Jordanian Dig Confirms Biblical Edom

June 1, 2005

The full results of the 2002 excavation by a team of international scholars at the site of Khirbet en-Nahas (“ruins of copper” in Arabic) were reported in the February issue of the British journal Antiquity.

The new study, headed by archaeology Professor Thomas Levy of the University of California–San Diego, contradicts much contemporary scholarship that claims—on the basis of no physical evidence—that no Edomite state existed before the eighth century BC. Until the new discovery, many scholars had said that the Bible’s numerous references to ancient Israel’s interactions with Edom could not be valid.

While previous investigations in Edom had been carried out in the Jordanian highland zone and dated the rise of the Edomite kingdom from the eighth to sixth centuries BC, the new archaeological data from modern-day Jordan presents strong evidence for the involvement of Edom with neighboring ancient Israel as described in the Bible and indicates the existence of the biblical nation of Edom at least as early as the 10th century BC—when David and Solomon were alive.

The archaeologists dug up evidence of construction of massive fortifications and industrial-scale metal-production activities, as well as over 100 building complexes. Egyptian scarabs of a “walking sphinx” and a hunting scene provide additional evidence of metalworking activities at the site in the period around 1200 to 900 BC.

The researchers note in their journal article that these results “push back the beginnings of Edom 300 years earlier than the current scholarly consensus and show the presence of complex societies, perhaps a kingdom, much earlier than previously assumed.”

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