Physical evidence and biblical archaeology
I want to be honest about what this article is and is not. It is not an attempt to prove that the Bible is divinely inspired. That is a theological question, and archaeology cannot answer theological questions. What archaeology can do — and what it has done, repeatedly, over the past century and a half…
Discovered in 1896, the Merneptah Stele contains the oldest known reference to Israel outside the Bible — and the hieroglyphic determinative used tells us exactly what kind of entity Egypt recognized them as.
Mainstream archaeology says Jericho was unoccupied during the Exodus period. The evidence tells a more complicated story — one involving collapsed walls, stored grain, and a dating controversy that changes everything.