July 3, 2019 – THE FIRST-EVER STUDY of DNA recovered from an ancient Philistine site is providing a unique genetic insight into the origins of some of the most notorious troublemakers of the Old Testament.

The authors of the Hebrew Bible made it clear that the Philistines were not like them: This “uncircumcised” group is described in several passages as coming from the “Land of Caphtor” (modern-day Crete) before taking control of the coastal region of what is now southern Israel and the Gaza Strip. They warred with their Israelite neighbors, even seizing the Ark of the Covenant for a time. Their representatives in the Bible include the giant Goliath, who was felled by the future king David, and Delilah, who robbed the Israelite Samson of his strength by cutting his hair.

Modern archaeologists agree that the Philistines were different from their neighbors: Their arrival on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean in the early 12th century B.C. is marked by pottery with close parallels to the ancient Greek world, the use of an Aegean—instead of a Semitic—script, and the consumption of pork.