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Bodies Found in King Solomon-Era Town  

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A new discovery in Israel reveals ancient remains from a biblical era.

Archeologists discovered three bodies while unearthing the city of Gezer, a city mentioned several times in the Old Testament.
Egyptians destroyed it over 3,000 years ago.

"The heavy destruction suggests that the Egyptian pharaoh encountered much resistance from the Gezerites," said Prof. Steven Ortiz according to Haaertz, an Israeli newspaper.

Ortiz is a professor at the Tandy Institute for Archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He and Samuel Wolff of the Israel Antiquities Authority co-directed the diggings.

Ortiz says the find is evidence that the Bronze age Egyptian "Merneptah campaign" took place in Israel, according to Fox News.

One of the most detailed passages about Gezer is found in : "For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife. And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether."

The three corpses – two adults and a child - may give a glimpse into the brutal acts that took place in Gezer.

One of the adults was found under a pile of rubble in one room.

"This individual attests to the violent nature of the destruction, as it is clear he experienced the trauma of the event" said Ortiz.

The other was buried with the child under three feet of ashes in another room. The adult's corpse was so badly damaged its gender couldn't be determined.
Ortiz offers more details and theorizes about what these two may have been doing.

"The adult was lying on its back with arms above its head. The child, who was wearing earrings, was next to the adult, to the left. This room was filled with ash and collapsed mud brick," he said.

Ortiz added, "We can only guess what they were doing in the building on the eve of destruction. Were they hiding? Were they fleeing the Egyptian soldiers? Did they go back into the building to retrieve valuables?"

An earthenware jar, a grinding stone, a table, cylinder seals and an amulet from the 13th Century B.C.E were also discovered there.

The site has been excavated 10 times since 2006 by the Tandy Institute for Archaeology. Last year, they discovered a palace from King Solomon's era.

But this is the first time bodies have been found in the ancient city.

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