Question

what are the archeological evidence for the origin of Israel into the land of canaan?

Answer 1

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The land of Israel has been the home of peoples of different cultures and beliefs for some one and a half million years. It is to these people and their cultures that the exhibition galleries of the Archaeology Wing is dedicated, serving as primary showcase to the rich and fascinating local archaeological heritage. The display takes the visitor on a journey of unparalleled depth into the historical course of ancient Israel; the birthplace of the Bible, and the cradle of the three monotheistic religions; from prehistoric times - to the beginning of the Ottoman period.

Historical events of prime importance, cultural achievements, technological innovations, and artistic creativity are all displayed in the galleries through thousands of ancient artifacts, many of them are one of a kind. These objects offer a close look to the lifestyle, beliefs, and worldview of the peoples of this area – from ordinary people to kings and monarchs – in distant and fascinating times.

The Dawn of Civilization

The Stone Age / Paleolithic 1.5 million years to 11,500 before today

Neolithic 11,500 - 6,500 before today

This gallery recounts the story of the earliest peoples, and cultures of the Land of Israel. The rare, ancient exhibits displayed here reconstruct the first, unwritten chapters of human history in this region, and shed light on the roots of human culture.

The Land of Israel played a central role in human history from its beginnings. Located at a the crossroads of three continents, it served as a “bridge” along which early humans made their way from their homeland in Africa to Asia, and Europe for the past 1.5 million years . These bold emigrants, prehistoric humans, were the earliest inhabitants of the Land. Although they were different from us, the traces that they left behind indicate how they had already developed our unique human characteristics; the ability to share food, such as the flesh of a wild bull, whose giant horns are displayed in the gallery; to establish dwelling sites; the capability for cooperation to produce stone tools for cutting, digging, and many other functions.

The remains of a fire, lit 780,000 years ago, for protection from predators, for lighting, heating, cooking, and as a gathering place, marks a turning point in the development of mankind. Human qualities are also evident in the small female figurine carved out of volcanic rock. This exemplifies the first known symbol; a small female figurine; dated to a quarter of a million years ago, and considered the world's oldest art work.

The burial of a youth, found together with the antlers of a fallow deer, some 100,000 years ago in a cave in the Galilee - the oldest cemetery in the world – testifies to the emergence of the first modern humans, our species, Homo sapiens. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers were people like us – they brought about a cultural revolution known as "the great leap forward”. Local descendants, who lived in the late Stone Age, 15,000 years ago, were the first permanent settlers. They built stone structures, storage facilities, invented new tools, engaged in personal ornamentation, created art objects such as images of animals, humans, and symbolic objects, sought spiritual meaning in their lives, and developed customs, and practices that are still with us today.

Domesticated seeds for sowing, among the oldest to have been planted in the world, and a grinding bowl from the Neolithic period, are among the earliest evidence to these formative events in the development of human culture. This marked the birth of agriculture, around 10,000 years ago, and the beginning of civilization. The first ritual artifacts were found in sites of the earliest settled communities and ancient tribal kingdoms of the Land of Israel. These included the world's oldest masks, plastered human skulls used in ancestral worship, goddess figurines – alongside such products as textiles and pottery, among the oldest known to us.

The visit in the gallery is, therefore, a journey that lasts hundreds of thousands of years, crossing through the major milestones of mankind's progress. The rare finds on display are silent messages sent to us from the distant past, a universal heritage from our forefathers, and we must pass them on to future generations.

The Land of Canaan

Bronze Age 3,500 – 1,200 BCE

During this crucial period in the history of mankind, the land of Canaan flourished in the shadow of the first great civilizations; Pharaonic Egypt to the south, and Ancient Near Eastern cultures to the north and east. An accelerated process of development, and invention brought about the extensive use of bronze, the beginning of urbanization, as well as the invention of writing.

Unique discoveries presented in the gallery demonstrate the place of Canaan amid the Ancient Near Eastern cultures, illustrating everyday life, the development of technology, and culture in the Land in those days.

More than 5,000 years ago a radical transformation took place throughout the Near East. The first planned cities were built, rapidly developing to become city-states. Arad was a flourishing urban center with commercial ties extending to Egypt as early as the late fourth millennium BCE. A unique clay model house, sheds light on the structure and functions of the first urban houses.

However, the first cities did not survive for long. Geopolitical changes led to the cities’ collapse, and an interim period, which lasted some 300 years, was to follow. During this time, people reverted to rural, and semi-nomadic ways of life. A rare silver goblet from Ein Samiya, bears the only extant artistic depiction known from this period.

During the first half of the second millennium BCE, a rich urban culture reappeared in Canaan, alongside the pastoral society. This period is seen as the backdrop of the stories of the patriarchs in the Bible, and it is then that the major cities mentioned in the Bible, such as Hazor, Ashkelon, and Megiddo, gained importance. Monumental basalt sculptures from Hazor, which adorned the palaces and temples, attest to the building revolution which took place at this time. Especially impressive are the carved lion statues which are associated with this city’s great temple.

Canaan continued to prosper in the second half of the second millennium BCE, when it fell under Egyptian rule. Among the many discoveries presented here is a magnificent, ivory statue, inscribed with the name Pharaoh Merneptah; the king on whose monumental victory stelae appears the earliest written reference to 'Israel' as an ethnic entity.

A wealth of gold jewelry, precious stones, ivory carvings and cosmetic utensils – are evidence of the country’s prosperity. Extensive trade relations throughout the Near East created a unified international style evident in the design of luxury items. Note the royal feast depicted on the Megiddo, ivory inlay as a typical example of such luxury items.

At the beginning of the 12th century BCE, economic and political instability affected the entire ancient Near East, leading to the collapse of the great empires. Egypt retreated into its borders, and the political players of the eastern Mediterranean disappeared.

Nurith Goshen, Curator of Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Periods

Throughout most of Israel, they’re still cooling. “The idea of the Old Testament as a historical document prevails,” says sociologist Michael Feige of Ben-Gurion University, “but people don’t give it that much thought.” He adds that Israel’s shifting priorities may account for the less impassioned view. “In the 1950s, there was a collective anxiety: What are we doing here? How do we justify it? The very essence of Israeli identity depended on the biblical, historical narrative. Now, with increased fears of terrorism, the anxiety is more a personal one: What will happen to me tomorrow?” The recent election to the Palestinian leadership of Hamas, which Israel, along with the United States and the European Union, considers a terrorist organization, has hardly calmed this anxiety.

But if the general population appears less invested in a literal biblical narrative, Israel’s religious right—and particularly Israeli settlers on the West Bank—remain steadfast. “The attack on the Bible,” says Rabbi Yoel Ben-Nun, a leader in the settlers’ political movement, Gush Emunim, “is part and parcel of the general attack on Zionist values that is exemplified by the current Israeli government’s willingness, in the framework of the peace process, to hand over parts of the biblical land of Israel to the Palestinians.”

Ben-Nun and others in the settlers’ movement emphatically agree with the views of Adam Zertal and other biblical literalists. At the settlement of Elon Moreh, on a hill above Nablus, a sign quotes Jeremiah 31:5: “Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria.” Menachem Brody, who emigrated from Maine to Israel 28 years ago and raised a family there, runs archaeology tours supporting the literal interpretation of the Old Testament. On one such tour, passing through numerous army checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, he traced the Way of the Patriarchs, the road traveled by Abraham according to Genesis. Later, Brody stood in his own vineyard, which he planted to fulfill the Jeremiah prophecy, and said of Zertal’s discovery: “It’s the find of the century. Before, it was just a pile of stones, and it was only when we came to live here that somebody found it.”