The excavations at Tell es-Safi, ancient Canaanite and Philistine Gath, have revealed impressive and dramatic evidence of diverse cultures and periods. In particular, rich remains dating to the Bronze Age (Canaanite culture) and the Iron Age (Philistine and Judahite cultures) have been uncovered, sheding new light on a diverse range of questions relating to these periods and cultures. This includes questions regarding the origins, development, and disappearance of the Philistines in biblical times; evidence of the earliest known archaeological remains of a siege; and various finds that shed interesting light on issues relating to the biblical text.
In addition, in our excavation, we have manifested an exciting and unique interdisciplinary use of archaeological science, as part of the recent joint Bar-Ilan University/Weizmann Institute of Science program in archaeological science. By bringing the archaeological scientists into the field, fully collaborating with the field archaeologists, a completely new perspective(s) on the past is revealed.
In this lecture, I will describe some of the main finds from the excavations, as well as some of the methods that we use.
