Earth magnetism study says Bible battles did take place

One Search Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday (24) confirmed, by measuring summary changes in magnetic field Give a landpast event, bible battles Quoted in the second book of Kings, from the Old Testament Bible.

Confirm the new data bible accounts From Campaigns The Egyptian, Aramaic, Assyrian and Babylonian army against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. dating 21 layers of to retreat At 17 archaeological sites in Israel, it has been possible to reconstruct the direction and/or intensity of the magnetic field recorded in the cremated remains.

Normally, the way geophysicists try to understand the working method magnetic field From Earth uses archaeological finds of magnetic minerals that were heated or burned in the past, which provide clues to what magnetism was like in times of fires in wars, according to the researchers.

In a 2020 study, scientists have already reconstructed magnetic field It was also on the ninth day of the Hebrew month in 586 BC (the Hebrew date of the destruction of the First Temple and the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army).

In this new research, officials used the data to develop a new and reliable scientific tool for dating. archaeological. According to the findings, the army of Hazael, king of Aram of Damascus, was responsible for the destruction of cities such as Tel Rehov, Tel Zait and Horvat Teft, as well as Gath of the Philistines – which reported the destruction in Hebrew. Bible.

Various dating methods estimate that the event that destroyed Gath the Philistines occurred around 830 BC, but they could not verify that Hazael also destroyed Tel Rehuf, Tel Zait, and Horvat Tevet.

In addition to confirming the destruction of these three sites, the work refutes the prevailing theory that the ruler was the conqueror who destroyed Tel Beit Shan. According to magnetic data, this city, along with two other sites in northern Israel, surrendered between 70 and 100 years ago. This date may be associated with the military campaign of the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq, which was narrated in Bible Hebrew.

The Edomites may have destroyed the Negev cities

One of the main findings of the study was that the cities of the Negev were destroyed by the Edomites. They took advantage of the Babylonians’ destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah.

Supervisor of Search“Several decades after the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple, sites in the Negev that survived the Babylonian campaign were destroyed – possibly by the Edomites who took advantage of the fall of Jerusalem,” Erez ben Yosef said in a statement.

Treachery in the remaining cities, for him, may explain the fact that the Bible Hebrew They express a strong hatred of the Edomites.

According to the author of the doctoral dissertation that originated the study, Yoav Vakninem, it was possible to confirm or refute the theses about the military campaign based on the magnetic field and also to construct a variation curve in field strength over time. This could serve as a dating tool similar to the radiocarbon method, which uses the radioactive isotope carbon-14 to determine the age of materials up to 60,000 years old.

+The best content in your email for free. Choose your favorite Terra newsletter. click here!