Interview: Joshua, Mount Ebal and the Discovery of an Ancient Hebrew Amulet

Amulet discovered from Mount Ebal altar site
Courtesy of Dr. Scott Stripling | Photo: Roi Hadi

The Bible relates that shortly after entering the Promised Land, Joshua built an altar upon Mount Ebal overlooking the ancient city of Shechem. Excavations in the early 1980s, led by the late Prof. Adam Zertal, discovered a prominent early altar site on Mount Ebal. Over the past couple years Dr. Scott Stripling, director of the renewed Shiloh Excavations, has led a team in sifting through Zertal’s excavation dumps.

On today’s podcast, Dr. Stripling joins host Brent Nagtegaal to discuss some amazing discoveries from the dumps that could reshape archaeology discussion regarding the period of Joshua’s conquest. Most notably, what could be the earliest Hebrew script ever found in the land of Israel.

Let the Stones Speak