Palestine · A closer look
c. 1150 BCE
The Philistines, and a name
People the Egyptians called the Peleset are associated with settlement on the southern coast in the early Iron Age. Philistia centred on five cities: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. A related name appears in Greek as Palaistinē; Herodotus used it in the fifth century BCE, long before the Roman province of Syria Palaestina.
Across the Mediterranean
The emergence of Philistine culture belongs to the upheavals around the end of the Bronze Age. Archaeologists identify changes in pottery, food preparation and other practices at southern coastal sites. These suggest connections across the Mediterranean, alongside continuity with local communities. The five cities associated with Philistia were not newly created on empty ground: several already had substantial histories before the early Iron Age.
Source: Max Planck Institute: Ancient DNA and the origins of the Philistines (2019)
What the evidence can tell us
A 2019 study of ancient DNA from ten people buried at Ashkelon found a European-related ancestry component in early Iron Age individuals. It was not detectable in the later sampled group, consistent with mixing with the surrounding population. This is evidence for migration at a particular place and time, rather than a complete account of everyone called Philistine. Material culture, language and ancestry do not necessarily share the same boundaries.
Source: Max Planck Institute: Ancient DNA and the origins of the Philistines (2019)
A name with a longer life
Herodotus used a form of the name Palestine in the fifth century BCE, centuries before the Roman province Syria Palaestina. His geographical terminology reflects an ancient writer's understanding of the region, rather than a modern national border. The survival of a place name and the history of the people who use it are related but distinct questions. It should not be treated as proof of a simple, exclusive line of descent from an ancient population to a modern one.
Source: Ohio State University, Herodotos Project: Palestinian Syrians
