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A biblical site chew the fat by the kings of Israel , concord to the Hebrew Bible , has been identified in Jordan , researchers claim .
The Iron Age site , known as Mahanaim , was a part of the realm of Israel ( also telephone the Northern Kingdom ) . The squad also believes they have identified the remains of a building at Mahanaim that was used by elite individual , possibly even by thekings of Israel .
A view of Tall adh-Dhahab al-Gharbi, which researchers identified as Mahanaim in a new study.
Today , the site that may be Mahanaim is holler " Tall adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi , " archaeologistsIsrael Finkelstein , of Tel Aviv University , andTallay Ornan , of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , wrote in a newspaper publisher published Nov. 20 in the journalTel Aviv . They based their title on archaeological corpse found at the site and an analysis of the biblical passages that mention Mahanaim .
Identifying Mahanaim
The name " Mahanaim " think of " two camps " in ancient Hebrew , and scriptural passages suggest it is located beside another site , mention Penuel , the researchers indite in the work . Today , a smaller archaeological site known as Tall vasopressin - Dhahab esh - Sharqi , which may be Penuel , is site near magniloquent adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi , which may be Mahanaim , they publish in the composition . scriptural passage suggest that Penuel had a temple , and the corpse of a rectangular chopine that may be a temple have been ground at marvelous adh - Dhahab esh - Sharqi .
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The web site of Tall adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi was excavate by a German archaeologic team between 2005 and 2011 . During that time , the German team unearth the remains of stone blocks that contain a sort of engraved images , including depiction of people play a stringed legal instrument call a lyre ; a lion , probably from a hunt panorama ; a particular date - palm tree ; and a person get a Capricorn to what seems like a banquet , probably " intended as a nutrient supply to a feast , " according to the raw subject .
A bird’s-eye view of Tall adh-Dhahab al-Gharbi. It would have been known as Mahanaim in ancient times, researchers believe.
In the study , Finkelstein and Ornan say these blocks are likely the cadaver of a edifice used by elite individual .
The researchers also note that the style of the engraving is similar to that of murals from the 8th 100 B.C. at a site known as Kuntillet ' Ajrud in the northeastern Sinai desert in Egypt . Previous workat Kuntillet ' Ajrud point that the site was command by the kingdom of Israel during the eighth one C B.C. , which suggest the blocks found at improbable adh - Dhahab al - Gharbi also see to the eighth one C B.C. and were made by artists connect with the kingdom of Israel .
The researchers added that both Mahanaim and Penuel were built by Jeroboam II , a Martin Luther King Jr. of Israel who ruled during the 8th C B.C.
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This construction may have been used by baron of Israel . Finkelstein noted that stories in the Hebrew Bible mention that an Israeli Martin Luther King name Ishbaal was crowned at Mahanaim and thatKing Davidfled to Mahanaim when he was in a war against Absalom , one of his son . While these scriptural stories paint a picture that a few of the kings of Israel may have visited the building at Mahanaim , ultimately there is " no way to know , " Finkelstein told Live Science in an email .
Bartosz Adamczewski , a theological system prof at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw , Poland , who was not involve with the study , sound out he thinks improbable Pitressin - Dhahab al - Gharbi ’s propinquity to Tall adh - Dhahab esh - Sharqi helps to explicate how it got the name " Mahanaim " — two bivouac .
