The search for david and goliath

The search for more evidence on David and Goliath, if evidence is found it could be proof like never before of this tale

Archaeologists are putting some flesh on the bones of the David and Goliath myth by shifting through layers of earth at the site in the Holy Land. While little physical evidence has ever been found to support the 3,000-year-old biblical story of David and Goliath, a team from Israel and Australia has been excavating 50 kilometres from Jerusalem in the city of Tell es-Safi, where Goliath was supposedly born. According to the bible, Goliath stood around three metres tall and lived in the 10th century BC in the ancient city of Gath, which is now modern day Tell es-Safi. It is one of the most enduring battles in history: the story of a simple shepherd boy who slays a Philistine giant and goes on to become king. But short of finding his bronze armour or a skull with a pebble-sized hole, historians may never prove that Goliath ever existed.

Team leader and biblical archaeologist Aaron Mayer from Israel's Bar-Ilan University says he is excited at what they found so far. "The question is how much was the story embellished," he said. "They haven't found David and they haven't found his armour and they haven't found Goliath or his head or anything of the sort. "I would say a Goliath-like people for sure existed here. You have evidence of an inscription which shows us two Goliath-like names at that time." The Tell es-Safi dig is one of the biggest excavations of its kind in the Holy Land. In recent years it has yielded a rich deposit of evidence that proves the Philistines lived there from prehistoric times and fought with the Israelites. Professor Mayer says at the very least, it provides an important cultural background for the story of Goliath. "I would say that probably a Goliath existed. For example, in the biblical text in one place it says that Goliath was killed by David," he said. "In another place it says that another guy by the name of Elhanan killed Goliath, so perhaps there was a battle between Goliath and someone else and at some stage David, as a king, took credit for it." But whatever the Bible says, Melbourne University archaeologist Louise Hitchcock is far from convinced. "Certainly we have a shepherd that has a name that might be linked with Goliath, but to be named Goliath from what I understand about the Philistines is like to have the name John Smith," she said. But Dr Hitchcock is convinced the archaeological evidence destroys another myth - the Philistines in name, she says, were far from Philistine by nature. "What we are learning from their art, from their decorated... style of pottery, iron working, they were a technologically sophisticated culture and artistic and cosmopolitan culture," she said. "So to be a Philistine is not really to be uncouth. To be a Philistine is to be cultured and civilised."

Do you think it is just a wild goose chase and a waste of money or something they should investigate further

Many artifacts continue to be dug-up. Pieces of burnt material can be carbon-dated. Yehud coins, small silver coins from the brief period of Persian rule, bearing the Aramaic inscription 'Yehud', the Persian province of Judaea, have been found at the site. The coins date back 2300 years to before Alexander the Great and indicate a long-term presence of Jews in the fortress city. Such findings are expected to point to further evidence of the Kingdom of David and the presence of Jews as described in the Bible.

I'm not sure what they mean when they say they haven't found David. He's buried in - wait for it - King David's tomb, in Jerusalem. They can't dig up the tomb and see if David is in there, because the religious people folks would have a fit. But he's got a tomb.

As for Goliath - well, who knows? I've never seen anyone who was 3 meters tall, and never hope to. But let's face it - he might have been unusually tall, a real scary kind of guy that you'd hate to have to face in battle. Nine feet tall might be pushing it, but maybe 6'9' or so. His height might increase with each telling of the story.

I suppose they would have to find some seriously oversized armor or something to make the story more believable. Or, as the article suggested, a big skull with a pebble-sized hole in it.

I've enjoyed the read.
Do you know how post a link to the original source?
That would do a world of good.
Thanks
Slay

This is media attention stuff funded by religious groups. A PR campaign.

It isn't even demonstrated there was an historical King David. Certainly the vast empire and might army attributed to him never existed. We know a lot more now what was going on in the Sinai peninsula 2-3 thousand years ago. Pretty basic agrarian and nomadic people. No empire, large structures, chariots, much in the way of metal weapons. No contemporary culture has any record of the battles recorded in the Bible for this period.

In a word - mythology. Mostly likely the David and Goliath story is some retold memory of an extremely tall warrior somewhere - maybe Assyrian, Babylonian, even Egyptian. Tho Old Testament incorporates a lot of the folklore form these cultures into Jewish prehistory.

They won't find a 10 foot skeleton - if such a thing ever existed. It will be like all those religious expeditions - for the Ark of the Covenant, remains of Noah's Ark, Aaron's magic staff, the original Garden of Eden. Lots of write-ups in religious magazines, a video, etc. Then another quest will begin for some other fabulous non-existent religious artifact.

Mike





[edit on 17-8-2009 by mmiichael]

here is link to the full story

Interesting, I hope they don't find a skeleton three meters tall,lol, it would be a major discovery

reply to post by chiron613


What is now considered King David's tomb could very easily not be King David's tomb. There is no sign that could tell who rests there , only tradition that is not that old - probably less then 1000 years.
Check out how Mount Sinai got its name and you will see that sometimes things that we assume as well known and understood are actually pretty unclear.

SO they found davids tomb but is it king david?