Unearthing history

As regular readers of this column will know, I have always had an interest in archaeology.

I don’t just mean watching YouTube videos or Indiana Jones, I mean getting wet and cold in muddy excavations in England. Or hot and sweaty in Israeli ones. Regardless of any connections to the Bible I love the thrill of excavating broken pots and corroded coins buried beneath the earth. I don’t know why anyone would not.

This summer I was involved in an excavation in the depths of the beautiful New Forest where we found a 2,000-year-old Celtic roundhouse and evidence of a Romano-British settlement. The most exciting find? Not coins, jewellery or weapons but a piece of broken pot. What made this shard spine-tingling is that it was inscribed with a name: Banvus of Lezoux. This c.120–200AD pot had made its way from the workshop of Banvus, in the Auvergne in France, to a little hamlet in Hampshire. Don’t you want to know, who was Banvus and how did his pot wind up here?

Old Testament archaeology

For British history the trail runs cold. We don’t have a written history of Britain prior to the arrival of the Romans. However, for the land of the Bible there is an embarrassment of riches. In a 2014 edition of the Bible Archaeology Review, an article by Lawrence Mykytiuk lists the names of 50 different individuals mentioned in the Old Testament who are confirmed by material evidence in archaeology.

In 2017 the list had to be updated, a further three names had been identified. The total includes the inevitable pharaohs and kings (including 22 kings of Israel and Judah) to which we can add a further list of less well-known characters including Balaam, son of Beor (Num.22), Isaiah the Prophet (2 Chron.32:20), and Gedaliah, governor of Lachish (2 Kings 25:22).

These names appear on monumental inscriptions, clay tablets and tiny seals. In total, there are probably about 66 different Old Testament personalities confirmed by direct archaeological evidence.

New Testament archaeology

What about the New Testament period? Of course, the two Testaments are not directly comparable. The Old Testament describes over a thousand years of ancient history, whereas the New Testament concerns less than a century. However, yet again, the material evidence from archaeology confirms that we are dealing with real historical people.

There are no inscribed monuments or coins bearing the name of Jesus from the first century. This should hardly be surprising. He was not a political leader. The extra-biblical evidence for Jesus is in the form of literature – the writings of Jewish and Roman historians provide plenty of corroborating material (Tactitus, Josephus, Lucian, Celsus, Pliny) alongside the New Testament documents themselves.

But, apart from Jesus, nearly 30 different people mentioned in the New Testament have physical or literary evidence for their existence outside of the Bible. Josephus, the first-century Jewish writer, records much Jewish history from the time. As a Jew who knew the land and its politics well, he makes reference to Gamaliel, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, Annas the High Priest, Caiaphas, Ananias, various members of the Herod dynasty, Pilate, Felix and Festus. To this we can add archaeological artefacts such as the 1961 discovery of a limestone slab bearing the name of Pontius Pilate, and in 2018 the identification of a simple copper ring bearing his name.

I wish I knew more about Banvus of Lazoux. We don’t have much to go on. But in the world of the Bible we have stories, chronologies and family names. The archaeological record helps to confirm that these stories reflect real history. So if these were real people, then could not the miracles they witnessed and the God they encountered be a matter of real history too?