News Archaeology

Ancient cemetery provides peek into Philistines’ lives, health

Burial site of hundreds of Israelites’ mysterious enemies could yield clues to population’s origins

Philistine remains

GRAVE FIND  A researcher cleans the skeleton of a person interred around 3,000 years ago at a recently discovered Philistine cemetery along Israel’s coast. A small jug was placed on the dead person’s face at the time of burial.

©Tsafrir Abayov, Leon Levy Expedition

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

SAN ANTONIO — A roughly 3,000-year-old cemetery on Israel’s coast is providing an unprecedented look at burial practices of the Philistines, a mysterious population known from the Old Testament for having battled the Israelites.