the central hill. When the site was excavated, excavators found an elliptical wall, 70 feet in diameter, inside of which was a large, roughly hewn stone that was 4 feet long, 3 feet high, and 1.75 feet thick. Next to the large stone were some paving stones. Nearby was a piece of folded bronze that had a handle attached and a square fragment of pottery that might have been part of a square-based incense burner like those found at Beit Shean, Megiddo, and Taanach. The excavator interpreted the wall as a temenos (i.e., a sacred enclosure), the bronze fragment as a mirror, and the large stone as an altar. The placement of the site and the combination of the above evidence also led him to conclude that the bull figure had been used at this site and that it was an early Israelite open-air high place, or bamah. Early Israelite bull worship is known from the Bible (Exodus 32), as well as in the northern Kingdom of Israel in the Iron Age II (1 Kings 12:28-33; 2 Kings 10:29). Other scholars have challenged these conclusions, saying that the evidence is too slim to conclude that it was a shrine, let alone that it was an Israelite shrine.
Central Hill and Jordan Valley: Relief Map
This relief map shows the Coastal Plain, Central Hill, and Jordan Valley in the central part of the country. Jerusalem is just off the map to the south, and Megiddo, on the edge of Galilee, is at the northern edge. In the period before the Israelite Monarchies, the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites lived on the other side of the Jordan Valley (past Succoth and Pehel), and the Philistines inhabited the coastal plain (labeled here as the 'Sharon Plain').
Nimrud/Kalhu: Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III - detail 4 of 4
This detail photograph of the Black Obelisk of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (858-824 BCE) shows an inscription (at the top, in cuneiform script) that reads, in part, 'The tribute of Jehu (Iaua), son of Omri (Humri); I received from him silver, gold, a golden saplu bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king, and wooden [meaning unknown].' The people below the inscription are servants bringing these precious objects to the king. Though we cannot know if their attire was representative of Israelite dress, it is noteworthy that they, like Jehu, are dressed differently than other people on the obelisk and that their dress was meant to mark them as being Levantines. (Compare them with depictions of Shalmaneser and his court.)
Nimrud/Kalhu: Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III - detail 3 of 4
Nimrud/Kalhu: Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III - detail 2 of 4
This detail photograph of the Black Obelisk of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (858-824 BCE) shows an inscription (at the top, in cuneiform script), part of which reads: "The tribute of Jehu (Iaua), son of Omri (Humri); I received from him silver, gold, a golden saplu bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king, and wooden [meaning unknown]." The people below the inscription are servants bringing these precious objects to the king. Though we cannot know if their attire was representative of Israelite dress, it is noteworthy that they, like Jehu, are dressed differently than other people on the obelisk and that their dress was meant to mark them as being Levantines. (Compare them with depictions of Shalmaneser and his court.)
This wonderfully preserved papyrus, probably created around 1,200 BCE, is one of the longest papyri that has been preserved from ancient Egypt (it is almost 138 feet long). It is divided into three parts; this section is in the part describing the reign of Ramses III (1184-1153 BCE) and the internal civil conflict that was present in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th Dynasty (which lasted from 1186-1069 BCE). In part it describes his battles against the Peoples of the Sea. The text is written in hieratic, which is a cursive script that evolved from hieroglyphics (and was easier and quicker to write than the cumbersome symbols of hieroglyphics).
Nimrud/Kalhu: Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III - overview
The Black Obelisk of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (858-824 BCE) was carved on all four sides and five registers of reliefs illustrate the obeisance of four rulers from Shalmaneser's western campaigns. It is important for the history of Israel/Palestine because it is one of the few archaeological finds that bears directly on the Biblical narrative, as one of the conquered rulers is Jehu, son of Omri.
This bronze figurine of Osiris (one of the two traditional Egyptian gods, the other being Isis) was found at Ashkelon and dates to the 4th century BCE. Both Isis and Osiris had become very popular throughout the Mediterranean, and although this figurine depicts Osiris in the traditional Egyptian attire and stance, it was found in the bronzesmith's shop and so is known to have been cast at Ashkelon.
