Archaeologists find the gate to Goliath’s hometown

Gath was destroyed in 830 BCE by Hazael, the king of Damascus.

Archaeologists have uncovered the entrance to the ancient Biblical city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath the giant.

The head of an archaeological excavation in Israel has reported the recent finding of a major biblical city that was considered a metropolis at its time in the ninth century B.C.

Professor Aren Maeir and his colleagues conducted the excavations in the Tel Zafit national park, which is located between Ashkelon and Jerusalem.

The excavation at Tel Zafit has been underway for 20 years.

“‘It appears we have located a monumental city gate of the lower city of Gath”, Maeir wrote, adding “We still have to do a lot of cleaning, defining, digging and measuring to do, but it appears that there are really good chances we have truly landed on quite an astounding find”.

The door of Gath is mentioned in the Bible when David fled from Saul to Achish the king of Gath.

The team also found a fortification wall in addition to a number of buildings, including a temple and an iron production facility.

The Ackerman Family Bar-Ilan University Expedition to Gath is a long-term investigation aimed at studying the archaeology and history of one of the most important sites in Israel.

Also involved in the dig are experts from the University of Melbourne, the University of Manitoba, Brigham Young University, Yeshiva University, the University of Kansas and others.

So far, according to the statement from Bar-Ilan, the group has discovered Philistine Temples dating to the 11th through 9th century BCE, evidence of an quake in the 8th century BCE possibly connected to the natural disaster mentioned in the Book of Amos I:1, the earliest decipherable Philistine inscription ever to be discovered, which contains two names similar to the name Goliath. Because the remaining walls are so massive, it may take several seasons to fully uncover them, Maeir said.