Plant-related Philistine ritual practices at biblical Gath.

The Philistine culture (Iron Age, ca. 1200-604 BCE) profoundly impacted the southern Levant's cultural history, agronomy, and dietary customs. Nevertheless, our knowledge of the Philistines' cultic praxis and deities, is limited and uncertain. Here, we combine archaeological data with a meticulous study of plant use at two successive temples at Tell es-Sâfi/Gath. We provide a list of the plants used, their time of harvest, mode of offering, and possible symbolism. Analysis of the temples' macrobotanical (seed and fruits) plant assemblage reveals the offerings; that the inception date for rites was early spring; and sheds light on the date of the final utilization of the temples (late summer/early fall). Besides food crops, we note the earliest cultic use of chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus), crown daisy (Glebionis coronaria), and scabious (Lomelosia argentea). These wide-spread Mediterranean plants were known so far only in later cults-of early Greek deities, such as Hera, Artemis, Demeter, and Asclepios. We discuss the data as reflecting that the Philistine religion relied on the magic and power of nature, such as fresh water and seasonality, which influence human life, health, and activity. In sum, our results offer novel insights into the culture of the Philistines.

Studying Ancient Anthropogenic Impacts on Current Floral Biodiversity in the Southern Levant as reflected by the Philistine Migration.

Human migrations across geographic boundaries can facilitate the introduction of new husbandry practices and dispersal of plants and animals, resulting in changes in biodiversity. As previously demonstrated, the 12th century BCE Philistine migration-to the southern Levantine littoral, involved the transportation of pigs from Europe, engendering long term genetic displacement of local Near Eastern haplotypes. Building on this, and combining biogeographical methods of Floral List comparisons with archaeological data, we have elucidated the Philistine impact on Southern Levantine floral ecosystems. We demonstrate that previously unexploited local plants were incorporated into the Philistine milieu, and new species were introduced-from Europe, the Aegean, Egypt and Mesopotamia -resulting in the earliest locally cultivated sycamore, cumin, coriander, bay tree and opium poppy. This research has highlighted the impact of past cultures on the formation of floral ecosystems and their long-term effects on contemporary local biological diversity.