Nimrud/Kalhu: Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III - detail 1 of 4
This detail photograph of the Black Obelisk of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858-824 BCE) shows King Jehu, son of King Omri, kissing the ground at Shalmaneser's feet. The divine symbols of the god Shamash (the winged disk) and the goddess Ishtar (the star) hover above the scene. It is worth noting that although Shalmaneser was suggesting with this obelisk that his victory against Jehu and the other western rulers was complete, he retreated from the area after exacting tribute and did not return to the west during the remainder of his reign.
This relief map shows the southern coastal plain from Jerusalem (in the east) to the coast (in the west), and from Joppa (the area of modern Tel Aviv - in the north) down to Gaza (in the south). In the period preceding the Israelite monarchies, this coastal plain was the territory of the Philistines. 'Philistia' - the name of the land of the Philistines - is the root of the word 'Palestine.' Note the distinctive topographical features of the region: the Central Hill, running from north to south, and the Shephelah (an intermediary hilly region) and the seashore plains to its west.
Six of the eleven altars that were found during the excavation of Tel Miqne (biblical Ekron) stand in front of the excavation's directors, Trude Dothan and Sy Gitin. They concluded that Ekron had a primarily Philistine population in the 7th century BCE, with some admixture of Israelites. Each altar except the round one at the very bottom of the photo has corner horns, and all but that one were found in an industrial building (the one without horns was found in the city's domestic quarter). Many scholars have suggested that this round, unhorned 'altar' from the domestic quarter might instead have been used for non-religious functions, such as mixing cosmetics or burning incense in homes simply to add a pleasant scent. Such discussions raise important questions about how we identify objects from archaeological excavations, especially religious ones.
This miniature clay chair with breasts and head stands 7 inches high and dates to the 12th century BCE. So many fragments of other chair figures such as this were uncovered at Ashdod that they came to be called 'Ashdod' figures. They were subsequently found at other sites identified as Phoenician. The concept of the throne-seat and the stylized shape of the head is similar to late Mycenaean representations of a seated female deity found on the Greek mainland, Rhodes, and Cyprus.
This faience mask, discovered at the Temple of Hathor near the copper mines of Timna in the eastern Sinai Desert, was made to be a representation of the goddess. The eyes are characteristically Egyptian, and clearly were colored. It was one of more than 11,000 small objects discovered to have been left at the shrine as a votive offering to the goddess.
This artist's rendition of a cult structure at Horvat Qitmit in the eastern Negev Desert has been identified as being Edomite, and as dating to the 7th-6th centuries BCE, on the basis of its pottery. In addition to the pottery, many fragments of clay figures and life-sized statues were also found. The building to the upper right has three rectangular rooms that open to the south. The floors were found to be under a foot of ashes. In front of the building were two major open-air installations: a 3-foot by 4-foot platform standing within a walled court (upper left) and a circular stone enclosure within which was found a stone altar, a 3-foot-wide plaster-lined basin and a 3-foot-deep stone-lined pit. Nothing is known of how these features were used, but the presence of figures and figurines, as well as the ashes in the rectangular rooms, have led scholars to suggest that these structures served religious purposes. Note the open-air characteristics of this structure, which may point to the nomadic nature of its builders/users.
This photo shows a small one-room temple enclosure near the copper mines of Timna in the eastern Sinai Desert. It was originally built to the Egyptian goddess Hathor in the 14th or 13th century BCE. Later in the 13th or early 12th century BCE the Egyptian shrine was refurbished by Midianites. The Egyptian hieroglyphs were removed and the Hathor pillared-images were moved (one was planted in the ground upside-down). It seems that in this period the object of worship was a copper serpent with a gilded head.
Amman: Model of a Shrine and 'Pillar Astarte' Figurines
This shrine model and pillar figurines were not actually found together, but have been photographed together because they are cult objects from the end of the Israelite period (8th-7th centuries BCE). The shrine model was made from an inverted water jug, one side of which was sliced off, after which the two pillars with double volutes were applied. The dove with spread wings (above the doorway) and the three figurines were closely associated with the cult of Astarte.
