Philistines made up a highly advanced society

Little was known about the Philistines prior to the recent excavation in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon. The famed arch enemies of the ancient Israelites – Goliath was a Philistine – flourished in this area of the Mediterranean, starting in the 12th century BC, but their way of life and origin have remained a mystery. 

That stands to change after what researchers have called the first discovery of a Philistine cemetery. It contains the remains of about 150 people in numerous burial chambers, some containing sophisticated items. 

The team also found DNA on parts of the skeletons and hope that further testing will determine the origins of the Philistine people. We may need to rethink today’s derogatory use of the word philistine, which refers to someone averse to culture and the arts, said archaeologist Lawrence Stager, who has led the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon since 1985. 

“The Philistines have had some bad press, and this will dispel a lot of myths,” Stager said. Stager’s team dug down about 3 metres to uncover the cemetery, which they found to have been used centuries later as a Roman vineyard.