I just returned from Israel and excavations there, and I spent several days receiving instruction in identifying destruction levels in archaeology, in particular the fall of the Northern Kingdom. I just wanted to share some thoughts...
And I just say, I look in awe at what can be realized and learned about the fall of the Northern Kingdom in archaeology and Tiglath-pileser III's military strategies. In studying fortifications, city gates and towers, and realizing the destruction level through both burning and collapsed fortifications, sometimes we forget that real people suffered and died in these battles.
I held grains of barley in my hand that had been stored in chambers of the city gate and which were charred from burning -- and I thought of the process... that process being to take the grain and foods for the army and then burn the rest so it was of no use to anyone. Real people had toiled to turn the rocky soil into a productive field of barley and real people had cut and thrashed the grain, paying tribute to their king by paying in grain to be stored in the city gate chambers so that a fortified city could eat during a long siege. And intact pots and containers left as they were abandoned while the people were taken from their homes to be relocated in other places in Assyria.
I dug and saw the skeletal bovine remains of an animal which fell victim to the collapse of city walls.... and I stood in awe as the whole picture of the battle was revealed by the archaeological evidences.... the breaching of the city gate and the clinkers of burned mud brick in destruction.... finding rounded stones for use in slingshots next to flattened grinding stones used for daily bread.
And I just stood in awe to be walking at the same level as those in the Northern Kingdom, 2700 years ago. Its one thing to be "walking in the footsteps of Jesus" and another to see total destruction of an entire city in siege; but both are biblical accounts and supported by archaeological and historical evidences. I'm still amazed at the history lesson I learned and I just wanted to share how the land still reveals the accuracy of the Bible.
~serapha~
