Archaeologists find the city gate of biblical city Philistine Gath , home to Goliath

The archaeologists made the discoveries at a dig site located in the Judean Foothills between Jerusalem and Ashkelon.
The picture below shows the fortifications and monumental gate of the city.

Both the impressive settlement size and mentions in biblical accounts suggest to scholars that the site is the historic city of Gath, which was ruled by the Philistines, who lived next to the Jewish kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Most scholars think that Gath was besieged and laid to waste by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus, in 830 B.C., Maeir said.

The team was digging trenches to look for the ancient city's fortifications when they found the top surface of a monumental gate and fortifications. Because the remaining walls are so massive, it may take several seasons to fully uncover them, Maeir said. So far, only the top surface of the structures are visible, but based on the size and shape of the stones used to make them, the city walls must have been quite large. The mighty fortifications would have formed a rather imposing boundary that prevented the Kingdom of Judah from expanding westward, he added.
The team also found ironworks and a Philistine temple near the monumental gate, with some pottery and other finds typically associated with Philistine culture. Though the pottery represents a distinctive Philistine style, it also shows elements of Israelite technique, suggesting the cultures did influence each other in ways unrelated to war.
www.livescience.com...

"They also found ironworks..."
There was a period when the Philistines were placing an embargo on this technology for military reasons, not allowing the Israelites to make use of it;
"Now there was no smith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said 'Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears" (1 Samuel ch13 v19).

If that is the top of the gate, as stated in the article, and not the bottom foundation, as one would think on first glance, then that gate is not only massive, it may prove to be in an excellent state of preservation if the whole thing has been underground for so long.

I can't wait to see it, as well as a good computerized model of what it looked like back in the day.

a reply to: antoinemarionette

To hell with just seeing it, I want to help uncover it!

a reply to: randyvs

Me too mate , just give me a trowel and show me where to scrape.

Here's a video of the dig site from a couple of years ago , it shows the excavation and some of the finds discovered to that point.

a reply to: gortex

So much dedication to team work by so many individuals.
That's just to cool.

SnF of course.