The pottery shown here is typical of Israelite pottery from the Iron II period (10th-7th centuries BCE). The folded shapes in the foreground are folded lamps. Oil would be placed in the bowl-like part and a wick would be placed in the narrow portion (note that soot is still visible there).
Tel Megiddo: Late Bronze Age cuneiform tablet
This inscription is written in the Akkadian language that used a cuneiform (literally, 'wedge-shaped') script for letters. The earliest examples of writing from Israel/Palestine are in this script and language. This particular fragment is from Megiddo and dates to the 15th-14th centuries BCE. It records a portion of the ancient Mesopotamian legend called the Epic of Gilgamesh, which has many interesting parallels to the Hebrew Bible's story of Noah and the flood.
This incense stand from 10th BCE Philistine Ashdod shows 5 musicians playing double flutes, cymbals, and a lyre. Incense was placed on top and hot coals were placed inside. The incense would burn and release a pleasant smell.
The excavations at Tel Dor, on the coast of Israel between Tel Aviv and Haifa, are barely visibly on the rocky promontory in the low center of this photograph. Dor was one of the Phoenician harbors in antiquity, first settled in the 15th century BCE and inhabited well into the Roman period. It was especially prominent as a port city of maritime trade in the Persian and Hellenistic periods.
This stone-lined pit is 21 feet deep and 34 feet across and was a municipal grain storage silo between ca. 780-650 BCE. There were two winding staircases that went down into it (one of which is visible on the right side of the photograph). Though no trace of a roof was found, it must have been roofed in antiquity.
This close-up of the name 'Israel,' written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, comes from an inscription written on granite during the reign of the Egyptian king Merneptah (1213-1203 BCE). This is the earliest preserved inscriptional evidence of Israel and it is mentioned together with three other defeated states in Canaan (Gezer, Yanoam, and Ashkelon). The hieroglyphic symbols used designate a foreign people group, as opposed to a city (as the words for Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yano'am are marked), suggesting that in the late 12th century Israel had achieved a specific identity as a people but had not yet developed into a fixed political entity or state.
This slide shows the second monumental gateway (called by the Greek word for gateway, 'pylon') of the great mortuary temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu in Thebes. To the left is a relief showing Ramses leading enemy captives, including a row of Philistines, before Amun, the god of Thebes. On the right is a long hieroglyphic inscription in which Ramses describes the advance toward Egypt of an alliance of Sea Peoples who were defeated by Ramses (according to him).
These pottery stands are shown in situ (as they were left in the 10th century BCE), in a shrine next to the main sanctuary. The stands held bowls, which were found with them. They were used in the temple complex for ritual offering of food to the Philistine gods. The two tall vessels were incense altars, which spread the smell of incense (which was put on the top plate) after coals were put in the hollow inside portion.
This distinctive type of painted pottery has been found at sites along the southern coast of Palestine from the 12th and 11th centuries BCE, which has led scholars to conclude that this is 'Philistine pottery,' as the Philistines were known to have lived in the area in this period. The decoration seems to be clearly derived from late Mycenaean painted pottery (i.e., painted pottery from Mycenae), which was produced in Greece in this period, and the shapes of the vessels seem to be a mixture of Mycenaean and Canaanite shapes. These similarities have led many scholars to conclude that the Philistines either originated in the Aegean or appropriated Mycenaean forms and styles through interaction with them.
The remains of this well-preserved house temple at Tel Qasile, near the exit of the Yarkon river to the Mediterranean in central Israel, dates to the 12th-10th century BCE. Excavators recovered a number of cult objects such as incense stands and libation bowls in situ (i.e., still in place). A worshipper would have entered the temple from the east (off the top of the photo) and would first come into the open courtyard (where the altar was located). He would have then entered the temple at its northeast corner, coming into an entrance room lined with narrow benches which probably held votive statuettes or vessels. He then would have entered into the main hall through the doorway facing west. Against the west wall he would have seen the cult statue on its raised platform. Perhaps only the priests would have had access to the small treasury room behind the platform.
