SUMMARY: A new study of DNA from bones at ancient Ashkelon indicates that a wave of early Iron Age Philistines came from the island of Crete, just as claimed by the Bible. However, news of these findings has failed to point out this remarkable link in most media outlets. The results also help inform different views in the debate over biblical chronology.
“Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt,and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?
– Amos 9:7 (ESV)
New Results from Ashkelon Graves Match Biblical Claims for Philistine Origins
A significant new study of Philistine DNA from the ancient city of Ashkelon indicates the place of origin for an influx of newcomers in biblical times. The results show that a wave of Philistines in the transitional period between the Bronze and Iron Ages most likely came from the island of Crete, matching claims in the Bible.
However, news reports of this study reveal a general bias against highlighting this important biblical link among many media outlets. The results of the study also shed light on some of the different options proposed for connecting biblical events with the archaeological periods of the ancient world.
The Expedition to the Philistine city of Ashkelon
The Philistines in the Bible were the archenemies of Israel for much of their history. Situated near the Mediterranean coast, they had five principal cities – the harbor city of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ashdod, and the inland cities of Ekron and Gath, the home of the giant Goliath, who battled a young David.
Despite their prevalence in the biblical account, relatively little has been discovered about the Philistines. One of the chief questions scholars have had is where they came from before occupying the southern coastal area of Canaan.
The Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon excavated the site for 30 years with a large cemetery with over 200 individuals being unearthed in the final seasons of the dig. Directed by the late Lawrence E. Stager of Harvard University, and Daniel M. Master from Wheaton College, the expedition initially dated the remains as stretching from the 11th–8th century BC.
As reported in a Thinker Update in 2016 titled Unlocking the Secrets of the Philistines, the team, along with digs taking place at other sites, had uncovered many artifacts that showed the cultural uniqueness of the Philistines, but few gravesites that could provide more clues about their place of origin.
Were the Philistines Uncultured Brutes?
The modern term “Philistine” is used to mean someone who is brutish and uncivilized, however the Bible never depicts them this way. True, for most of Israel’s history the Bible portrays the Philistines as their aggressive enemies, but Samson the Israelite whose life was filled with conflict with the Philistines is shown to be the one often acting brutishly. The cultural evidence of the Philistines seems to be connected to Greek influences, and the prophet Amos actually implied the great sophistication of the Philistines compared to the people of Judah with their herdsman roots.
Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory?
– Amos 6:2 (ESV)
Calneh was an ancient city built by Nimrod (Genesis 10:10) and Hamath was one of the chief cities of Syria destroyed by Sennacherib. The Philistine site of Gath was likewise destroyed by Hazael, just before the days of Amos (2 Kings 12:17). The example of the cities listed in this verse is that they had once been great and lifted up, but at the time of Amos (around 750 BC) they had been humbled in their pride.
While most scholars have long believed the Philistines originated from the Aegean Sea region due to similarities in cultural artifacts such as pottery styles, there was nothing definitive that could determine a more specific location. Some favored a place of origin from the coastal area of modern Turkey, others one of the Greek islands, and there are ancient historical sources, such as Josephus, that claim the Philistines originated from a part of Egypt.
The Results of the New Philistine DNA Study
To help settle the debate, the recently discovered cemetery allowed the Ashkelon expedition to submit bone samples for DNA, radiocarbon and other tests in an effort to gain more clues pertaining to the origin debate. The first results have now been released in a paper in Science Advances titled Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines and announced in a press release by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
The study’s main finding expressed in the press release is that a new population arrived at Ashkelon at the beginning of the Iron Age and that these Philistines had emigrated from Southern Europe.
The press release says an international team of scientists “retrieved and analyzed, for the first time, genome-wide data from people who lived during the Bronze and Iron Age (~3,600-2,800 years ago) in the ancient port city of Ashkelon.” It goes on to state, “The team found that a European derived ancestry was introduced in Ashkelon around the time of the Philistines’ estimated arrival, suggesting that ancestors of the Philistines migrated across the Mediterranean, reaching Ashkelon by the early Iron Age. This European related genetic component was subsequently diluted by the local Levantine [Canaanite] gene pool over the succeeding centuries, suggesting intensive admixture between local and foreign populations.”
The researchers used bone DNA from 10 individuals from the Ashkelon cemetery from three different time periods spanning the Bronze and Iron Ages. This allowed them to see differences between the various groups. Bone samples from early in the Iron age were actually taken from infants buried under the floors of homes, which was customary at the time.
They found “that individuals across all periods derived most of their ancestry from the local Levantine [Canaanite] gene pool, but that individuals who lived in early Iron Age Ashkelon had a European derived ancestral component that was not present in their Bronze Age predecessors.” Most scholars date the beginning of the Iron Age to about 1,200 BC, which if accurate, would place it just before the time of the judge Samason on the biblical timeline (King David ruled around 1000 BC).
Michal Feldman of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History explained further, “This genetic distinction is due to European-related gene flow introduced in Ashkelon during either the end of the Bronze Age or the beginning of the Iron Age. This timing is in accord with estimates of the Philistines arrival to the coast of the Levant, based on archaeological and textual records. While our modelling suggests a southern European gene pool as a plausible source, future sampling could identify more precisely the populations introducing the European-related component to Ashkelon.”
“With this study we finally have direct evidence that fits and builds upon the hypothesis of Philistine origins from the western Mediterranean,” Daniel M. Master, director of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon and head of the archaeological team, told The Times of Israel.
