Archaeological Evidence

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In this section:

Old Testament Archaeological Evidence
New Testament Archaeological Evidence
Dead Sea Scrolls

Archaeological Evidence for the Bible:

The Bible is not a history book but it does claim to tell of some events that have happened in history. So if the Bible is true, there should be at least some evidence of people and places mentioned in the Bible.

The first five books of the Bible are supposedly written by Moses although the Bible does not explicitly say who wrote all five of these books. This is the first time the stories would be first hand accounts that are written down that we know of. This is where I would expect the archaeological evidence of the Bible to match with what we find in history.

Moses is the one who led the Israelites out of Egypt and there is much debate about there being evidence for this event. The Bible has the number of people being in the hundreds of thousands to millions and there does not seem to be evidence for this. But many Bible scholars believe the actual number was much lower. There is evidence of ancient people of this time exaggerating numbers (ages, soldiers in battle,etc) to show the importance in the story and this could very well be the case in the Bible. I did not put any of the supposed evidence for this event since it is pretty controversial. But there is some evidence I list below that is right after Moses, when Joshua took over after Moses’ death and led the Israelites into the Promised Land.

One of the other big events non-Christians have problems with is the Flood of Noah. Many Christians believe the Noah flood story in the Bible was a global flood that occurred a few thousand years ago. Bible skeptics use this as a reason to not believe the Bible because that evidence does not exist. I don’t believe that it was a global flood or happened a few thousand years ago so I don’t look for archaeological evidence for this.

Below are some of the archaeological finds that seem to correspond with the Bible. The evidence is not overwhelming and does not prove the Bible beyond a shadow of a doubt, but it does show the writers of the Bible are correct about some of the places and events that took place when and where they claimed. This helps to show the stories were not made up hundred of years later.

Old Testament:

Here are a few examples of archaeological evidence that corresponds with the Old Testament of the Bible.

The Ebla Tablets (2300 BCE) - Mention Sodom and Gomorrah which are cities mentioned in the first book of the Bible (Genesis).
City of Jericho (1500 - 1400 BCE) - Starting as early as 9000 BCE, Jericho was inhabited and abandoned multiple times. The Canaanites, who are the ones that occupy the city during the story in the Bible, occupied the city starting around 1900 BCE. Biblical archaeologists do find some evidence for the destruction of Jericho as the Bible claims but most secular archaeologists disagree and say it was just an earthquake. But the Canaanites did abandon the city around 1500 - 1400 BCE. The Bible puts this around 1400 BCE.
Joshua’s Altar and “Curse Tablet” (1400-1200 BCE) - The Bible says Joshua built an altar on Mt Ebal. An altar has been discovered on Mt Elba that matches with the Bible. It appears to be an earlier small altar from around 1400 BCE and then a bigger altar built on top of it around 1200 BCE. The 1400 BCE timeline fits with the Bible and the Jericho timeline above. Also a “curse tablet” was found at this site in 2019 that has the name of God from the Bible - YHW. In the Bible story, Mount Ebal is the mountain of curse so it matches this story to find a curse tablet.
The Merneptah Stele (1207 BCE) - This is the earliest mention of Israel outside of the Bible. This stele is an account of Egyptian battles in Canaan from around that time and mentions Israel as one of them.
Cities of Megiddo, Hazor, and Gezer (10th century BCE) - In the Bible, 1 Kings 9 mentions Solomon fortified these three cities. Archaeologists have discovered these cities with the expected fortifications.
Tel Dan stele (9th century BCE) - This stele mentions the “House of David” referring to King David from the Bible. This was discovered in 1993 and prior to this many scholars believed King David was a mythological figure in the Bible. This confirms he really existed and it was written close to the time of his rule.
The Moabite Stone (850 BCE) - This stone contains info about Mesha, king of Moab. It mentions a battle in which Moab revolted against Israel. This same battle is chronicled in the Bible in 2 Kings 3.
Hezekiah’s Tunnel (8th century BCE) - In the Bible, 2 Kings 20 and 2 Chronicles 32 mention king Hezekiah building a tunnel to transport water into Jerusalem. This was discovered in 1838 and in 1880 an inscription describing the construction was discovered. This inscription has been dated to the 8th century BCE, the same time as Hezekiah.
Lachish Reliefs (700 BCE) - These are stone carvings on the wall of the palace of Sennacherib that describe the siege of Lachish. They depict the capture of the city of Lachish but not the capital of Jerusalem. This matches with the story in the Bible in 2 Kings 18 and 2 Chronicles 39 that describes this battle.
Ketef Hinnom Scrolls (late 7th century BCE) - Two scrolls made from silver were discovered in 1979. Both contain the scripture from Numbers 6:24-26. These scrolls date to the late seventh century BCE. These are the oldest scriptures found outside of the Bible. They are important for two reasons. One they show the books of Moses were not written in the fourth century BCE like some claim. Two is they show the accuracy of the scriptures since they match very closely to what these verses say in the Bible today.
The Jerusalem Chronicle (605-595 BCE) - This is a chronicle of Nebuchadnezzar who was the king of Babylon. This describes the siege and capture of Jerusalem, capture of the king, and appointing a new king. These same events are described in the Bible in 2 Kings 24. The battle took place in 597 BCE.
The Cyrus Cylinder (539 BCE) - The cylinder says that Cyrus, the King of Persia that captured Babylon, allowed the people captured by Babylon to return to their homelands, rebuild their temples and worship their gods. This matches with the Bible in Ezra 1 it says Cyrus king of Persia allowed the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. The cylinder does not specifically mention the Jewish people but this still fits with the Bible story.