This aerial photograph shows the site of ancient Megiddo, the most important city of Lower Galilee in antiquity. It sits at a major crossroads at the western end of the Jezreel Valley. Megiddo was inhabited from the Pre-pottery Neolithic period until the Persian period.
Tel Megiddo: Canaanite outdoor altar (1)
This aerial photograph shows a huge outdoor altar, up to 5 feet high, that was built in the Early Bronze Age (2850-2650 BCE). The altar was accessed via the steps on the left side of the photo, and excavators found pottery and bones surrounding the altar, confirming its use in the local Canaanite cult. The walls surrounding the altar of a later date, when it was part of a huge temple. The structure continued to be used until around 2,000 BCE.
Tel Megiddo: Canaanite outdoor altar (2)
The round stone mound in this photo—a Canaanite outdoor altar—is also referred to as a 'high place'. It was built around 2,700 BCE and used up to around 1,800 BCE. A 'high place' ('bamah' in the Hebrew Bible) was a place used for worship, in part because the smell of sacrifices performed on them were more likely to catch the attention of the deity who lived in the heavens.
This photograph shows an intact shrine from inside the Holy of Holies of a small broadhouse temple (i.e., the entrance is on the broad side of the building). It dates to the 13th century BCE. The stones were all cut from basalt, a local rock. Eight standing stones, or stelae, flank the central standing stone that depicts two suppliant hands engraved with a lunar crescent and circle between and above them. To the right stands a massive stone (an orthostat), originally from the temple's porch, with a lion carved on it. To the left is a statuette of a man or god sitting on his throne, holding a cup. The excavator, Yigael Yadin, concluded that this shrine was destroyed by Joshua in the 13th century BCE.
This large rectangular building with its double row of pillars was a royal storehouse from the 9th century BCE. Other storehouses like it have been discovered at Megiddo and at Tel Be'er Sheva.
Writing was invented in southern Mesopotamia, in the ancient kingdom of Sumer, sometime before 3,000 BCE. Cuneiform, the type of writing seen in column 6 of this slide, was a development from earlier 'logographic' writing, in which signs stood for words (e.g., the sign for fish is a drawing of a fish, which was called 'kha' in the Sumerian language). Later cuneiform symbols (those in columns 5 and 6) were both logographic and syllabic - that is, they could be used to mean the thing that they represent or the sound of that word. So, for instance, the cuneiform symbol for 'fish' could mean either 'fish' or be combined with the 'la' sign to form the word 'kha.la,' which means 'share' or 'part.'
Hazor, an ancient city and tel that sits at the southern end of the Huleh Valley in eastern upper Galilee, was one of the largest and most important cities in the region from ca 1,900 BCE until 732 BCE when it was destroyed by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III. Intensive archaeological excavation on the tel and at its base revealed a great deal about the early history of the region.
The Sumerian King List is the name given to a traditional canon of the early kings of Mesopotamia, thought by some scholars to have been composed in the time of Utu-hegal, a king of the city of Uruk who restored Sumerian independence after the invasion of the Gutians near the end of the third millennium BCE. As with the pre-flood patriarchs in Genesis 5, the kings listed in the pre-flood section of this text lived for extraordinarily long reigns (the longest being 64,800 years).
This figurine, modeled in unbaked clay, has the form of a kneeling prisoner with his arms tied behind him at the elbows. The writing is hieratic, a script much like Egyptian hieroglyphics; the inscription contains the names of enemies. After it was inscribed it was deliberately smashed in order to curse the enemies listed in the text (probably people who posed a threat to some important Egyptian or to Egypt in general).
This photograph shows an underground tunnel that was part of Megiddo's water system, which was built in the 9th century BCE. Water was a precious defensive commodity - if a city had any hope of surviving a siege, they had to make sure that their inhabitants had water to drink and that their enemies did not. In order to reach the spring that fed the city from within the city walls, ancient engineers cut a 75-foot shaft equipped with a spiral staircase and then a 210-foot long horizontal underground tunnel.
