Shiloh Altar: Biblical Archaeology Provides Evidence of Ancient Religious Center
The Tel Shiloh dig. Photo: Courtesy of Tel Shiloh archaeological site.
November 20, 2013 12:56 pm
JNS.org – For decades archaeologists have been searching for evidence to support the hypothesis that Shiloh served as a religious center in ancient times. Now, a stone altar dated to the Iron Age—the period of Israelite kings—was accidentally exposed during a dig conducted by an archaeological staff officer of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria.
The altar was found amid the stones of a wall dated to the Byzantine period. Apparently, the Byzantines removed the altar from its original location in Tel Shiloh and used it to build a structure at the foot of the tel. The discovery is the first tangible evidence that Shiloh was a cultic center prior to and during the First Temple period. Previously, the only evidence for that theory were descriptions in the Bible about the Tabernacle at the time of Joshua and later in the time of Eli the high priest and the prophet Samuel.
Until today, archaeologists believed that after the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant, as described in the book of Samuel, they destroyed the city and Jewish settlement there ended. The altar’s discovery suggests that some Jewish settlement continued there even after the death of Eli the high priest.
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/11/20/shiloh-altar-biblical-archaeology-provides-evidence-of-ancient-religious-center/
= new reply since forum marked as read
The source you cited appears to be... flawed.
This is what it looks like.
?w=477
It is a flat altar, not a fount/basin.
Also, the language in the article I found is much more accurate. Your article does use the word 'sugggests' correctly in one place, but is otherwise a little too 'conclusive'.
"The altar is thought to have been used to offer sacrifices even after the First Temple was built in Jerusalem."
"Archaeologists think that Byzantines took the stone altar from its original site, which might have been in the same location as the Tabernacle. There are two conflicting theories on its location, one stating it is on the northern side of ancient Shiloh and the other placing it on the southern side."
etc.
Ignorant? At least I found a picture of the actual object in question.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/archaeologists-find-shiloh-altar-used-during-temple-era/2013/11/20/
I KNEW it!
