According to the Bible, in the days of the Judges, the city of Laish in northern Israel was conquered by the tribe of Dan, who burned the city with fire, and then rebuilt the city and re-named it as Dan.

After they took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, they went to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city with fire. There was no one to rescue it, for it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone else and it was in the valley plain that belonged to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and settled in it. Furthermore, they renamed the city Dan after the name of their father, Dan, who was born to Israel. But Laish was the city’s former name. (Judges 18:27-29)

Some skeptics allege that there is no archaeological basis for this event. For example, William Dever states,

Tel Dan VII (Canaanite Laish) generally shows little or no destruction, and it may simply have been taken over peacefully by Israelites sometime in the 12th century B.C.E.[1]

Since the biblical narrative claims that there was a destruction at the site of Tel Dan at this time, it is expected for the site to show evidence of a destruction at the time of the alleged events in Judges 18, unless some rational reason (such as site erosion) can be proven to account for a lack of evidence at the site.

This post will analyze the archaeology of Tel Dan in connection with its alleged conquest by the Danites. As it turns out, the archaeological evidence at Tel Dan actually shows evidence of destruction at the time the Danites are alleged to have conquered the site, and thus affirms the biblical narrative.

When Was Dan Destroyed?

Firstly, we need to determine when the site is alleged to have been destroyed according to the biblical narrative.

The Bible places the destruction of this site in the time of the Judges, which I, in accordance with the late date for the Exodus-Conquest, would place circa 1200-1050 BC. This sets the late 13th century BC as the terminus post quem for the conquest of Dan. Furthermore. Judges 18:31 states that Micah’s images were in use in Dan throughout all the days when the Tabernacle was in Shiloh. Shiloh was destroyed in the mid-11th century BC, in connection with the events described in 1 Samuel 4, and the Tabernacle was never placed there again, which sets around 1100-1050 BC as the terminus ante quem for the conquest of Dan[2].

Finally, Judges 18:30 states that the grandson of Moses was still alive at the time of the conquest:

After that the Danites set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons became priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day that the inhabitants of the land went into exile. (Judges 18:30)

That Moses’ grandson was still alive at the time of the conquest of Dan means that these events could not have happened later than the first half of the 12th century BC. Thus, the conquest of Dan is to be dated to circa 1200-1150 BC.

Now that we have a chronology of the events, we may look at the archaeological evidence related to the conquest of Dan.

The Archaeological Evidence

The ancient city of Dan in Israel is firmly identified with the site of Tel el-Qadi in northern Israel. This is proven by an inscription discovered at the site from the Hellenistic period, which states, “To the god who is in Dan”[3].

Mention of the site first appears in the Egyptian Execration texts and the Mari texts, from the 2nd millennium BC, before the Israelites emerged in Canaan. These texts refer to the site as “Laish”[4]. Notice how, in texts referring to Dan/Laish from before the alleged Danite conquest, the city is referred to as Laish; while in later texts, it is called Dan. This is in agreement with the Bible, which states that Dan was originally called Laish, but was re-named by the Danites (Judges 18:29).

Excavations at the site began in the 1960s, first by Ze’ev Yevin, who conducted a brief exploratory excavation on behalf of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums; he uncovered Early Bronze, Middle Bronze, and Iron Age remains. Salvage excavations took place in 1966 and 1967, and excavations continued under Avraham Biran, working on behalf of the Department of Antiquities and Museums, and after 1974 for the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem.

The excavations revealed remains from the 14th and 13th centuries BC; namely, tombs with human remains, funerary offerings, both imported (Mycenean and Cypriot) and local vessels, weapons, ivories, gold and silver jewelry, and other finds. Excavators also found part of a large structure with a clay female mask that may have had cultic (religious) function, a scarab from the time of Ramses II, a 14th-13th century stirrup jar, decorated storage jars, a Charioteer vase, and other finds[5].

The next stratum (phase of occupation) at the site was stratum VII, which is the stratum of interest in this post, as it dates to the time of the Danite conquest (early 12th century BC). This stratum was poorer than the earlier levels, which could correspond to the Bible’s statement that the inhabitants of Laish at the time were a “people quiet and unsuspecting”.

