My news feed on Facebook today has included many links to sites reporting on the Philistine Cemetery at Ashkelon.

One of the most comprehensive is First-Ever Philistine Cemetery Unearthed at Ashkelon by Megan Sauter. The article is posted on the website for the Biblical Archaeology Society.

Megan Sauter is on the excavation team at Ashkelon so gives a first hand report.

You can also read news reports from different media outlets by following the links below:

National Geographic: Discovery of Philistine Cemetery May Solve Biblical Mystery

The Times of Israel: First-ever Philistine cemetery found, offers unique glimpse of Israelites’ biblical enemy

Yahoo News: Old bones cast new light on Goliath’s people

The press conference announcing the finds was held in conjunction with the opening of a new exhibit at the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem. The exhibit is titled: Ashkelon: A Retrospective 30 Years of the Leon Levy Expedition

I had planned on visiting the Ashkelon dig this year while in Israel, but my plans changed and I flew home a few days early.

My plan had been to spend a day digging with my friends Trent and Rebekah who have been digging at Ashkelon for the last three seasons.

Trent is on the survey team and has helped with the 3D mapping of the site. He is in one of the videos playing on the news sites.

Last year I stopped by Ashkelon with Luke and his father and Trent and Rebekah gave us a personal tour of the site. See: Arad to Ashkelon

I am not sure which area this is at the dig site at Ashkelon, but I thought I would share it to show how close the site is to the modern city of Ashkelon.

I also want to share another link with you for a blog post by Aren Maeir who is the director of the Ackerman Family Bar-Ilan University Expedition to Gath.

Reports on Philistine Cemetery at Ashkelon

In the blog post Aren shares a link to a report which discusses the finding of more than 70 Philistine interments from the Iron Age in a burial cave at Gath. The cave had been disturbed prior to their excavation, but it still provided valuable information about the burial methods of the Philistines.

Unfortunately, it is the only site that I have found that even mentions this along with the news of the Ashkelon cemetery. Some of the articles mention other burial sites that are found in the area of the Philistines but the information about Gath is absent.

The report on the Iron Age Burial Cave at Tell es-Safi/Gath was very interesting to read. I am sure that there will be similar reports coming from Ashkelon in the future.

The finding and excavation of the Philistine cemetery at Ashkelon is very important. The excavation has provided valuable information that will be studied for years. The information will definitely help in building a better understanding of the Philistines and their background.

I look forward to hearing more about the findings in the future.

Steven