The Bible’s Crete Connection and the Media Silence
The Bible in at least three passages connects the Philistines with the land of Caphtor (including Amos 9:7 listed near the top of the article). Most biblical scholars identify the biblical land of Caphtor as the Greek island of Crete, with some also favoring Cyprus.
because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains. For the LORD is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
– Jeremiah 47:4 (ESV)
One reason scholars favor Crete as the home base of the Philistines is because of another term used in the Bible – Cherethites. The Cherethites are also associated in Scripture with the Philistines and the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible (made in about 200 BC) both Ezekiel and Zephaniah have passages that render the name “Cherethites” as “Cretans.” Other evidence also puts it at an island location in the vicinity of Crete.
The Study’s Crete Connection and the Media Silence
Amazingly, the paper published by the researchers had one small section buried in the middle of the report that directly connects the results of the DNA analysis of the Ashkelon residents to Crete. It states, “Of the 51 tested models, we find four plausible ones … The best supported one (χ2P = 0.675) infers that [the group of early Iron Age individuals tested] derives around 43% of ancestry from the Greek Bronze Age “Crete…”
If biblical Caphtor really was referring to Crete (which seems likely), then this DNA result is a startling conformation of the Bible’s link between the Philistines and Crete. It is true that these are results from a small set of individuals and further testing will be needed to zero in more precisely on which locations are most closely related, but the evidence, as we have it, is pointing most strongly to the claims made by the Bible all along.
Yet in publications from the New York Times to National Geographic to Haaretz in Israel, this link is being completely ignored. They instead are reporting that the DNA shows that the Philistines came from southern Europe and perhaps from Spain or Sardinia and they don’t even mention that the best match for the DNA was to Crete, the place the Bible says the Philistines come from. Surely, this must come from an anti-Bible mindset that has permeated many media platforms as well as academia, to the point of being unscientific. For another example of media bias, see our update DNA Discovers Modern Canaanites – And Causes a Media Bible Blunder.
The History of the Philistines and the Chronology Debate
Another important aspect of the study informs the debate over the chronology of the ancient world as it relates to the Bible. Some biblical passages seem to also connect the Philistines with the Casluhim who were relatives of the Caphtorim and may have lived in the same area. Both of these groups were descendants of Egypt (Mizraim), who was the son of Ham, who was the son of Noah.
Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim. – Genesis 10:13-14 repeated in 1 Chronicles
1:11-12 (ESV)
Interestingly, this connection to Egypt is what the ancient writers seem to have picked up on, which also fits Egyptologist David Rohl’s theory that the Philistines came from Egypt before settling in Crete and the surrounding islands. From there they sent waves of conquerors and immigrants to the coastal area of Canaan.
Scholars believe the Philistines were one of the Sea Peoples who were a confederation of tribes that are known to have invaded large areas of the eastern Mediterranean region in the transition from the Bronze to Iron Age. This devastating event brought an end to the Bronze Age that was defined by its wealth and international trade and sank the region into a depression with the onset of the early Iron Age.
Most scholars think the Philistines first arrived in Canaan with the Sea Peoples, and this is how most of the articles on this study repeatedly report the story. The Bible, however, is clear that they were in Canaan from a much earlier time. It mentions the Philistines 17 times in periods before the later judges like Samson. This goes all the way back to the time of Abraham and Isaac who had many dealings with Philistines. Moses, when describing the inhabitants of Canaan, spoke of those who had come from Caphtor – and this was before the conquest under Joshua and hundreds of years before the Sea Peoples invasion began.
As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place. – Deuteronomy 2:23 (ESV)
This impacts the debate over chronology as seen in the film Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. The argument by some is that the option of shifting the archaeological periods by centuries (as proposed by David Rohl, John Bimson and others) should not even be considered. They claim the Philistines first came into Canaan with the Sea Peoples around 1,200 BC, so to shift that date by 2-3 centuries would put the arrival of the Philistines past the time of the Bible’s Samson, Saul and David, which would make the scheme unworkable. However, this assertion goes against the Bible’s account, which has the Philistines in Canaan long before the Sea Peoples arrived.
Normally, one would think that carbon dating would solve the question, but as reported in a previous Thinker Update on carbon dating errors, serious questions surround the accuracy of carbon dating in these ancient periods.
Does the DNA Challenge Biblical history?
Do the DNA results of a new population coming in at the beginning of the Iron Age (1,200 BC by standard dating) then contradict the Bible’s claim that people called Philistines had previously been in the area for centuries? No, they don’t, since according to the study, distinct markers of DNA from Crete could no longer be traced in the remains of individuals from later in the Iron Age. “Within no more than two centuries, this genetic footprint introduced during the early Iron Age is no longer detectable and seems to be diluted by a local Levantine related gene pool,” stated Choongwon Jeong of the Max Planck Institute of the Science of Human History.
”While, according to ancient texts, the people of Ashkelon in the first millennium BCE remained ‘Philistines’ to their neighbors, the distinctiveness of their genetic makeup was no longer clear, perhaps due to intermarriage with Levantine groups around them,” said Master. “Over time, we can show that Philistine culture changed, that their language changed, and now that their genetic profile changed, but, according to their neighbors, they remained Philistines from beginning to end.”
This shows that waves of Philistines from Crete could have been coming to Canaan over the centuries and quickly mixing with the local population. The residents of Bronze Age Askelon could still be considered Philistines with distinct Philistine culture, even though their DNA looked like the surrounding Canaanite population. A new influx of relatives from Crete could then have come in at the beginning of the Iron Age. This all fits nicely within the biblical account, which now has more hard science to back it up than ever before. – Keep Thinking!
TOP PHOTO: Excavation of the Philistine Cemetery at Ashkelon (Credit: Melissa Aja. Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon)
