A breakthrough archaeological method that relies on recreating the Earth's geomagnetic field from several historical periods thousands of years ago has been used to confirm a biblical narrative of an ancient Egyptian military assault against Israel. According to a report from Newsweek, there are some other old testament descriptions of Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian military operations against the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah that were also supported by the research, published in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA).
As quoted by Newsweek, Yoav Vaknin, a researcher from Tel Aviv University who is the lead author of the interdisciplinary study based on his doctoral thesis told the outlet that these studies sought to clarify events mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, a topic of intense discussion among experts.
"This debate is relevant to discussions regarding the historicity of the biblical text," Mr Vaknin told Newsweek.
This discussion has previously centred on the analysis of ceramics and, more recently, radiocarbon dating. According to Mr Vaknin radiocarbon is quite restricted and does not allow for high-resolution dating from around 800 B.C. to 400 B.C.
"We wanted to introduce another chronological tool to help solve this debate. It is very important for the study of events that took place after 800 B.C. For earlier periods it is a complementary tool to radiocarbon. Together, they enable more precise dating," he further said.
The methodology of this study revolves around reconstructing the historical geomagnetic fields from the burnt remnants of ancient Israelite settlements. Researchers have been able to connect archaeological environments to certain military operations described in biblical narratives with the help of these data, the outlet further said.
Mr Vaknin also said that they have sampled mainly sun-dried mud bricks which had been burnt when ancient cities were set on fire.
According to Newsweek, the ancient geomagnetic field's direction and strength can be determined by sampling the bricks in their original location, which allowed the worldwide study team to do so.
