Scholars learn more about the Philistines by examining Goliath's birthplace

And whoever does not know him; Goliath the Philistine, known as the great giant with whom young David had to compete. Until now, relatively little has been known about Palestinian culture. This has now changed: by analyzing plant seeds, a wealth of information has been revealed.

Yes, the Palestinians did exist. For example, Israeli researchers have been excavating around Tel al-Safi for quite a number of years. This place has since been identified as the city of Gath, home of the famous Goliath. Archaeologists in this area have now reached the temple area. All kinds of objects were found here: small vessels, but also sacrificial gifts and different types of seeds. Scientist Sue Vroomin contributed to the research. She tells Scientias.nl: “Pretty much everything we discovered came as a surprise. The Palestinians left no written sources relating to their culture and religion. The most amazing discovery was approximately 100 monk pepper fruit fragments.” The chaste vine of the lamb. The seeds of this plant have so far been found only in one other place: in the Temple of Hera on the island of Samos. The research has been published in the journal Scientific reports.

Carpology
Scientists used quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques for research. “We conducted carpology research to determine which seeds were found,” Fromin explains. We first looked at the type of seed in question, and then we looked at which family these seeds belong to. By repeatedly comparing the lab results with Israel's National Seed Collection database, we were eventually able to determine what variety it was and in what season it was harvested. During the archaeological research we discovered a number of different things. First, inside the temples we discovered arranged offerings mixed with the remains of many different species of wild plants, including monk pepper and crested goose flower. Jalebion Crown in Lomelozia argentina. Secondly, we discovered that there is a garden outside the temple courtyard in which wild plants grow. This is an important detail because it allowed us to know that there was a connection between the wild plants that we found in the Temple and the Palestinian religion at that time.

Temple garden
The study's findings are important because we still know little about Palestinian religion. From previous research, we know that the Palestinians lived about 3,000 years ago. But the biggest problem here is that the Palestinians left little evidence behind. “What is particularly striking is that there are almost no written sources from the Palestinians,” Frumin explains. We have a number of iconographies from which we can draw information, but so far very little is known about Palestinian religion at that time. This research shows that the Palestinians focused mainly on the worship of nature, including running water and the seasons. They did this, among other things, through the extensive use of medicinal and psychoactive plants.

Another interesting recent discovery: the temple was not only a place of worship, but also apparently a place of production. “We also found looms in the temple buildings themselves,” Frumin concludes. However, this is not entirely new; Previous research already shows that the temple area may also have been the place where fabrics were produced. Not only that, right next to the temple there was mining activity.