Archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel recently announced that he believes his team has discovered the Philistine city of Ziklag, where David lived when he fled from King Saul. Since 2015, Garfinkel and his team have been excavating at Khirbet al-Ra‘i, located between Kiryat Gat and Lachish. They believe they have unearthed a Philistine village at the site dating back to the 12th century BC. A large, stone structure was excavated in which were stone and metal vessels similar to ones found at other Philistine sites. They've also uncovered a rural settlement dating to the 10th century BC with pottery vessels that are common to other Jewish sites from the time of David. In addition a destruction layer, which they attribute to the Amalekites (1 Sam. 30:14), was also unearthed. However, several other prominent archaeologists have objected to the claims that Khirbet al-Ra‘i is Ziklag, including Aren Maeir and Israel Finkelstein. They argue that the site in question is in the wrong geographical location, given the biblical description; Khirbet al-Ra‘i, they claim, is too far north, since Ziklag was given to the tribe of Simeon in the southern portion of Judah's inheritance (Joshua 19:5).
Off-site Links:
- https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Biblical-city-of-Ziklag-where-King-David-took-refuge-found-594955
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-archaeologists-say-theyve-found-king-davids-city-of-refuge-a-debate-begins/
- https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-biblical-city-where-philistines-gave-refuge-to-david-found-researchers-claim-1.7455800
