Bible Archeology Discoveries

Mount Ebal Altar
Discovered: Shechem, Israel
From: (c. 1400 BC)

In the 1980s, Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal of Haifa University discovered the controversial site that became popularly known as “Joshua’s Altar.” What was initially found was a large pile of stones with a series of stone walls jutting out from the edges of the pile. Thousands of potsherds at the site dated it to the Iron I period (around 1200 BC), which would be in line with the Israelite Conquest when using the "early" date for the Exodus.

Alarge rectangular structure was uncovered that had a ramp leading up to a sacrificial altar. There where many remains of burnt bones were found. A drawing of the bronze altar from the Temple in Jerusalem recorded in the Jewish Mishnah (written around AD 200), stunned Zertal because of its similarity, leading to the conclusion that this was, in fact, Joshua’s altar.

Although it was this large rectangular altar that garnered most of the attention, a less talked about structure at the site could be more interesting. Beneath the center of the rectangular altar was an older circular stone altar that was about six feet in diameter. Zertal dated it to one generation previous to the rectangular altar. However, Dr. Scott Stripling, of Associates for Biblical Research, favors the Exodus occurring at a standard 1446 BC date, and believes the more recent altar belongs to the middle of the Judges Period, while the circular altar should be dated much earlier.

Stripling thinks the round altar is actually Joshua’s altar. 97% of the pottery is Iron Age 1 or the period of the Judges but about 3% of his pottery was Late Bronze Age. Stripling determined that the earlier pottery is from around 1,400 BC, which fits very nicely with the "early" Exodus biblical date.

"And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal."
Deuteronomy 11:29

"Then Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal,"
Joshua 8:30

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Notable Finds

Much of what is described in Bible text is lost to history, requiring readers to assume the historicity of the scriptures.

However, many of the places and events described in the Old and New Testaments are periodically corroborated by archeological finds.

Some finds simply help us to better understand things from the ancient world. However, others provide important evidence as to the truth of scripture regarding things about which there had previously been skepticism.

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