Bible bombshell as previously unexplored area unearths evidence of huge battle

Irish Daily Mirror

a day ago

Archaeologists have unearthed "incredible" evidence suggesting a Biblical king was toppled by a vast Egyptian army millennia ago.
The team of researchers has stumbled upon remarkable evidence that a massive Egyptian force overcame one of the legendary Biblical kings, with the discovery of Egyptian pottery remnants confirming the presence of Egyptians in the Levant. Recent findings point to Josiah, the last significant monarch of Judah, being vanquished by the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II. The demise of Josiah at Megiddo in 609 BCE posed a dire threat to the broader realm of Judah.
These events unfolded at the site of Megiddo – also known as Armageddon, which is synonymous with apocalyptic prophecies in Christianity. No archaeological proof had been found until March this year when a peculiar assortment of ceramic pieces was found in present-day Israel. At the historic site of Megiddo, artefacts were discovered that are associated with Necho's forces, reports the Mirror US.
This haul included an unexpected quantity of Egyptian and Greek pottery, as noted by Professor Israel Finkelstein from Haifa University – who has long led the Megiddo excavations – and Dr Assaf Kleiman from Ben-Gurion University. Kleiman and Finkelstein, along with their colleagues, delve into their discoveries in two articles released in January and February in the Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament. They argue that the refuse left behind serves as proof of Necho's Egyptian troops being there, potentially alongside Greek mercenaries.
Around the 10th-9th century BCE, Megiddo was part of the Kingdom of Israel - however, there is debate over whether Megiddo and other territories were earlier part of the so-called David and Solomon and whether the united Israelite monarchy described by the Bible ever actually existed. A mosaic was found on the floor of what is thought to be an old Christian church is Megiddo (Image: Getty Images)
What we do know is that Megiddo was a significant hub for at least two centuries. Around 732 BCE, Megiddo was captured and the Israelite capital of Samaria fell a few years later. Megiddo, now known as Magiddu, became the capital of a new Assyrian province in the Levant. Years after the fall of the northern kingdom, Assyria was under pressure from rising powers in Mesopotamia and Iran, namely the Babylonians and the Medes.
Around 630 BCE, the Assyrians abandoned Megiddo. In 609 BCE, Egypt, under Necho's leadership, marched into the Levant to aid the failing city. In Jerusalem, Josiah had been on the throne for 31 years before he was defeated by Necho at Megiddo. It remains unclear why Necho killed Josiah according to the Book of Kings.
The Book of Chronicles suggests that Josiah had attempted to block Necho's advance and that the ensuing battle was a disastrous affair during which the Judahite king was killed.
The bulk of ancient Megiddo was dug up during the 1920s by a University of Chicago expedition, which stripped away and carted off most of the upper strata to reach the earlier versions of the settlement beneath. However, a largely undisturbed section in the northwest corner of the site, dubbed 'Area X', remained intact.
It was in this spot that Finklestein's team discovered a stone-paved courtyard area. Judging by the pottery discoveries, the structure was built in the mid-seventh century BCE. The discoveries included fragments from local ceramic vessels, including traditional cooking pots, alongside serving dishes showing Mesopotamian influences.
"Scholars believed Megiddo completely changed socially, that the ratio of the local population was very low or non-existent, but we show it must have been higher than what was previously believed," Kleiman says. "There must have been a significant component of Levantine population in Megiddo at the time, and we see this, for example, in the cooking pots, which are very important cultural and social indicators. The pots we found tell us the population at the site cooked like their parents and grandparents, in the same local traditions."
The most significant discovery was a collection of pottery in Area X, predominantly of Egyptian origin.
"When we opened the boxes of finds from the dig at my lab in Ben-Gurion University, I told my students to put the Egyptian pottery on the tables, and table after table got filled," recounted Kleiman. "The number of Egyptian vessels is double or even triple the amount found in the entire Levant for that period. This is not decorated fine tableware, so it's very hard to argue that someone at Megiddo, a deportee or a surviving Israelite, all of a sudden acquired a taste for sub-par Egyptian pottery and decided to import it into his house."
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