New Testament:

Here are a few examples of archaeological evidence that corresponds with the New Testament of the Bible

Proof of nails used in crucifixion in first century CE - In 1968 in Givat Hamivtar, a town just north of Jerusalem, a man was discovered with a nail still in his heel bone. This was dated to the first century CE and was the first evidence that Romans used nails to crucify people in first century Israel. This confirms the practice of crucifixion as described in the Bible took place during the time of Jesus.
Pontius Pilate - Pontius Pilate is named in the Bible as the Roman governor of Judea (Jerusalem) who crucified Jesus. In 1961, excavations found an inscription dating to 30 CE which mentions Pontius Pilate. This confirms the Bible is correct about him being the governor of Judea at the time of Jesus’ death.
Ossuary of Caiaphas - Caiaphas is a High Priest named in the Bible who oversaw the trial of Jesus. In 1990 archaeologists discovered an ossuary inscribed with his name on it. It was discovered in a first century burial cave in Jerusalem.
Pool of Siloam - In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man and tells him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. In 2004, this pool was discovered. Pottery from one end of the pool was dated to the first century CE confirming it was in use at the time of Jesus.
Gallio Inscription - In Acts 18 it’s mentioned Paul was brought before Gallio the proconsul of Achaia. In the early 1900’s, nine fragments of a letter were discovered in Delphi, Greece written by Roman emperor Claudius. The fragments mention Gallio and call him a proconsul. It also dates Gallio as being proconsul from 51 CE to 52 CE. This matches with the time frame of Paul in the Bible.
There are many writings of the early church fathers with quotes from the Bible. Below are just a few of the early examples. This means these books had to be written and being disturbed by this time. This goes against the theory that the Bible was compiled at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.

Ignatius of Antioch (35-107 CE) - He was a student of the Apostle John and has numerous quotes from the New Testament books. These include the books Matthew, Luke, John, James, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, 1 Peter, Romans,Ephesians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians, Acts, Hebrews, Galatians, and Philippians.
Clement of Rome (35-99 CE) - He was the Bishop of Rome from 88 to 99 CE. He has quotes from the following books; Titus, Acts, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Hebrews, 1 Corithians, Romans, and James.
Polycarp of Smyrna (69-155 CE) - He was also a student of the apostle John. He has quotes from Matthew, Acts, Romans, 1 Corithians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy and 1 Peter.
Tatian (120 - 173 CE) - He was a student of Roman theologian St Justin Martyr. He compiled the Diatessaron, a form of the four Gospels. This indicates the four gospels were at least fairly well known and widespread by this time.

There are also writings about Jesus and Christians from non-church sources. Here are a few examples of those.

