Editing Philistines (section)

== Archaeological evidence ==

===Territory===
{{main|Philistia}}
[[File:12 Tribes of Israel Map.svg|thumb|upright=1|Land of the Philistines, [[Philistia]] (lower left), and the [[twelve tribes of Israel]], based on the [[Book of Joshua#Division of the land .28chapters 13.E2.80.9321.29|Book of Joshua]], around 1200–1050 BC]]
According to [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]] 13:3<ref>{{bibleverse||Joshua|13:3|HE}}</ref> and 1 Samuel 6:17,<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Samuel|6:17|HE}}</ref> the land of the Philistines, called Philistia, was a pentapolis in the southwestern Levant comprising the five [[city-state]]s of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath, from [[HaBesor Stream|Wadi Gaza]] in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with no fixed border to the east.<ref name="Fahlbusch and Bromiley, p. 185">{{harvnb|Fahlbusch|Bromiley|2005|loc="Philistines", p. 185}}.</ref>

[[Tell Qasile]] (a "port city") and [[Aphek (biblical)|Aphek]] were located on the northern frontier of Philistine territory, and Tell Qasile in particular may have been inhabited by both Philistine and non-Philistine people.<ref name="Ahlström1993">{{cite book|author=Gösta Werner Ahlström|title=The History of Ancient Palestine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cSAlLBZKaAC&pg=PA311|year=1993|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-2770-6|page=311}}</ref>

The location of Gath is not entirely certain, although the site of [[Tell es-Safi]], not far from Ekron, is currently the most favoured.<ref name="Bryce2009">{{cite book|author=Trevor Bryce|title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwwNS0diXP4C|date=10 September 2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-15907-9|page=249}}</ref>

The identity of the city of [[Ziklag]], which according to the Bible marked the border between the Philistine and Israelite territory, remains uncertain.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/z/ziklag.html| title = Butler, Trent C, editor. ''Holman Bible Dictionary'', "Ziklag" (1991)}}</ref>

In the western part of the [[Jezreel Valley]], 23 of the 26 Iron Age I sites (12th to 10th centuries BC) yielded typical Philistine pottery. These sites include [[Tel Megiddo]], [[Tel Yokneam]], [[Tel Qiri]], [[Afula]], [[Tel Qashish]], Be'er Tiveon, Hurvat Hazin, Tel Risim, Tel Re'ala, Hurvat Tzror, Tel Sham, [[Midrakh Oz]] and Tel Zariq. Scholars have attributed the presence of Philistine pottery in northern Israel to their role as mercenaries for the Egyptians during the Egyptian military administration of the land in the 12th century BC. This presence may also indicate further expansion of the Philistines to the valley during the 11th century BC, or their trade with the Israelites. There are biblical references to Philistines in the valley during the times of the [[Book of Judges|Judges]]. The quantity of Philistine pottery within these sites is still quite small, showing that even if the Philistines did settle the valley, they were a minority that blended within the Canaanite population during the 12th century BC. The Philistines seem to have been present in the southern valley during the 11th century, which may relate to the biblical account of their victory at the [[Battle of Gilboa]].<ref name="auto"/>

===Egyptian inscriptions===
Since [[Edward Hincks]]<ref name="Hincks"/> and William Osburn Jr.<ref name="Osburn"/> in 1846, biblical scholars have connected the biblical Philistines with the Egyptian "[[Peleset]]" inscriptions;<ref name="Van2">{{harvnb|Vandersleyen|1985|pp=40–41 n.9}}: [Original French]: "''À ma connaissance, les plus anciens savants qui ont proposé explicitement l' identification des Pourousta avec les Philistins sont'' William Osburn Jr., ''Ancient Egypt, Her Testimony to the Truth of the Bible''..., Londres 1846. p. 99. 107. 137. et Edward Hincks, ''An Attempt to Ascertain the Number, Names, and Powers, of the Letters of the Hieroglyphic or Ancient Egyptian Alphabet'', Dublin, 1847, p. 47"<br />[Translation]: "To my knowledge, the earliest scholars who explicitly proposed the identification of Pourousta with the Philistines are William Osburn Jr., ''Ancient Egypt, Her Testimony to the Truth of the Bible'' ..., London, 1846. pp. 99, 107, 137, and Edward Hincks, '' An Attempt to Ascertain the Number, Names, and Powers, of the Letters of the Alphabet Egyptian Hieroglyphic gold Ancient '', Dublin, 1847, p. 47"</ref><ref name="Van1"/> and since 1873, both have been connected with the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] "[[Pelasgians]]".<ref name="Drews55" /> The evidence for these connections is etymological and has been disputed.<ref name="YasurLandau"/>