As it turns out, the archaeological evidence consisting of a thin layer of ash shows that stratum VII was destroyed circa 1200 BC, the time when the Bible claims that the Danites destroyed the site[6]. Though some areas (areas M, H, and A) showed either no destruction remains or no occupation remains at all, destruction remains were found from stratum VII at areas K and T, with light and scattered destruction remains found at areas Y and B-east[7].

Stratum VI represents the rebuilding of the site after its destruction, and is dated to the first half of the 12th century BC. The stratum is characterized by a large number of pits used as silos, aswell as collared-rim jars, storage vessels, cooking pots, bowls, kraters, jugs, and flasks[8]. The material culture of the stratum suggests that it was an Israelite stratum, as collared-rim jars (which do not appear in the earlier strata at the site) and pits used as silos are characteristic of the early Israelite settlement in the highlands[9]. This corresponds to the Bible’s statement that the Danites rebuilt the city and made it their own after its destruction (Judges 18:29).

Stratum VII continued at Dan until around the mid-11th century BC, when it was destroyed by fire[10]. This destruction occurred at around the same time as the events of 1 Samuel 4, when the Philistines evidently destroyed Shiloh, as revealed by archaeological evidence (see footnote 2). This destruction is also interesting, because the Bible states that Micah’s carved image “remained there all the days that the house of the true God was in Shiloh” (Judges 18:31). Thus, the Bible seems to be implying that Micah’s image was removed from the site at the end of the Tabernacle’s time in Shiloh; this would be well-explained by a destruction having occurred there in the mid-11th century, as revealed by archaeological evidence, which was likely the reason why Micah’s image was removed from the site. The destruction of the site may be attributed to the Philistines, who may have traveled that far north, or some other group like the Arameans, who took advantage of the crisis Israel was in at that time[11].

Conclusion

There are multiple conclusions.

Firstly, textual references to Laish/Dan shows that it was, indeed, renamed, in agreement with the Bible; inscriptions from before the site’s conquest refer to it as “Laish”, while those from after its conquest refer to it as “Dan”.

Secondly, archaeological evidence shows that stratum VII was burned with fire and destroyed at circa 1200 BC, which corroborates the biblical destruction of the site that is alleged to have occurred at around the same time.

Thirdly, stratum VI, which follows the destroyed stratum VII, is clearly an Israelite site, corroborating what the Bible says about Dan being rebuilt after its destruction.

Finally, the destruction of the site at the time of the destruction of Shiloh may explain why the Bible says that Micah’s image remained in Dan for all the days the Tabernacle was in Shiloh; this may demonstrate that the biblical writers knew there was a destruction at the time of Shiloh’s destruction.

So, in conclusion, the archaeological evidence demonstrates that the biblical narrative of the conquest of Laish by the tribe of Dan in Judges 18 did historically happen.

REFERENCES

[1]: Ernest S. Frerichs, ‎Leonard H. Lesko, ‎William G. Dever, Exodus: The Egyptian Evidence. United States, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. p. 77

[2]: For the archaeology of Shiloh’s destruction, see Wood, Bryant G. “From Ramesses to Shiloh: Archaeological Discoveries Bearing on the Exodus-Judges Period.” Associates for Biblical Research, 2 Apr. 2008, https://biblearchaeology.org/research/conquest-of-canaan/2403-from-ramesses-to-shiloh-archaeological-discoveries-bearing-on-the-exodusjudges-period.

[3]: Stern, Ephraim. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Israel, Israel Exploration Society & Carta, 1993. p. 323

[4]: Gibson, Shimon; Negev, Avraham. Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land. United Kingdom, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2002. p. 96

[5] Stern 1993, p. 326

[6]: Hawkins, Ralph K.. How Israel Became a People. United States, Abingdon Press, 2013. (Section “(Laish) Dan” page number not available)

[7]: Ilan, David. DAN IV – The Iron Age I Settlement: The Avraham Biran Excavations (1966-1999). Israel, Hebrew Union College Press, 2020. p. 19

[8]: Stern 1993, Ibid

[9]: Hawkins 2013

[10]: Gibson and Negev 2002, Ibid

[11]: Kitchen, K. A.. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. United Kingdom, Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006. p. 211