Researchers find physical evidence of earthquake described in the Old Testament | smart news

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have found evidence of damage to buildings and pottery that may have been caused by a massive earthquake from the eighth century BC mentioned in the biblical books of Amos and Zechariah.

Excavations led by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the Er David Foundation have revealed a layer containing rubble in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Nir Hasson reported to Haaretz newspaper. The findings add to evidence for earthquakes previously detected elsewhere in Israel and at the bottom of the Dead Sea.

The researchers say they took into account other possible explanations for the damage, including the fire, but they found no ash or other evidence pointing to the city burning at the time. They also discussed the possibility of isolating the destruction in one place.

“[T]o Proving that this does not include a single building that experienced isolated shock, we have compared it to other sites, both in Jerusalem and elsewhere where we also see this layer, so we can make the connection and say that this is not ‘ said Joe Ozil, an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, For Haaretz, it is an isolated event, but more widespread.

As The Times of Israel writes Amanda Burchill Dunn, biblical accounts treat an earthquake as a reference event, much as people today might use the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to locate stories in time.

The first verse of the book of Amos states that the events the narrator intends to convey occurred “two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king over Judah.” (King Uzziah is believed to have reigned in the middle of the eighth century.) Centuries later, the writer of the Book of Zechariah foretold an earthquake in the future with the warning “You shall flee as you flee from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Egypt. Judah.”

“Destructive earthquakes in Jerusalem are possible, as evidenced by the well-recorded earthquake of 1927,” Israel Finkelstein, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University who was not involved in the new research, tells The Times. “…The first layer of the Book of Amos includes material relating to the eighth century, and it is thus possible that a devastating earthquake made a strong impression and was recorded.”

Researchers have found the remains of tools that were apparently shattered by an ancient earthquake. (Eliyahu Yanai / City of David)

Work by Finkelstein and colleagues in the ancient city of Megiddo, about 80 miles north of Jerusalem, found evidence of an earthquake from a similar period. As Ruth Schuster reported to Haaretz in 2019, this team described “slanting walls and columns, curved and deformed walls, broken masonry, drenched floors, liquid sand, crumbling adobe and burnt remains.” Archaeologists have also recorded sites with layers of destruction from the mid-eighth century at Hazor and Acre – both located north of Megiddo – and southwest of Jerusalem in Lachish.

The researchers previously used carbon-14 dating of organic matter to find evidence of seismic activity in the Dead Sea area. Their results showed that two major earthquakes could have occurred in the eighth century, one between 861 and 705 BC and the other between 824 and 667 BC.

Wolfgang Zwickl, an Old Testament researcher at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, told Haaretz that it was possible that the two events had collapsed into one in the historical account, or that Amos was referring to any stronger event.

In a statement, Uziel and Ortal Khalaf, directors of excavation at the Israel Antiquities Authority, will present their full findings to the public at the Megalim Institute in the City of David on September 2.

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