Based on the Peleset inscriptions, it has been suggested that the [[Casluhim|Casluhite]]{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} Philistines formed part of the conjectured "Sea Peoples" who repeatedly attacked Egypt during the later [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Nineteenth Dynasty]].<ref name="AK2013">{{citation|title=The Philistines and Other "Sea Peoples" in Text and Archaeology|work=Society of Biblical Literature Archaeology and biblical studies|volume=15|first=Ann E.|last=Killebrew|publisher=Society of Biblical Lit|date=2013|isbn=978-1-58983-721-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBCl2IQfNioC&pg=PA1|page=2}}. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the French Egyptologist G. Maspero (1896), the somewhat misleading term "Sea Peoples" encompasses the ethnonyms Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Teresh, Eqwesh, Denyen, Sikil / Tjekker, Weshesh, and Peleset (Philistines). [Footnote: The modern term "Sea Peoples" refers to peoples that appear in several New Kingdom Egyptian texts as originating from "islands" (tables 1-2; Adams and Cohen, this volume; see, e.g., Drews 1993, 57 for a summary). The use of quotation marks in association with the term "Sea Peoples" in our title is intended to draw attention to the problematic nature of this commonly used term. It is noteworthy that the designation "of the sea" appears only in relation to the Sherden, Shekelesh, and Eqwesh. Subsequently, this term was applied somewhat indiscriminately to several additional ethnonyms, including the Philistines, who are portrayed in their earliest appearance as invaders from the north during the reigns of Merenptah and Ramesses Ill (see, e.g., Sandars 1978; Redford 1992, 243, n. 14; for a recent review of the primary and secondary literature, see Woudhuizen 2006). Hencefore the term Sea Peoples will appear without quotation marks.]"</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Drews|1995|p=48|ps=: "The thesis that a great "migration of the Sea Peoples" occurred ca. 1200 B.C. is supposedly based on Egyptian inscriptions, one from the reign of Merneptah and another from the reign of Ramesses III. Yet in the inscriptions themselves, such a migration nowhere appears. After reviewing what the Egyptian texts have to say about 'the sea peoples', one Egyptologist (Wolfgang Helck) recently remarked that although some things are unclear, "eins ist aber sicher: Nach den agyptischen Texten haben wir es nicht mit einer 'Volkerwanderung' zu tun." Thus the migration hypothesis is based not on the inscriptions themselves but on their interpretation."}}</ref> Though they were eventually repulsed by Ramesses III, he finally resettled them, according to the theory, to rebuild the coastal towns in Canaan. [[Papyrus Harris I]] details the achievements of the reign (1186–1155 BC) of Ramesses III. In the brief description of the outcome of the battles in Year 8 is the description of the fate of some of the conjectured Sea Peoples. Ramesses claims that, having brought the prisoners to Egypt, he "settled them in strongholds, bound in my name. Numerous were their classes, hundreds of thousands strong. I taxed them all, in clothing and grain from the storehouses and granaries each year." Some scholars suggest it is likely that these "strongholds" were fortified towns in southern Canaan, which would eventually become the five cities (the pentapolis) of the Philistines.<ref>{{harvnb|Redford|1992|p=289}}.</ref> [[Israel Finkelstein]] has suggested that there may be a period of 25–50 years after the sacking of these cities and their reoccupation by the Philistines. It is possible that at first, the Philistines were housed in Egypt; only subsequently late in the troubled end of the reign of Ramesses III would they have been allowed to settle Philistia.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}
[[File:02010_Sea_People,_Medinet_Habu_Ramses_III._Tempel_Nordostwand_cropped.jpg|thumb|[[Peleset]] and [[Sherden]] prisoner being led by an Egyptian soldier under [[Ramesses III]], [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu temple]], around 1185–1152&nbsp;BC|upright=.65]]
The "Peleset" appear in four different texts from the time of the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]].<ref name="Killebrew, p. 202"/> Two of these, the inscriptions at [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu]] and the [[stele|Rhetorical Stela]] at [[Deir al-Medinah]], are dated to the time of the reign of Ramesses III (1186–1155&nbsp;BC).<ref name="Killebrew, p. 202">{{harvnb|Killebrew|2005|p=202}}.</ref> Another was composed in the period immediately following the death of Ramesses III ([[Papyrus Harris I]]).<ref name="Killebrew, p. 202"/> The fourth, the [[Onomasticon of Amenope]], is dated to some time between the end of the 12th or early 11th century BC.<ref name="Killebrew, p. 202"/>

The inscriptions at Medinet Habu consist of images depicting a coalition of Sea Peoples, among them the Peleset, who are said in the accompanying text to have been defeated by Ramesses III during his Year 8 campaign. In about 1175&nbsp;BC, Egypt was threatened with a massive land and sea invasion by the "Sea Peoples," a coalition of foreign enemies which included the [[Tjeker]], the Shekelesh, the Deyen, the Weshesh, the Teresh, the [[Sherden]], and the ''PRST''. They were comprehensively defeated by Ramesses III, who fought them in "[[Djahy]]" (the eastern Mediterranean coast) and at "the mouths of the rivers" (the [[Nile Delta]]), recording his victories in a series of inscriptions in his mortuary temple at [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu]]. Scholars have been unable to conclusively determine which images match what peoples described in the [[reliefs]] depicting two major battle scenes. A separate relief on one of the bases of the Osiris pillars with an accompanying hieroglyphic text clearly identifying the person depicted as a captive ''Peleset'' chief is of a bearded man without headdress.<ref name="Killebrew, p. 202"/> This has led to the interpretation that Ramesses III defeated the Sea Peoples, including Philistines, and settled their captives in fortresses in southern Canaan; another related theory suggests that Philistines invaded and settled the coastal plain for themselves.<ref>{{harvnb|Ehrlich|1996|p=9}}.</ref> The soldiers were quite tall and clean-shaven. They wore [[breastplate]]s and short [[kilt]]s, and their superior weapons included [[chariot]]s drawn by two horses. They carried small shields and fought with straight swords and spears.<ref name="followtherabbi.com">{{cite web|url=http://followtherabbi.com/guide/detail/philistines|title=Philistines &#124; Follow The Rabbi|publisher=followtherabbi.com|access-date=25 September 2014|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714190332/http://followtherabbi.com/guide/detail/philistines}}</ref>

