Scientists date and verify biblical tale in new study
STORY: Scientists are reconstructing epic biblical tales
with the help of new dating technology
Scientists from the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University
are using readings of ancient geomagnetic fields to piece together historical events
to see how closely they match those recounted in the scripture
(Yoav Vaknin / Tel Aviv University and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
"We are standing here at the gate house Lachish. In 701 (BCE) Sennacherib King of Assyria was here, put a siege on the city and eventually conquered the city and destroyed it. This is described also in the Bible and also in Assyrian sources and in the famous Lachish relief describing this event. And we managed to reconstruct the magnetic field of the earth which is recorded in burnt mud bricks like the one I'm holding here. As you can see over there - the burnt mud brick wall."
"When these mud bricks were burnt they recorded they recorded the magnetic field of the earth at the time. This helped us, this was used as an anchor for dating other sites. We reconstructed the magnetic field also in other sites and we could use the magnetic signal to date sites that aren't well dated according to the data from this site which is very well dated to 701 BCE."
