Those fishy reports on ancient Israelites eating non-kosher seafood. Analysis of fish remains in ancient Israel actually confirms what the Bible tells us and indicates these laws were widely known during the biblical period (JOSHUA BERMAN and ARI Z. ZIVOTOFSKY, Times of Israel). (HT the Bible Places Blog).
The truth is that archeologists have long known that non-kosher fish remains are widely found in ancient Israel. What Adler and Lernau maintain, however, goes much further. They claim that during the first temple period, “all the fish assemblages from Judah available for analysis contained significant numbers of scaleless fish remains, especially catfish.” This, however, is not true, as brought out by the very evidence they adduce.The authors also argue that the Book of Isaiah alludes to the the kosher laws on fish.
Also, Dr. Sarah Bond addresses the study in a Twitter thread. (HT Rogue Classicism.) She does not dispute its conclusions, but she too points to earlier research that discusses the archaeology of catfish bones in the region.
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