Pottery evidence for Egyptians at Megiddo in Josiah's time

ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologists Find Evidence of Egyptian Army That Felled Biblical King at Megiddo. King Josiah's killing at Megiddo 2,600 years ago sparked apocalyptic traditions in Judaism and Christianity. But no traces of this biblical episode had been found. Until now (Ariel David, Haaretz).

So far, no hard archaeological evidence of this biblical story had emerged from the ruins of the ancient city of Megiddo, in modern-day northern Israel. But now, archaeologists have unearthed an unusual collection of ceramics which they say may be linked to Necho's army.

The assemblage, found in a newly-excavated building at Megiddo, includes unexpectedly large amounts of Egyptian and Greek pottery, according to Prof. Israel Finkelstein of Haifa University – the longtime head of the Megiddo dig – and Dr. Assaf Kleiman of Ben-Gurion University.

The discovory of lots of seventh-century BCE Egyptian pottery (and Greek pottery - from mercenaries?) at Megiddo offers some support to the biblical account (2 Kings 23:28-30) of Pharaoh Necho II meeting King Josiah there and killing him. The pottery, of course, does not prove the event happened, but it puts Egyptians there at the right time.

I don't doubt that it did happen. The Deuteronomistic Historian recounts it even though it directly contradicted his historical theology. It was very awkward that the Davidic king who finally did what the Historian wanted was promptly killed in battle.

For more evidence for those Greek mercenaries, see here.

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