Archaeological Oops!

We all love archaeology and it’s very important. But, at the end of the day, the louder academics shout that they are scientists, the less likely it is that they really are. The underlying premise of science is that it involves tests that are replicable. Archaeology is not science. At best, it’s enlightened guesswork. A recent find in the Negev demonstrates that archaeology is a hit and miss affair, most often governed by the prejudices of archaeologists. That’s not to say that archaeologists should stop doing what they’re doing. In fact, they should try to get better at it with the passage of time. That is to say, however, that archaeologists should eat humble pie for lunch every day and try not to rule by consensus i.e., by bullying minority opinions.

Recent finds at Timna have demonstrated that the so-called “King Solomon Copper Mines” actually date back to the time of, well, King Solomon. Until now, the archaeological “consensus” was that the mines have nothing to do with Solomon, and that they actually date back to an Egyptian operation, 300 years prior to King Solomon. Truth be told, nobody bothered to send any organic material for Carbon-14 testing until now. In fact, in Israel, very few materials are sent for Carbon-14 testing. This is as a result of too little funds and too much ego. For example, if you look in the files of the Israel Antiquities Authority on the ossuaries that were found at Kibbutz Sasa in the Galilee, they will tell you that these bone boxes are from late 2nd century. No reason is given for this assessment. But when my colleagues and I did Carbon-14 testing on some of the remains, we found that they dated to the first half of the 1st century, some 150 years earlier, smack dab during the time that Jesus was active in the Galilee. We revealed this information in our episode “The Man Who Saw Jesus” from our series “Biblical Forensics: Real Faces of the Bible” for National Geographic/Vision TV.

Recently, a Tel Aviv University team headed by archaeologist Erez Ben Yosef, sent some date and olive pits found at King Solomon’s Pillars in Timna in the Negev to Oxford for Carbon-14 dating. As Nir Hasson reports in today’s Ha’aretz, “the results proved that the site wasn’t populated during the 13th century B.C.E and that its peak of activity was actually some three centuries later.” That is, the site was active during King Solomon’s time. Archaeologists had been off by 300 years! The funny thing is that since Tel Aviv University is a hotbed of minimalists i.e., they discount the historical value of the Bible, especially during the King David and King Solomon monarchies, the excavators now say that even though the site dates to King Solomon’s time, the copper mines still have nothing to do with King Solomon. They are now retroactively giving the mines to the Edomites. As far as I can see, the Edomite hypothesis is even weaker than the Egyptian hypothesis that ruled until now. Meaning, just as the Egyptian theory has been dismissed, so will the Edomite theory. As far as I can see the latter is based on nothing but minimalist prejudices.

The long and the short of this is that a site that had previously been dated to the 13th century B.C.E. and to the Egyptian Kingdom, can now be dated to the 10th century B.C.E. and to the Judean Kingdom. A nice fit with the Biblical description of King Solomon’s reign.

Click here to see my recent article “Nadal’s Jewish ancestry revisited” on The Times of Israel