Archeological discovery in Israel may shed light on elusive Philistines

Archeologists said Sunday they discovered the first Philistine cemetery in Israel's southern Mediterranean shore, hoping the discovery would solve the longstanding biblical question: Where did the ancient Philistine come from?

The cemetery, dated to the 11th-8th centuries BC, was found in the coastal city of Ashkelon in southern Israel, once one of five city states of the Philistine in a region which is nowadays the Palestinian Gaza Strip and southern Israel.

The discovery, hailed by the researchers as "groundbreaking," was made as part of a 30-year excavation work in the Ashkelon National Park by the Leon Levy Expedition, which was organized by Harvard University, Boston College, Wheaton College and Troy University in the United States.

Scholars, who study the ancient Mediterranean, have long been puzzled by the elusive origins of the Philistines. The discovery of the cemetery could offer a key to this mystery, the archeologists told a press conference in Jerusalem on Sunday.

They said they are now running DNA and radiocarbon tests on samples taken from the site in order to help ascertain the Philistines' origin.

The plethora of findings in the cemetery includes ceramics, jewelry and weapons, as well as the remains of 145 individuals.

"That's going to give us the ability to talk about men and women and children, how their lives were similar and different," co-director of the expedition Daniel Master of Wheaton College in Illinois told Xinhua.

"We're getting a feel for the Philistines that we've never had before. We're finally seeing them face-to-face," Master said.

The ancient Israelis saw the Philistines as their archenemy, and accordingly, the Hebrew Bible depicts them as uncivilized people.

But the researchers say the Philistines' bad reputation as savage people is unjustified.

"One of the things that we know from the Hebrew Bible is that the Philistines were looked down upon by the Israelites. They were thought to be the worst of the worst," said Master.

But that is only what their enemies said about them, Mater noted. "Now we get a chance to hear their side of the story... By hearing their story directly from them and not from their enemies, we're learning a whole bunch about them," he said. Endit