Six clay seals found at the archaeological site of Khirbet Summeily in Israel offer evidence that supports the existence of Biblical Kings David and Solomon, says a team of archaeologists led by Dr Jeff Blakely of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Many modern scientists dismiss David and Solomon as mythological figures and believe no kingdom could have existed in the region at the time the Bible recounted their activities.
The official clay seals, or bullae, unearthed by Dr Blakely’s team at Khirbet Summeily – a small Biblical period village (10th-8th century BC) located in the northern part of Israel’s picturesque Negev desert – provide evidence that some type of government activity was conducted there in that period.
“These bullae were used to seal official correspondence in much the same way wax seals were used on official documents in later periods,” said Dr James Hardin of Mississippi State University, a team member and the lead author of the paper published in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology.
The scientists describe Khirbet Summeily as a borderland area between the heartlands of Judah and Philistia. It was originally assumed to be a small Iron Age farmstead.
However, the excavation of the bullae and other recent finds indicate a level of political organization previously thought not to exist at that time.
“Our dates for the bullae are based on multiple types of evidence we combined to determine a general 10th century B.C. date,” Dr Blakely added.
“The style of the bullae, the types of ancient pottery found in the same contexts as the bullae, the types of Egyptian scarabs found, the style of an Egyptian amulet, and the overall stratigraphy or layering of the site each suggested a 10th century date.”
Two of the bullae the scientists excavated have complete seal impressions, two have partial seal impressions, and two others have none. Two bullae were blackened by fire. One bulla has a well-preserved hole where the string used to seal the document passed through the clay. The impressions in the bullae do not contain writing.
Dr Hardin said: “we are very positive that these bullae are associated with the Iron Age IIA, which we date to the 10th century BC, and which lends general support to the historical veracity of David and Solomon as recorded in the Hebrew Biblical texts. These appear to be the only known examples of bullae from the 10th century, making this discovery unique.”
The finds contribute significantly to an ongoing debate in the scientific community about whether governments or states existed in the early Iron Ages.
The artifacts hold far-reaching implications for the growing number of scientists who maintain that such political organization occurred much later than Biblical texts suggest.
“Some text scholars and archaeologists have dismissed the historic reliability of the Biblical text surrounding kings David and Solomon, such as recorded in the Bible in the books of Kings and Second Samuel, which scholars often date to the Iron Age IIA or 10th century BC,” Dr Hardin explained.
“The fact that these bullae came off of sealed written documents shows that this site – located out on the periphery of pretty much everything – is integrated at a level far beyond subsistence.”
“You have either political or administrative activities going on at a level well beyond those typical of a rural farmstead.”
http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/science-biblical-kings-david-solomon-02371.html
These ancient anepigraphic clay seals were found on a dig site in southern Israel; they offer evidence of government activity in the 10th century BC, a time when many scholars said a kingdom could not exist in the region. Scale bar in the upper image – 1 cm. Image credit: N. E. Greene, University of Wisconsin-Madison / B. J. Hartzell.
The official clay seals, or bullae, unearthed by Dr Blakely’s team at Khirbet Summeily – a small Biblical period village (10th-8th century BC) located in the northern part of Israel’s picturesque Negev desert – provide evidence that some type of government activity was conducted there in that period.
“These bullae were used to seal official correspondence in much the same way wax seals were used on official documents in later periods,” said Dr James Hardin of Mississippi State University, a team member and the lead author of the paper published in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology.
The scientists describe Khirbet Summeily as a borderland area between the heartlands of Judah and Philistia. It was originally assumed to be a small Iron Age farmstead.
However, the excavation of the bullae and other recent finds indicate a level of political organization previously thought not to exist at that time.
“Our dates for the bullae are based on multiple types of evidence we combined to determine a general 10th century B.C. date,” Dr Blakely added.
“The style of the bullae, the types of ancient pottery found in the same contexts as the bullae, the types of Egyptian scarabs found, the style of an Egyptian amulet, and the overall stratigraphy or layering of the site each suggested a 10th century date.”
Two of the bullae the scientists excavated have complete seal impressions, two have partial seal impressions, and two others have none. Two bullae were blackened by fire. One bulla has a well-preserved hole where the string used to seal the document passed through the clay. The impressions in the bullae do not contain writing.
Dr Hardin said: “we are very positive that these bullae are associated with the Iron Age IIA, which we date to the 10th century BC, and which lends general support to the historical veracity of David and Solomon as recorded in the Hebrew Biblical texts. These appear to be the only known examples of bullae from the 10th century, making this discovery unique.”
The finds contribute significantly to an ongoing debate in the scientific community about whether governments or states existed in the early Iron Ages.
The artifacts hold far-reaching implications for the growing number of scientists who maintain that such political organization occurred much later than Biblical texts suggest.
“Some text scholars and archaeologists have dismissed the historic reliability of the Biblical text surrounding kings David and Solomon, such as recorded in the Bible in the books of Kings and Second Samuel, which scholars often date to the Iron Age IIA or 10th century BC,” Dr Hardin explained.
“The fact that these bullae came off of sealed written documents shows that this site – located out on the periphery of pretty much everything – is integrated at a level far beyond subsistence.”
“You have either political or administrative activities going on at a level well beyond those typical of a rural farmstead.”
http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/science-biblical-kings-david-solomon-02371.html
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