Field Notes

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Did David Conquer the Edomites?

New Evidence Supports Biblical Chronology

When archaeologists recently performed radiocarbon tests on materials from the ancient Edomite site of Khirbat en-Nahas, a copper-smelting facility 30 miles south of the Dead Sea in Jordan, the results were startling: The hoard of charcoal, scarabs, arrowheads and metal artifacts dated to the 11th century B.C.—more than two centuries earlier than many scholars date the rise of the kingdom of Edom.

In the Bible, the Edomites are the descendants of Esau, who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob, and are the perpetual enemies of the Israelites. During the Exodus from Egypt, the Edomites refuse to allow the Israelites to pass through their territory, which runs from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Later, the Israelite king David and his general, Joab, conquer Edom, killing 18,000 Edomites; then David builds “garrisons in Edom,” and “all the Edomites” become “his servants” (1 Samuel 8:13–14).

Many scholars, however, question the historicity of this account. They argue that in the time of David and Solomon (first half of the tenth century B.C.), the so-called United Kingdom of Israel was no more than a small tribal enclave centered in Jerusalem. The states David conquered to form his empire—supposedly stretching from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates—did not even exist in the tenth century. The biblical authors, according to these “minimalist” scholars, simply took the states that did indeed exist in the eighth century B.C., such as Edom, and retrojected them to the tenth century, in order to create a heroic foundational narrative for Israel.

The international team of archaeologists working at Khirbat en-Nahas, led by Thomas E. Levy of the University of California at San Diego and Mohammad Najjar of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, have stepped right into the thickets of this argument. Not only have they found that an Edomite metalworking site was occupied in the 11th century B.C., which is consistent with the biblical account, but they have also found that a monumental fortress (its gate is shown at left) at the site was built in the 10th century B.C., around the time of King David’s war with the Edomites. It is extremely important, moreover, that their dates are the result of carbon-14 tests—which constitute the “hardest” kind of evidence in the archaeological world.

The archaeologists investigating Khirbat en-Nahas believe the key to understanding the rise of the biblical kingdom of Edom is copper ore. With the collapse of the Late Bronze Age around 1200 B.C., much of the eastern Mediterranean lay in turmoil, which disrupted long-standing copper production on the island of Cyprus. (Bronze, one of the most important commodities of the Bronze Age [c. 3000–1200 B.C.], is an alloy consisting of ten parts copper and one part tin.) This may have led to the exploitation of alternate sources of copper ore in the Levant, giving rise to such small states as the Edomite kingdom.

015

Hero Worship

Shrine to Herakles Discovered in Thebes

According to ancient tradition, the Greek city of Thebes, 45 miles north of Athens, was the birthplace of Herakles (also called Hercules). Now a team of Greek archaeologists headed by Vassilis Aravantinos has unearthed the remains of a 3,000-year-old Theban shrine dedicated to the hero.

The 3,600-square-foot site (right) has yielded ceramic vessels, beads and coins, as well as bones and a thick layer of ash indicating that animals were offered at the site as burnt sacrifices to the gods. Small bronze statuettes, including the 3-inch-high figure of Herakles shown below right, have also been uncovered in the excavations, which were launched last year when workers building a hotel came across ancient objects.

The diminutive statue depicts Herakles grappling with the Nemean lion, the first of his Twelve Labors. The son of Zeus, king of the gods, and the mortal woman Alcmene, Herakles incurred the wrath of Zeus’s jealous consort Hera, who caused him to go temporarily insane and murder his wife and children. To expiate his crimes, Herakles was told by the Oracle of Delphi to serve Eurystheus, king of the cities of Tiryns and Mycenae, for 12 years. The king ordered Herakles to perform 12 impossibly difficult feats, which, with the help of the gods Hermes and Athena, he successfully completed.

Did David Conquer the Edomites?