Tacitus (16-120 CE) - He was an ancient historian and also a senator under Emperor Vespasian. He wrote about the persecution of Christians and confirmed Jesus was from Judea and crucified under Pontius Pilate. And when talking about Pontius Pilate killing Jesus, he says “a most mischievous superstition”. Christian scholars take this to reference the resurrection but secular scholars tend to disagree this is what it means.
Suetonius (69-140 CE) - He was a Roman historian who mentioned the Christians twice. Once confirming the expulsion of Christians from the city of Rome in 49 CE which is mentioned in the Bible in the book of Acts. Also in regards to Nero blaming the Christians for the fire which destroyed Rome in 64 CE. In referencing this, he also mentions “mischievous religious belief”.
Lucian of Samosata (115-200 CE) - He was a Greek satirist who mentioned the Christians but in a sarcastic tone. He thought they were crazy for their beliefs. But he does mention Christians at the time believed in eternal life, did not fear death, one God, and “worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws”.
Josephus (37-101 CE) - He was a historian who wrote about the Jews and lived in Jerusalem. He mentions the Christians in three passages. He describes the death of John the Baptist, the execution of James (the brother of Jesus) and Jesus being a wise man who was a worker of amazing deeds who was crucified by Pilate. There are more explicit mentions of Jesus’ miracles but most scholars believe these were added at a later date by a Christian scribe.

Dead Sea Scrolls:

These are a collection of manuscripts which include much of the Old Testament and were found in 1947. About 230 of the manuscripts are copies of the Bible and date from 150 BCE to 70 CE. They contain parts of every book of the Old Testament except for the book of Esther. Some are small fragments but there are also larger scrolls and a complete copy of the book of Isaiah. The complete book of Isaiah is dated to the first century BCE so this is before Jesus.

These are extremely important because this allows scholars to compare the modern Bible to these scriptures written over 2000 years ago. This will help determine if the Bible has changed over the centuries as many have claimed. The Masoretic Text is what most English translations of the Old Testament are based on and the oldest copies we have of it are from around 1000 CE.

Along with the Masoretic text, there is also the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Bible written in original Hebrew. The oldest almost complete copies date to the 4th century CE. The Samaritan Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible written in Samaritan script. The oldest copy is from around 1000 CE but it became known in the western world when it was published in Europe in the early 17th century CE.

Dead Sea Scrolls

The majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls match the Masoretic text that is the basis for the modern English language Bibles. A few of them match with the Septuagint text and a couple match with the Samaritan Pentateuch.
For the most part, the Scrolls match what we have in our Bible today. This proves that over the 1000 years between them and the oldest copy of the Bible we have today, there are not any major changes. Most of the changes are minor such as spelling, typo's or minor details. There are places where there is additional text or missing text but nothing that dramatically changes the meaning of the stories.
There are predictions made about the coming Messiah that are before Jesus was born. So these could not have been made up after he lived. Here are a few examples.

Isaiah 53:4-5 - “Surely he has borne our sufferings, and carried our sorrows; yet we considered him stricken, and struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that made us whole was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed”. This is a small portion of the part of Isaiah called the suffering servant. It is a prediction about Jesus and that He will be killed for our sins.
Isaiah 7:14 - “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” This verse is saying the Messiah will be born of a virgin. The New Testament says Jesus was born of a virgin.
Isaiah 9:1-2 - “Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.” These verses are saying the Messiah’s ministry would begin in Galilee. Matthew chapter 4 in the New Testament says this is where Jesus’ ministry began.

Psalms 22:16-17 - “For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.” Many Bible scholars claim these verses are talking about the future Messiah. This is saying His hands and feet will be pierced but no bones will be broken. This matches with the crucifixion in the Bible where Jesus had His hands and feet pierced with nails but His legs were not broken as was fairly common in crucifixion. There has been much debate about if the “They pierced” is actually pierced or “Like a lion” instead. Apparently these look very similar in Hebrew. The Dead Sea Scroll fragment 5/6HevPs has this verse and it appears to be pierced. This fragment is from the 1st century CE so it could be after Jesus’ death. But the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by Jews (not Christians) and there have been no New Testament verses found so there is no reason to believe they knew of Jesus or were trying to prove he was the Messiah.