Goliath's Name Found On Pottery

More archaeology! Researchers have found a pottery fragment at a mound near the Israeli city of Tell es-Shafi, a mound widely accepted to be the site of the ancient Philistine city of Gath.

Gath, by the way, was one of a confederacy of five Philistine cities that gave Israel no end of trouble in Old Testament times. The pottery fragment had an inscription in an ancient Semitic script reading "alwat" and "wlt," which researchers believe to be Philistine spellings of the name of Goliath.

The full story can be found at Yahoo, here.

What makes this find even more intriguing is that the Bible clearly states Goliath was from Gath:

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. (1 Samuel 17:4)

This is a spectacular find, because it is the first extra-biblical evidence to suggest that Goliath actually existed. Granted, it does not "prove" the Biblical story to a skeptic's satisfaction, but it certainly adds a lot of credibility to the Biblical account - Goliath is proven to be a Philistine name, and the name is connected with his Biblical hometown!

The shard dates from 900 BC, well after Goliath would have lived, but that doesn't detract from the value of the find at all.

I liked this quote from NineMSN:

"I haven't found Goliath's skeleton with the hole in the centre of his forehead, but it's the first archaeological evidence form a Philistine site which lends strong credibility" to the story...