The Rhetorical Stela are less discussed, but are noteworthy in that they mention the ''Peleset'' together with a people called the ''Teresh'', who sailed "in the midst of the sea". The ''Teresh'' are thought to have originated from the [[Anatolia]]n coast and their association with the ''Peleset'' in this inscription is seen as providing some information on the possible origin and identity of the Philistines.<ref name="Killebrew, pp. 204–205">{{harvnb|Killebrew|2005|pp=204–205}}.</ref>

The Harris Papyrus, which was found in a tomb at Medinet Habu, also recalls Ramesses III's battles with the Sea Peoples, declaring that the ''Peleset'' were "reduced to ashes." The [[Papyrus Harris I]], records how the defeated foe were brought in captivity to Egypt and settled in fortresses.<ref>{{harvnb|Ehrlich|1996|pp=7–8}}.</ref> The Harris papyrus can be interpreted in two ways: either the captives were settled in Egypt and the rest of the Philistines/Sea Peoples carved out a territory for themselves in Canaan, or else it was Ramesses himself who settled the Sea Peoples (mainly Philistines) in Canaan as mercenaries.<ref>{{harvnb|Ehrlich|1996|p=8 (Footnote #42)}}.</ref> Egyptian strongholds in Canaan are also mentioned, including a temple dedicated to [[Amun]], which some scholars place in Gaza; however, the lack of detail indicating the precise location of these strongholds means that it is unknown what impact these had, if any, on Philistine settlement along the coast.<ref name="Killebrew, pp. 204–205"/>

The only mention in an Egyptian source of the Peleset in conjunction with any of the five cities that are said in the Bible to have made up the Philistine pentapolis comes in the Onomasticon of Amenope. The sequence in question has been translated as: "Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, Assyria, Shubaru [...] ''Sherden'', ''Tjekker'', ''Peleset'', ''Khurma'' [...]" Scholars have advanced the possibility that the other Sea Peoples mentioned were connected to these cities in some way as well.<ref name="Killebrew, pp. 204–205"/>

===Material culture: Aegean origin and historical evolution===
====Aegean connection====
[[File:Ashdod-Philistine-Culture-Museum-31139.jpg|thumb|Philistine pottery, Corinne Mamane Museum of Philistine Culture]]

[[File:Philistine pottery petrie.png|thumb|Philistine pottery patterns]]

Many scholars have interpreted the ceramic and technological evidence attested to by archaeology as being associated with the Philistine advent in the area as strongly suggestive that they formed part of a large scale immigration to southern Canaan,<ref name="NewSci" /><ref name="BAS">{{cite web | url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/who-were-philistines-where-did-they-come-from/ | title=Who Were the Philistines, and Where Did They Come From? | date=16 April 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Philistine-people | title=Philistine &#124; Definition, People, Homeland, & Facts &#124; Britannica | date=27 August 2024 }}</ref> probably from [[Anatolia]] and [[Cyprus]], in the 12th century BC.{{sfn|Killebrew|2005|p=230}}

The proposed connection between [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] culture and Philistine culture was further documented by finds at the excavation of Ashdod, Ekron, Ashkelon, and more recently Gath, four of the five Philistine cities in Canaan. The fifth city is Gaza. Especially notable is the early Philistine pottery, a locally made version of the Aegean Mycenaean [[Late Helladic IIIC]] pottery, which is decorated in shades of brown and black. This later developed into the distinctive Philistine pottery of the Iron Age I, with black and red decorations on white slip known as [[Philistine Bichrome ware]].<ref>{{harvnb|Maeir|2005|pp=528–536}}.</ref> Also of particular interest is a large, well-constructed building covering {{convert|240|m2}}, discovered at Ekron. Its walls are broad, designed to support a second story, and its wide, elaborate entrance leads to a large hall, partly covered with a roof supported on a row of columns. In the floor of the hall is a circular hearth paved with pebbles, as is typical in Mycenaean [[megaron]] hall buildings; other unusual architectural features are paved benches and podiums. Among the finds are three small bronze wheels with eight spokes. Such wheels are known to have been used for portable cultic stands in the Aegean region during this period, and it is therefore assumed that this building served [[Cult (religion)|cultic functions]]. Further evidence concerns [[Ekron inscription|an inscription in Ekron]] to PYGN or PYTN, which some have suggested refers to "[[Potnia]]", the title given to an ancient [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] goddess. Excavations in Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath reveal dog and pig bones which show signs of having been butchered, implying that these animals were part of the residents' diet.<ref>{{harvnb|Levy|1998|loc=Chapter 20: Lawrence E. Stager, "The Impact of the Sea Peoples in Canaan (1185–1050&nbsp;BCE)", p. 344}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Stager |first=Lawrence |title=When Canaanites and Philistines Ruled Ashkelon |publisher=Biblical Archaeological Review |url=http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/canaanites-and-philistines.asp |access-date=4 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519195012/http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/canaanites-and-philistines.asp |archive-date=19 May 2011 }}</ref> Among other findings there are wineries where fermented wine was produced, as well as loom weights resembling those of Mycenaean sites in Greece.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schloen|first=David|title=Recent Discoveries at Ashkelon|publisher=The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago|date=30 July 2007|url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/nn/spr95_ash.html|access-date=4 April 2011|archive-date=2 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402152051/http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/nn/spr95_ash.html}}</ref> Further evidence of the Aegean origin of the initial Philistine settlers was provided by studying their burial practices in the so far only discovered Philistine cemetery, excavated at Ashkelon (see below).

