Biblical archaeology

Biblical archaeology involves the recovery and scientific investigation of the material remains of past cultures that can illuminate the periods and descriptions in the Bible. As with the historical records from any other civilization, the manuscripts must be compared to other accounts from contemporary societies in Europe, Mesopotamia, and Africa; additionally, records from neighbors must be compared with them. The scientific techniques employed are those of archaeology in general including excavations as well as chance discoveries.

Confirmed Biblical structures

• Gibeon pool (at el-Jib)
• Hezekiah's tunnel under Jerusalem
• Jericho's walls
• They date to sometime between 2400-1300 BC and may have been destroyed by an earthquake. Opinions differ as to whether they are the walls referred to in the Bible. The walls were originally dated by John Garstang to c. 1400 BC. Kathleen Kenyon later disputed Garstang's dating and instead placed them c. 1550 BC, a date supported by the majority of archaeologists. Bryant Wood has recently argued that Garstang's dating was correct. Garstang and Wood's date is consistent with the dating of Joshua used by many Christian Bible scholars. However traditional Jewish dating places Joshua in the 13th century and the earliest archaeological evidence of an Israelite presence also dates to this period.
• Lachish siege ramp of Sennacherib
• Siloam pool (just unearthed in 2004)
• Second Temple (confirmed by Western/Wailing wall constructed by Herod the Great)
• 19 tumuli located west of Jerusalem, undoubtedly dating to the Judean monarchy, but possibly representing sites of memorial ceremonies for the kings as mentioned in 2 Chronicles 16:14, 21:19, 32:33, and the book of Jeremiah 34:5