The area with pillars in this photo shows the ancient ruins of a storehouse that dates to the 9th century BCE. The large rooms in the foreground date to the time of Jeroboam II (793-753 BCE). In the background is the snow-covered peak of Mt. Hermon.
The Merneptah Stele, pictured here, is an inscription written in hieroglyphs on granite during the reign of the Egyptian king Merneptah (1213-1203 BCE). It contains the earliest preserved inscriptional evidence of the name Israel (and perhaps therefore the Israelites). In the inscription 'Israel' it is mentioned together with three other defeated states in Canaan (Gezer, Yanoam, and Ashkelon). The hieroglyphic symbols used designate a foreign people group, as opposed to a city (as the words for Ashkelon, Gezer, and Yano'am are marked), suggesting that in the late 12th century Israel had achieved a specific identity as a people but had not yet developed into a fixed political entity or state.
This 6 inch-high clay figurine dates to the Late Neolithic Age (6,000-5,000 BCE), which is the same time that the earliest baked clay vessels were being made. It is the only complete one of its kind from this period, although fragments have been found elsewhere. Its interpretation is contested - for instance, some scholars think that the figurine is nude; others that the deep lines around the shoulders indicate some kind of garment. Its significance and use are also debated - was it used for religious purposes (and if so, how?), or was it nothing more than a child's toy? Figurines, often depicting naked females, are well known from later periods and have often been understood to be associated with fertility rites, whether for human or agricultural fertility.
The earliest writing was not on paper, but on clay tablets. Instead of a pen, scribes used an instrument called a stylus that was triangular in cross-section. They would press the tip of the stylus into the clay to make the triangular portions of the symbol and drag the edge of the stylus across the clay to make the lines. The size and shape of clay tablets varied with the type of text being recorded and with changing scribal preferences. When a scribe finished with one side of the tablet he would turn the bottom edge up and write on the back. After he was done writing, the tablet would usually be set in the sun to dry (though tablets were sometimes fired in a kiln).
This photograph shows the earliest fortification structure thus far discovered anywhere in the world. It is a circular tower that was probably built around 7,000 BCE and was connected to a massive stone wall. The position of the tower would have given those on top of it a commanding view of the broad Jordan River Valley. The top of the tower was accessed by 22 steps that lead from the doorway, visible at the bottom, to the place on top of the tower that is covered by the modern grate (also visible).
The earliest writing preserved from Israel/Palestine are in the form of cuneiform on clay tablets like this one. The cuneiform script and the languages that were written in it (like Akkadian) were developed in Mesopotamia. This tablet fragment preserves part of the text of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian story that includes an account of the origin of the world, a worldwide flood, and a figure much like Noah from the biblical book of Genesis.
This photo shows the fully preserved arched gateway at Tel Dan, which was made of mud bricks and is the first such structure found intact in Israel. In the Early Bronze Age, sun-dried mud bricks began to replace the stones that had been used for city walls and towers, perhaps because they could be erected more quickly and raised higher than boulder walls.
Female Figurines from the Late Bronze Age
These three figurines are characteristic of Late Bronze Age molded plaque figurines. All tend to be nude and standing in frontal position. They probably represented the Canaanite goddess Ashtaroth in her role as goddess of love and procreation. Figurines such as these were made in molds and are often found in domestic quarters.
The story of Sinuhe has been preserved on numerous papyri and ostraca. This manuscript is written in an Egyptian script called hieratic, which is closely related to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and dates to the Egyptian 12th Dynasty (ca. 1991-1785 BCE). It tells the story of an Egyptian official who lived in voluntary exile in southern Syria/northern Canaan. The details of the story are valuable for the light that they shed on life in southern Syria during the early Middle Bronze I (2000-1800 BCE). The descriptions mention tents and encampments but not towns and cities, suggesting that nomadism persisted.