However, for many years scholars such as Gloria London, John Brug, Shlomo Bunimovitz, [[Helga Weippert]], and Edward Noort, among others, have noted the "difficulty of associating pots with people", proposing alternative suggestions such as potters following their markets or [[technology transfer]], and emphasize the continuities with the local world in the material remains of the coastal area identified with "Philistines", rather than the differences emerging from the presence of Cypriote and/or Aegean/ Mycenaean influences. The view is summed up in the idea that 'kings come and go, but cooking pots remain', suggesting that the foreign Aegean elements in the Philistine population may have been a minority.<ref name="Ehrlich1996">{{harvnb|Ehrlich|1996|p=10|ps=: "The difficulty of associating pots with peoples or ethnic groups has often been commented on. Nonetheless, the association of the Philistines with the Iron Age I bichrome pottery bearing their name is most often taken for granted. Although scholars have backed off from postulating that every site with bichrome pottery was under Philistine control, the ethnic association remains... A cautionary note has, however, been sounded in particular by Brug, Bunimovitz, H. Weippert, and Noort, among others. In essence, their theories rest on the fact that even among sites in the Philistine heartland, the supposed Philistine pottery does not represent the major portion of the finds... While not denying Cypriote and/or Aegean/ Mycenean influence in the material cultural traditions of coastal Canaan in the early Iron Age, in addition to that of Egyptian and local Canaanite traditions, the above named "minimalist" scholars emphasize the continuities between the ages and not the differences. As H. Weippert has stated, "Könige kommen, Könige gehen, aber die Kochtöpfe bleiben." In regard to the bichrome pottery, she follows Galling and speculates that it was produced by a family or families of Cypriote potters who followed their markets and immigrated into Canaan once the preexisting trade connections had been severed. The find at Tell Qasile of both bichrome and Canaanite types originating in the same pottery workshop would appear to indicate that the ethnic identification of the potters is at best an open question. At any rate, it cannot be facilely assumed that all bichrome ware was produced by "ethnic" Philistines. Thus Bunimovitz's suggestion to refer to "Philistia pottery" rather than to "Philistine" must be given serious consideration... What holds true for the pottery of Philistia also holds true for other aspects of the regional material culture. Whereas Aegean cultural influence cannot be denied, the continuity with the Late Bronze traditions in Philistia has increasingly come to attention. A number of Iron Age I features which were thought to be imported by the Philistines have been shown to have Late Bronze Age antecedents. It would hence appear that the Philistines of foreign (or "Philistine") origin were the minority in Philistia."}}</ref><ref name="Richard2003">{{cite book|editor=Suzanne Richard|title=Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader|chapter=Ethnicity and Material Culture|author=Gloria London|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khR0apPid8gC&pg=PA146|year=2003|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1-57506-083-5|page=146}}</ref> However, Louise A. Hitchcock has pointed that other elements of Philistine material culture like their language, art, technology, architecture, rituals and administrative practices are rooted in [[Cyprus|Cypriot]] and [[Minoan civilization]]s, supporting the view that the Philistines were connected to the Aegean.<ref name="Hitchcock">{{cite book |title=Tell it in Gath: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Israel : Essays in Honor of Aren M. Maeir on the Occasion of His Sixtieth Birthday |last=Hitchcock |first=Louise A. |publisher=Zaphon |year=2018 |isbn=978-3-96327-032-1 |pages=304–321 |editor-last=Shai |editor-first=Itzhaq |chapter=‘All the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites’ (2 Samuel 2:15-18) –  An Up-To-Date Account of the Minoan Connection with the Philistines |editor-last2=Chadwick |editor-first2=Jeffrey R. |editor-last3=Hitchcock |editor-first3=Louise |editor-last4=Dagan |editor-first4=Amit |editor-last5=McKinny |editor-first5=Chris |editor-last6=Uziel |editor-first6=Joe |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/37810590}}</ref>

Following [[DNA sequencing]] using the modern method, DNA testing has concluded sufficient evidence that there was indeed a notable surge of immigration from Aegean,<ref name="NewSci" /> supporting the Biblical/Aegean connection and theory that the Philistine people were initially a migrant group from Europe.

