News in Brief Anthropology

Ancient DNA reveals the origins of the Philistines

These mysterious people may have fled collapsing societies in southern Europe for Israel

Philistine child

FROM THE SEA  DNA obtained from remains of people who inhabited an ancient city on Israel’s coast, including this child, indicate that the Philistines mentioned in the Hebrew Bible descended from seafaring Europeans.

Robert Walch/Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon

By Bruce Bower

Hard-won genetic clues from the bones of Philistines, a people known from the Old Testament for their battles with Israelites, have taken some of the mystery out of their hazy origins.