From the ground
The Discoveries
Stones, seals and scrolls whose words touch the people and events of Scripture.
- 01c. 840 BC · Moabite
Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone)
“Omri was king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days…”
King Mesha of Moab records his revolt against Israel after Omri's house, matching the rebellion Scripture describes. It also names the God of Israel (YHWH).
- 02c. 841 BC · Akkadian
Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
“The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri…”
Shows an Israelite king bowing before the Assyrian king — the only known contemporary image of a king of Israel. Jehu is the king anointed in 2 Kings 9.
- 03c. 840 BC · Aramaic
Tel Dan Stele
“…king of the House of David (bytdwd)…”
The earliest undisputed mention of David outside the Bible, in a victory inscription of an Aramean king — likely Hazael — over kings of Israel and Judah.
- 04c. 691 BC · Akkadian
Sennacherib’s Prism (Taylor Prism)
“As for Hezekiah the Judahite… himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, like a bird in a cage.”
Sennacherib boasts of taking 46 cities of Judah but does not claim to have taken Jerusalem, agreeing with Scripture's account.
, - 05c. 701 BC · Hebrew
Siloam Tunnel Inscription
“…the quarrymen hewed, each toward his fellow, axe against axe, and the water flowed from the spring to the pool…”
Commemorates the moment the two digging teams met in the tunnel that brought water into the city before the Assyrian siege.
, - 06c. 727–698 BC · Hebrew
Seal impression of King Hezekiah
“Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz, king of Judah”
A clay seal pressed by the royal seal of Hezekiah himself, found in a royal building beside the Temple Mount.
- 07c. 600 BC · Hebrew
Ketef Hinnom Silver Scrolls
“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee…”
Two tiny rolled silver amulets bearing the priestly blessing — the oldest known physical copies of a passage of Scripture.
- 08c. 539 BC · Akkadian
Cyrus Cylinder
“I gathered all their people and returned them to their dwellings…”
Records Cyrus's policy of returning exiled peoples and restoring their sanctuaries, the policy behind his decree for the Jews.
, - 09c. 125 BC · Hebrew
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ)
All 66 chapters of Isaiah
The oldest complete book of the Bible; about 1,000 years older than the earlier Hebrew manuscripts, and its text closely matches them.
- 10c. AD 26–36 · Latin
Pilate Stone
“…Pontius Pilatus, Prefect of Judaea…”
A dedication stone from a building Pilate gave in honour of Tiberius — the only inscription from his lifetime naming him.
,
Note — Quotations of the artifacts are standard published translations, abridged. Scripture’s authority does not rest on archaeology; these finds are shown as witnesses alongside the text.