====Geographic evolution====
Material culture evidence, primarily pottery styles, indicates that the Philistines originally settled in a few sites in the south, such as Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron.<ref name="Gadot">{{harvnb|Fantalkin|Yasur-Landau|2008|loc=Yuval Gadot, "Continuity and Change in the Late Bronze to Iron Age Transition in Israel's Coastal Plain: A Long-Term Perspective", pp. 63–64|ps=: "Based on material culture studies, we know that the Philistines initially immigrated only to the southern Coastal Plain"}}.</ref> It was not until several decades later, about 1150&nbsp;BC, that they expanded into surrounding areas such as the [[Yarkon River|Yarkon]] region to the north (the area of modern [[Jaffa]], where there were Philistine farmsteads at [[Tel Gerisa]] and [[Aphek (biblical)|Aphek]], and a larger settlement at Tel Qasile).<ref name="Gadot"/> Most scholars, therefore, believe that the settlement of the Philistines took place in two stages. In the first, dated to the reign of Ramesses III, they were limited to the coastal plain, the region of the Five Cities; in the second, dated to the collapse of Egyptian hegemony in southern Canaan, their influence spread inland beyond the coast.<ref>{{harvnb|Grabbe|2008|p=213}}.</ref> During the 10th to 7th centuries BC, the distinctiveness of the material culture appears to have been absorbed with that of surrounding peoples.<ref>{{harvnb|Killebrew|2005|p=234|ps=: "During the Iron II (tenth-seventh centuries B.C.E. ), the Philistines completed the process of acculturation with the surrounding indigenous culture (Stone 1995). By the end of the Iron II, the Philistines had lost much of their distinctiveness as expressed in their material culture (see Gitin 1998; 2003; 2004 and bibliography there). My suggested chronological framework for Philistine acculturation spans the tenth to seventh centuries B.C.E. (Tel Miqne-Ekron Strata IV-I; Ashdod Strata X-VI)."}}.</ref>

===== Early connections =====
There is evidence that Cretans traded with Levantine merchants since the [[Neolithic]] [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] era,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kieser |first=D. |title=CHAPTER 1: The Dawn of the Bronze Age – The Aegean in the 3rd Millennium |url=https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/2066/02chapter1.pdf |journal=Unisa International Repository |via=}}</ref> which increased by the Early Bronze Age.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shelmerdine |first=Cynthia W. |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-139-00189-2 |edition=2nd |pages=209–229}}</ref> In the Middle Bronze Age, coastal plains in the southern Levant economically prospered due to long-distance exchange with the Aegean, Cypriot and Egyptian civilizations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marcus |first1=Ezra S. |last2=Porath |first2=Yosef |last3=Paley |first3=Samuel M. |date=2008 |title=THE EARLY MIDDLE BRONZE AGE IIa PHASES AT TEL IFSHAR AND THEIR EXTERNAL RELATIONS |journal=Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant |volume=18 |pages=221–244 |doi=10.1553/AEundL18s221 |jstor=23788614 }}</ref>

The Cretans also influenced the architecture of Middle Bronze Age Canaanite palaces such as [[Tel Kabri]]. Dr. Assaf Yasur-Landau of the [[University of Haifa]] said that "it was, without doubt, a conscious decision made by the city's rulers who wished to associate with Mediterranean culture and not adopt Syrian and Mesopotamian styles of art like other cities in Canaan did; the Canaanites were living in the Levant and wanted to feel European."<ref>[http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134292 "Remains of Minoan fresco found at Tel Kabri"]; [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109121119.htm "Remains Of Minoan-Style Painting Discovered During Excavations of Canaanite Palace"], ''ScienceDaily,'' 7 December 2009</ref>

====Burial practices====
The [[Leon Levy]] Expedition, consisting of archaeologists from [[Harvard University]], [[Boston College]], [[Wheaton College (Illinois)|Wheaton College]] and [[Troy University]], conducted a 30-year investigation of the burial practices of the Philistines, by excavating a Philistine cemetery containing more than 150 burials dating from the 11th to 8th century BC [[Ashkelon#History|Tel Ashkelon]]. In July 2016, the expedition finally announced the results of their excavation.<ref name="MSN_News">{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ancient-philistine-cemetery-in-israel-could-solve-one-of-the-bible%E2%80%99s-biggest-mysteries/ar-BBuajjo?li=AAdeCd7&ocid=spartanntp|title=Ancient philistine cemetery in Israel could solve one of the Bible's biggest mysteries|website=www.msn.com}}</ref>

Archaeological evidence, provided by architecture, burial arrangements, ceramics, and pottery fragments inscribed with non-Semitic writing, indicates that the Philistines were not native to Canaan. Most of the 150 dead were buried in oval-shaped graves, some were interred in ashlar chamber tombs, while there were 4 who were cremated. These burial arrangements were very common to the Aegean cultures, but not to the one indigenous to Canaan. [[Lawrence Stager]] of Harvard University believes that Philistines came to Canaan by ships before the Battle of the Delta ({{circa|1175}}{{nbsp}}BC). DNA was extracted from the skeletons for [[archaeogenetics|archaeogenetic]] population analysis.<ref name="Haaretz">Philippe Bohstrom, 'Archaeologists find first-ever Philistine cemetery in Israel,' Haaretz 10 July 2016. [http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.729879]: "Cemetery in ancient Ashkelon, dating back 2700-3000 years, proves the Philistines came from the Aegean, and that in contrast to the conventional wisdom, they were a peaceful folk.</ref>

