King David's Palace Found, Says Israeli Team

[The Straight Story]

ERUSALEM — A team of Israeli archaeologists believes it has discovered the ruins of a palace belonging to the biblical King David, but other Israeli experts dispute the claim.

Archaeologists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel's Antiquities Authority said their find, a large fortified complex west of Jerusalem at a site called Khirbet Qeiyafa , is the first palace of the biblical king ever to be discovered.

"Khirbet Qeiyafa is the best example exposed to date of a fortified city from the time of King David," said Yossi Garfinkel, a Hebrew University archaeologist, suggesting that David himself would have used the site. Garfinkel led the seven-year dig with Saar Ganor of Israel's Antiquities Authority.

Garfinkel said his team found cultic objects typically used by Judeans, the subjects of King David, and saw no trace of pig remains. Pork is forbidden under Jewish dietary laws. Clues like these, he said, were "unequivocal evidence" that David and his descendants had ruled at the site.

Critics said the site could have belonged to other kingdoms of the area. The consensus among most scholars is that no definitive physical proof of the existence of King David has been found.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/07/21/world/middleeast/ap-ml-israel-king-david.html?ref=news

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Biblical archeology is frequently plagued by horseshit like this.

[bluedigger]

2. There's an old rule in archaeology (and science).

The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Biblical archaeologists are notoriously bad at interpretation.

[hunter]

3. It wasn't an old school bus pulled by slaves?

Damn, that guy lied to me! He was no king David.

[XemaSab]

4. They didn't find pork remains so it was the palace of King David?

By that logic, this is also a palace of King David:



And this is his summer place:

[Scootaloo]

5. That's some strange logic they've got going there

Isn't this like the eighth or ninth castle of King David they've found so far? That's the problem with this sort of thing - when you set out looking for Noah's Ark, every rock looks like a boat. When you look for King David's palace, every heap of rocks looks like a castle.

If you can't figure out why anyone in the region and period might need a fortress for some reason other than "ERMAGERD KING DAVID," then I have to ask - have you ever read the bible? The way the tribes out there were raping, burning, pillaging, and mass murdering their way across the landscape, every motherfucker with a lick of sense would have been living behind walls.