The parameters of the debate are almost biblical when it comes to assigning dates to military campaigns. The war against the Hebrews took place in the wilderness. Was the Battle of Jericho fought in 1500 B.C. or in 1400 B.C.
The radiocarbon analysis that scientists use to date organic remains is not as accurate as it could be. Archaeologists often don't agree on what the timelines for different narratives should be. Scientists can study the history of the Levant with more confidence thanks to a new technique.
The reversals and variations in the earth's invisible geomagnetic field can be recorded in many materials. When ancient ceramics or mud bricks that contain ferromagnetic, or certain iron-bearing, minerals are heated to sufficiently high temperatures, the magnetic moments of the minerals reflect the orientation and intensity of the field at the time of burning. A type of clock can be provided by the new method.
Yoav Vaknin, a PhD candidate at Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University at Jerusalem, pioneered the idea of comparing recorded magnetic signals to see if they are related to biblical battles. It all fits together perfectly.
Mr. Vaknin's research uses information from 20 international scholars to map out a geomagnetic data set of 21 layers of historical destruction in the Holy Land.
The goal of the project is to check the historical authenticity of Old Testament accounts of offensives against the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah by Assyrians and Babylonians. The principals for those without scorecards were Shoshenq I (1 Kings 14: 25-26), Hazael (2 Kings 12:18), Jehoash (2 Kings 14:11-15), Tiglath-pileser III (2 Kings 18:29), and Sennacherib (2 Kings 18-19).
Thomas Levy, an archaeologist at the University of California, San Diego, was not involved with the study. It's important that ancient historical events are connected to the archaeological record.
One of the study's co-authors, Oded Lipschits, an Archeologist, said that the significance of the research is in the interdisciplinary connections. The main application of the new dating tool is in the first millennium B.C., a time when radiocarbon is not as effective as it could be.
The study's content is not the only thing that distinguishes it. Archaeologists are the majority of the study's authors, with differing views on biblical history and the timing of the period.
Magnetic readings of burned materials are compared in Mr. Vaknin's database. Nearby sites can be dated where historical evidence has already been established.
Archaeological relics, such as furnaces, ceramic shards and roof tiles, contain ferromagnetic minerals and can be used to track the history of the magnetic field.
In a 2020 paper, Mr. Vaknin and his colleagues used floor fragments and smashed pottery from a Jerusalem parking lot to recreate Earth's magnetic field, as it was on the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av, 586 B.
The magnetic field that was recorded in the burned remains of biblical sites in present-day Israel was reconstructed. The team analyzed layers of ruin left behind by military conflicts by using archaeomagnetic readings that have been preserved for millenniums in mud bricks.
The findings help settle a longstanding debate over how the Kingdom of Judah fell and disproves claims that the ancient settlement of Tel She'an was destroyed in the 9th century B.C. The Hebrew Bible states that the Temple of Amun in Karnak was destroyed by the Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq in the 70s to 100s.
Several settlements, including Gath, were set fire to by Hazael's soldiers about a century later. The study shows that the records at all four sites were burned during the same offensive.
The application of paleomagnetic research to biblical archaeology was pioneered by Mr. Vaknin and his advisers, Dr. Lipschits, Erez Ben-Yosef, and Ron Shaar.
One of the most enigmatic phenomena in geoscience is the magnetic field. The field's strength has declined and there is a danger that we might lose it completely. Data on the past behavior of the field is needed to understand this trend.
Cosmic rays from deep space and streams of charged particles from the sun are repelled by the Earth's magnetosphere. The scientists theorize that the magnetic field is created by molten iron and nickel in the planet's outer core, which is in constant motion around a solid iron core. The magnetic moments of ferromagnetic particles are baked into the alignment. As long as the objects don't get hot again, they will retain their magnetic field. Magnetic signals are wiped out when the temperature goes past a certain point.
Changes in the percentage of radiocarbon in the atmosphere from 800 to 400 B.C. limit the resolution of radiocarbon dating.
Dr. Ben- Yosef hoped that the new dating method would finally answer questions about the fall of the Kingdom of Judah. Some researchers argue that the Babylonians weren't solely responsible for the destruction of the Judean polity in 586 B.C. The magnetic field recorded in the destruction layer of the site of Malhata is different from the one recorded in the destruction of Jerusalem. The destructions can't be related to the same event.
The evidence provided by the archaeomagnetic data shows that Malhata was destroyed decades after the Babylonian attack.
The events are in the Hebrew Bible. Obadiah explains the animosity toward the Edomites.
He said that scholars who had partly forgiven the Babylonians should be proud of themselves. Their hypothesis is supported by the magnetic results. After decades of work on establishing a reference database, we finally reap the fruits of our labor, and what we saw has become a potent dating tool in biblical archaeology that will become part of the tool kit of archaeologists working in the Holy Land.
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