The Leon Levy Expedition, which has been going on since 1985, helped break down some of the previous assumptions that the Philistines were uncultured people by having evidence of perfume near the bodies in order for the deceased to smell it in the afterlife.<ref name="NPR">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/10/485469088/long-buried-by-bad-reputation-philistines-get-new-life-with-archaeological-find|title=Long Buried By Bad Reputation, Philistines Get New Life With Archaeological Find|website=NPR.org|date=10 July 2016 |last1=Dwyer |first1=Colin }}</ref>

====Genetic evidence====
{{See also|Genetic history of the Middle East}}

A study carried out on skeletons at Ashkelon in 2019 by an interdisciplinary team of scholars from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Leon Levy Expedition found that human remains at Ashkelon, associated with Philistines during the Iron Age, derived most of their ancestry from the local Levantine gene pool, but with a certain amount of [[Southern Europe|Southern-European]]-related admixture. This confirms previous historic and archaeological records of a Southern-European migration event.<ref name=pmid31281897/><ref name="NewSci">{{cite web | url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2208581-ancient-dna-reveals-that-jews-biblical-rivals-were-from-greece/ | title=Ancient DNA reveals that Jews' biblical rivals were from Greece }}</ref> The DNA suggests an influx of people of European heritage into Ashkelon in the 12th century BC. The individuals' DNA shows similarities to that of ancient Cretans, but it is impossible to specify the exact place in Europe from where Philistines had migrated to Levant, due to limited number of ancient genomes available for study, "with 20 to 60 per cent similarity to DNA from ancient skeletons from Crete and Iberia and that from modern people living in [[Sardinia]]."<ref>{{cite journal|date=4 July 2019|title=Ancient DNA reveals the roots of the Biblical Philistines|journal=Nature|volume=571|issue=7764|page=149|doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02081-x|s2cid=195847736}}</ref><ref name="pmid31281897" />

After two centuries since their arrival, the Southern-European genetic markers were dwarfed by the local Levantine gene pool, suggesting intensive intermarriage, but the Philistine culture and peoplehood remained distinct from other local communities for six centuries.<ref name="timesofisrael">{{Cite web | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/know-thine-enemy-dna-study-solves-ancient-riddle-of-origins-of-the-philistines/ |title = Know thine enemy: DNA study solves ancient riddle of origins of the Philistines|website = [[The Times of Israel]]}}</ref>

The finding fits with an understanding of the Philistines as an "entangled" or "transcultural" group consisting of peoples of various origins, said [[Aren Maeir]], an archaeologist at [[Bar-Ilan University]] in Israel. "While I fully agree that there was a significant component of non-Levantine origins among the Philistines in the early Iron Age," he said, "these foreign components were not of one origin, and, no less important, they mixed with local Levantine populations from the early Iron Age onward." Laura Mazow, an archaeologist at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., said the research paper supported the idea that there was some migration from the west.<ref name="pmid31281897" /> She added that the findings "support the picture that we see in the archaeological record of a complex, multicultural process that has been resistant to reconstruction by any single historical model."<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last1=St Fleur |first1=Nicholas |title=DNA Begins to Unlock Secrets of the Ancient Philistines |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/science/philistines-dna-origins.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=3 July 2019}}</ref>

Modern archaeologists agree that the Philistines were different from their neighbors: their arrival on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean in the early 12th century B.C. is marked by pottery with close parallels to the ancient Greek world, the use of an Aegean —instead of a Semitic— script, and the consumption of pork.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/07/ancient-dna-reveal-philistine-origins/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190703194348/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/07/ancient-dna-reveal-philistine-origins/ |archive-date= 3 July 2019 |title = Ancient DNA may reveal origin of the Philistines|website = [[National Geographic Society]]|date = 3 July 2019}}</ref>

===Population===
The population of the area associated with Philistines is estimated to have been around 25,000 in the 12th century BC, rising to a peak of 30,000 in the 11th century BC.<ref name="YL">{{harvnb|Yasur-Landau|2010|p=342}}: "The number of Aegean migrants that reached Philistia in the twelfth century cannot be established, yet something can be said about the scale of migration (Chapter 8). According to calculations of the inhabited area, the population of Philistia after the arrival of the migrants numbered about twenty five thousand in the twelfth century (reaching a peak of thirty thousand in the eleventh century). The continuation of local Canaanite material culture and toponyms indicates that a good part of the population was local. The number of migrants amounted, at most, to half of the population, and perhaps much less. Even the migrant population probably accumulated over at least two generations, the minimum estimated time for the continuous process of migration."</ref> The Canaanite nature of the material culture and [[Toponymy|toponym]]s suggest that much of this population was indigenous, such that the migrant element would likely constitute less than half the total, and perhaps much less.<ref name=YL/>

