The wrecking of Ziklag , the long - lose township famed as a safety for King David in the Hebrew Bible , is suppose to have last been discovered by a squad of archeologist in Israel .
The town has been the subject ofhot debatein late decades , with numerous archaeologist embark on digging to find its prized position . This fourth dimension around , however , the team are more certain than ever that these ruination are the real deal .
Among the heaps of pieces of pottery , oil jarful , and wine pitchers , many of the artifacts show characteristics of the Philistine culture , the group of the great unwashed who were also said to live here in the Hebrew Bible . Radiocarbon dating also neatly lines up with the time when the township of Ziklag was recall to have stood .
However , not everyone is convinced . Some autonomous expert not involved in the project are hesitant to jump to the conclusion that this site really is the notable town of Ziklag . Professor Aren Maier , a US - conduct Israeli archeologist from Bar - Ilan University , toldHaaretz : “ It ’s very hard to accept . ”
" quotation to this site in the scriptural texts are systematically much more in the south , relating to the Negev , the tribe of Shimon , or the southern border of Judah , " Maier added . “ Just because you have anti-intellectual finds and then tenth century BCE destruction , that does not make it Ziklag . "
Ziklagis most famous as the town where King David sought recourse after falling out of favor with King Saul , bring together ancient Israel ’s bitter foe , the Philistines . This was not David ’s only run in with the Philistines . One of the most retold tarradiddle from the Bible in pop culture is the fib of King David slaying the anti-intellectual giant Goliath . Many modern scholars think that King David was a real historical physical body , not merely a myth or caption , although there iscontinuing debateabout the extent of his meaning . Despite his manifest protrusion in the biblical narration , not to bring up his extensive presence in art and literature throughout the centuries , the archeological evidence of his life is minimum .
coincidently , last week also saw a groundbreaking research paper that identified the parentage of the Philistines . An analysis of ancient DNAextracted from skeletons discovered in Israel suggests the Philistines , perhaps surprisingly , fall from somewhere in southerly Europe .
