THE DISCOVERY OF a Philistine cemetery at Ashkelon,
Israel, has provided researchers with human remains
to study local ancestry. Uncovered at the site were a
well-preserved human skull (above), the remains of a
10th-century b.c. Philistine (below left), and a small vessel
(below right) that was found near the nose.NEWSBible include the giant Goliath
and the seductress Delilah—
settled in modern-day Israel
around 1200 B.C.
The Leon Levy Expedition
to Ashkelon joined with the
Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History
to analyze DNA from 10 sets
of human remains. The re-
sults, published in the journalA
ncient bones from
southern Israel
have confirmed the
European origins of
the Philistines of the Bible.
A genetic study of remains
from sites near Ashkelon al-
so strengthens the view that
the Israelites’ troublesome
neighbors—whose best
known representatives in theTracing the Ancestry of
the Biblical Philistines
Ancient DNA reveals the Israelites’ archenemies originally came from
Europe, settling around Ashkelon at the dawn of the Iron Age.ANCIENT DNAScience Advances, confirm that
four of these sets of remains,
which date to the late 1100s
B.C., display significantly more
European ancestry than older
specimens that were analyzed.
The researchers believe
these four people were recent
descendants of the first Philis-
tine migrants to the Levantine
coast. Historians date their4 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019ASHKELON JerusalemSYRIAJORDANISRAEL
EGYPTLEB.Gaza StripWestBankMEDITERRANEANSEA0 50 km0 50 miASHKELON, today in
Israel, was already an
ancient seaport when
it was settled by Phi-
listine peoples from
Europe around 1200
b.c. The newcomers
also established rule
over Ashdod, Ekron,
Gath, and Gaza.TOP, BOTTOM LEFT, AND BOTTOM RIGHT: ©TSAFRIR ABAYOV/LEON LEVY EXPEDITION
NG MAPS