===Language===
{{Main|Philistine language}}

Virtually nothing is known for certain about the language of the Philistines. Pottery fragments from the period of circa 1500–1000 BC have been found bearing inscriptions in non-Semitic languages, including one in a [[Cypro-Minoan syllabary|Cypro-Minoan script]].<ref>Philippe Bohstrom, [http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.729879 'Archaeologists find first-ever Philistine cemetery in Israel,'] [[Haaretz]] 10 July 2016.</ref> The Bible does not mention any language problems between the Israelites and the Philistines, as it does with other groups up to the Assyrian and Babylonian occupations.<ref name="Zondervan">{{citation|title=The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible|volume=4|first=Merrill|last=Tenney|publisher=Zondervan|year=2010|isbn=978-0-310-87699-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S4MZREX03u0C&pg=PT2131|quote=Little is known of the Philistine language or script. There is never any indication in the Bible of a language problem between the Israelites and Philistines. The Philistines must have adopted the indigenous Semitic language soon after arriving in Canaan, or they might have already known a Semitic language before they came. Their names are usually Semitic (e.g., Ahimelek, Mitinti, Hanun, and the god Dagon). But two Philistine names may have come from the Asianic area: Achish has been compared with Anchises, and Goliath with Alyattes. A few Hebrew words may be Philistine loanwords. The word for helmet (koba H3916 or qoba H7746) is a foreign word often attributed to the Philistines. The term for "lords," already mentioned (seren), can possibly be connected with tyrannos ("tyrant"), a pre-Greek or Asianic word. Some have connected three seals discovered in the excavations at Ashdod with the Philistines. The signs resemble the [[Cypro-Minoan script]]. Three inscribed clay tablets from Deir Alla (SUCCOTH) also have been attributed to the Philistines. These signs resemble the Cypro-Mycenaean script. Both the seals and clay tablets are still imperfectly understood.}}</ref> Later, under the [[Achaemenids]], [[Nehemiah]] 13:23-24 records that when Judean men intermarried women from [[Moab]], [[Ammon]] and Philistine cities, half the offspring of Judean marriages with women from Ashdod could speak only their mother tongue, ''Ašdōdīṯ'', not Judean Hebrew (''Yehūdīṯ''); although by then this language might have been an Aramaic dialect.<ref name=":2">{{cite book| author=Peter Machinist | editor= Eliezer D. Oren| chapter=Biblical Traditions: The Philistines and Israelite History | title=The Sea Peoples and Their World: A Reassessment | publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2013 |pages=53–83}}, p. 64.</ref> There is some limited evidence in favour of the assumption that the Philistines were originally [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European-speakers]], either from Greece or [[Luwian language|Luwian]] speakers from the coast of [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], on the basis of some Philistine-related words found in the Bible not appearing to be related to other Semitic languages.<ref name="Rabin 1963 113–139">{{harvnb|Rabin|1963|pp=113–139}}.</ref> Such theories suggest that the Semitic elements in the language were borrowed from their neighbours in the region. For example, the Philistine word for captain, "seren", may be related to the Greek word ''[[Tyrant|tyrannos]]'' (thought by linguists to have been borrowed by the Greeks from an [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian language]], such as [[Luwian language|Luwian]] or [[Lydian language|Lydian]]<ref name="Rabin 1963 113–139"/>). Although most Philistine names are Semitic (such as [[Achimelech|Ahimelech]], [[Mitinti]], [[Hanunu|Hanun]], and [[Dagon]])<ref name=Zondervan/> some of the Philistine names, such as Goliath, [[Achish]], and [[Phicol]], appear to be of non-Semitic origin, and Indo-European etymologies have been suggested. Recent finds of inscriptions written in [[Hieroglyphic Luwian]] in Palistin substantiate a connection between the language of the kingdom of Palistin and the Philistines of the southwestern Levant.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harrison |first1=Timothy P. |title=NEO-HITTITES IN THE "LAND OF PALISTIN": Renewed Investigations at Tell Taʿyinat on the Plain of Antioch |journal=Near Eastern Archaeology |date=December 2009 |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=174–189 |doi=10.1086/NEA25754026 |s2cid=166706357 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weeden |first1=Mark |title=After the Hittites: the kingdoms of Karkamish and Palistin in northern Syria |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies |date=December 2013 |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1111/j.2041-5370.2013.00055.x |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17711/1/01-weeden-04_corr-05.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Emanuel |first1=Jeffrey P. |title=King Taita and his 'Palistin': philistine state or neo-hittite kingdom? |journal=Antiguo Oriente: Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente 13, 2015 |date=2015 |url=https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/handle/123456789/6619 }}</ref>

