TELL ES-SAFI, Israel – After digging at a site in southern Israel for more than two decades, archeologists have discovered unusually large stone fortifications and walls twice as thick as other cities in the area, proving that Gath was a major regional power consistent with the biblical account.
Gath is the birthplace of Goliath, the Philistine giant who terrorized the army of Israel but was killed by the slingshot of a young David.
While the massive gate and the monumental structures of the city are impressive in size, convincing visitors the city must have been built by giants, the lead archeologist disagrees.
Prof. Aren Maeir of Barllan University, who has been digging in the area for 23 years, previously uncovered the 10th century B.C. ruins of Gath before finding the new site, dated to the 11th century B.C., just a meter deeper.
He told the Jerusalem Post that people are prone to conclude “this must have been done by giants of the past.” But he dismissed the suggestion that giants existed, saying “There are no skeletons of people who are taller than NBA centers.”
Meanwhile, BreakingIsraelNews.com reported Maier previously discovered, 2006, a Philistine inscription with two names. One, written with Semitic letters, is the equivalent of the Philistine name, “Goliath,” which Maeir insists could not be referring to an actual historical person.
Instead, in a report about the find, he said it demonstrated that the name “Goliath” was probably in circulation in Gath, according to the Bible’s chronology, about a century or so after the legendary battle between David and Goliath.
