Editing Philistines (section)

====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.