===Religion===
{{Main|Canaanite religion}}

The deities worshipped in the area were [[Baal]], [[Ashteroth]] (that is, [[Astarte]]), [[Asherah]], and Dagon, whose names or variations thereof had already appeared in the earlier attested [[Canaanite religion#Deities|Canaanite pantheon]].<ref name="Fahlbusch and Bromiley, p. 185"/> The Philistines may also have worshipped [[Qudshu]] and [[Anat]].<ref>Gitin, Seymour, and Mordechai Cogan. "A New Type of Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron." ''Israel Exploration Journal'', vol. 49, no. 3/4, Israel Exploration Society, 1999, pp. 193–202, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27926893.</ref> [[Beelzebub]], a supposed hypostasis of Baal, is described in the Hebrew Bible as the patron deity of Ekron, though no explicit attestation of such a god or his worship has thus far been discovered, and the name ''Baal-zebub'' itself may be the result of an intentional distortion by the Israelites.<ref>{{cite book |quote=It is not as probable that b'l-zbl, which can mean "lord of the (heavenly) dwelling" in Ugaritic, was changed to b'l zbb to make the divine name an opprobrius epithet. The reading Beelzebul in Mt.&nbsp;10:25 would then reflect the right form of the name, a wordplay on "master of the house" (Gk oikodespótēs). |chapter=Baal-Zebub |editor-first=Geoffrey W.|editor-last= Bromiley| editor-link=Geoffrey W. Bromiley|orig-date=1988 |year=2002 |volume=1 |title=The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia |edition=Revised (381) |publisher=[[Eerdmans]]|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|isbn=978-0-8028-3785-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote=An alternative suggested by many is to connect zĕbûl with a noun meaning "(exalted) abode". |chapter=Beelzebul |editor-first= David Noel |editor-last=Freedman|year=1996 |volume=1 |title=The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary |edition=639 |location=New York City| publisher= Doubleday |isbn=978-0-300-14081-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |quote=In contemporary Semitic speech it may have been understood as 'the master of the house'; if so, this phrase could be used in a double sense in Mt.&nbsp;10:25b. |chapter= Baal-Zebub, Beelzebul |editor1-first=Alan R.|editor1-last=Millard |editor2-first=I. Howard|editor2-last=Marshall |editor3-first=J.I.|editor3-last=Packer|editor4-first=Donald|editor4-last= Wiseman| editor-link4= Donald Wiseman|date=1996 |title=New Bible dictionary |edition=3rd (108) |location=Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Illinois|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-1439-8}}</ref> Another name, attested on the [[Ekron Royal Dedicatory Inscription]], is PT[-]YH, unique to the Philistine sphere and possibly representing a goddess in their pantheon,<ref name="Ben2019">{{cite journal |title=Philistine Cult and Religion According to Archaeological Evidence |journal=Religions |last=Ben-Shlomo |first=David |issue=2 |volume=10 |page=74 |doi=10.3390/rel10020074 |year=2019 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref> though an exact identity has been subject to scholarly debate.

Although the Bible cites Dagon as the main Philistine god, there is a stark lack of any evidence indicating the Philistines had any particular proclivity to his worship. In fact, no evidence of Dagon worship whatsoever is discernible at Philistine sites, with even theophoric names invoking the deity being unattested in the already limited corpus of known Philistine names. A further assessment of the Iron Age I finds worship of Dagon in any immediate Canaanite context, let alone one which is indisputably Philistine, as seemingly non-existent.<ref name="Emanuel">Emanuel, J. P. (2011). Digging for Dagon: A Reassessment of the Archaeological Evidence for a Cult of Philistine Dagon in Iron I Ashdod. In Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA.</ref> Still, Dagon-worship probably wasn't completely unheard of amongst the Philistines, as multiple mentions of a city known as ''[[Beth Dagon]]'' in Assyrian, Phoenician, and Egyptian sources may imply the god was venerated in at least some parts of Philistia.<ref name="Emanuel" /> Furthermore, the inscription of the [[sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II]], dating to the 6th century BC, calls [[Jaffa]], a Philistine city, one of the "mighty lands of Dagon",<ref>{{cite book| title = Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament | last = Pritchard | first = James | year = 1969 | publisher = Princeton University Press | publication-place = Princeton, N.J | isbn = 978-0-691-03503-1 | oclc = 382005 | page = 662 }}</ref> though this does little in the way of clarifying the god's importance to the Philistine pantheon.

The most common material religious artefact finds from Philistine sites are goddess figurines/chairs, sometimes called ''Ashdoda''. This seems to imply a dominant female figure, which is consistent with [[Minoan religion|Ancient Aegean religion]].<ref name="Ben2019" />

===Economy===
Cities excavated in the area attributed to Philistines give evidence of careful town planning, including industrial zones. The olive industry of Ekron alone includes about 200 olive oil installations. Engineers estimate that the city's production may have been more than 1,000 tons, 30 percent of Israel's present-day production.<ref name="followtherabbi.com"/>

There is considerable evidence for a large industry in [[fermented drink]]. Finds include breweries, wineries, and retail shops marketing beer and wine. Beer mugs and wine [[krater]]s are among the most common pottery finds.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ritenbaugh|first=Richard T.|title=Who Were the Philistines?|location=Charlotte, North Carolina|publisher=Church of the Great God|date=November 2006|access-date=22 December 2011|url=http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/PW/k/1183/Who-Were-Philistines.htm#ixzz1gSjjfRrS}}{{better source needed|date=August 2015}}</ref>

The Philistines also seemed to be experienced [[metalworking|metalworkers]], as complex wares of gold, bronze, and iron, have been found at Philistine sites as early as the 12th century BC,<ref>{{cite web|last=Dothan|first=Trude|title=What We Know About the Philistines|publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society Library|date=July–August 1982|access-date=22 October 2021|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/8/4/1}}</ref> as well as artisanal weaponry.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gitin|first=Seymour|title=Excavating Ekron: Major Philistine City Survived by Absorbing Other Cultures|publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society Library|date=November–December 2005|access-date=22 October 2021|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/8/4/1}}</ref>