Three altar horns were discovered during ABR’s excavations at Shiloh, Israel this season. Horn one: 38 cm long and 23.5 cm wide (15” x 9.25”) comprised part of an Early Roman wall. Horn two: 18 cm long and 12.5 cm wide (7” x 5”) lay about three meters (10’) to the southwest. Horn three: 38 cm long and 20 cm wide (15” x 7.8”) emerged from a destruction matrix in an adjacent square. The elevation of horns one and two was virtually identical, but the elevation of horn three measured one meter (3.2’) lower. All three horns came from the general area of a monumental Iron Age building (1177-980 BC) which orients east-west. The same area yielded a ceramic pomegranate and a Thutmose III scarab in 2018. The original altar likely included four horns, like the four-horned Beersheva altar that was dismantled and placed in secondary usage in King Hezekiah’s 8th century reforms (2 Chronicles 29-32, 2 Kings 18:4). Shiloh served as the location of the Israelite tabernacle for over three centuries, and the altar fragments may have been part of the early Israelite cultic system that operated there. A peer-reviewed article by Tim Lopez, Kevin Larsen, Mark Hassler, and Scott Stripling is forthcoming.
Links:
- Learn more about the Shiloh excavations: https://biblearchaeology.org/shiloh-excavations
- Sign-up to dig at Shiloh: https://biblearchaeology.org/50-the-shiloh-excavations/4455-sign-up-for-the-2020-excavations-at-biblical-shiloh
