TODD BOLEN takes the IAA to task for its sensationalist coverage of the recent Ashdod discoveries: Iron Age Fortress Excavated in Ashdod.
Historical geography is not my specialty and I haven't looked into the details of the press release. But I was pretty irritated by the playing up of the idea "that life did in fact exist there at the time of Jonah the prophet." Did anybody deny that? And so what? It doesn't tell us anything very interesting about the prophet Jonah, assuming there was such a person. (I think that likely enough [2 Kings 14:25 ], without feeling the need to take the tall tale of the big fish seriously.) If they find an Iron-Age II tomb in Ashdod with an inscription about the prophet Jonah son of Amittai, then call me. Special points if it mentions a big fish.
Meanwhile, Todd is spot on in saying "Attempts to sensationalize this story by connecting it to the prophet Jonah should not be allowed to obscure the significance of a fortress recently uncovered in Ashdod."