The pool of Gibeon
Gibeon is identified by inscribed jar handles from the site itself, and it has a great pool of the kind 2 Samuel and Jeremiah both mention.
Confirmed by the groundExcavated siteIron Age
A shaft eleven metres across cut straight down through bedrock with a spiral stair around its wall, and a tunnel continuing to the water table. Jar handles from the site are stamped "Gibeon", confirming the identification. 2 Samuel sets a confrontation between Joab's men and Abner's "by the pool of Gibeon".
And they met together by the pool of Gibeon; and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side.
- Found
- El-Jib (Gibeon), West Bank, 1956 — James Pritchard's excavation
- Now held at
- In place
- How it reached us
- Dug up, or still standing where it was built.
What it shows
Whether the biblical "pool" is this shaft or a separate reservoir on the site is discussed; both are there.
How historians use it
The stamped handles make Gibeon one of the securely identified biblical towns.
In Scripture
Connects to
Sources
- Pritchard, Gibeon: Where the Sun Stood Still (1962)
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.