and Anat.Gitin, Seymour, and Mordechai Cogan. "A New Type of Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron." Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 49, no. 3/4, Israel Exploration Society, 1999, pp. 193–202, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27926893. Although the Bible cites Dagon as the main Philistine god, there is a stark lack of any evidence which indicates the Philistines had any particular proclivity to the worship of Dagon. In fact, no evidence of Dagon worship whatsoever is discernable at Philistine sites, with even theophoric names invoking the deity being absent from the already limited corpus of known Philistine names. A further assessment of the Iron Age I finds worship of Dagon in any immediate Canaanite context, let alone one which is indisputably Philistine, as seemingly non-existent. Still, this does not imply that worship of Dagon was completely unheard of amongst the Philistines, and multiple mentions of a city in Assyrian, Phoenician, and Egyptian sources known as Beth Dagon may imply the god was venerated in at least some parts of Philistia. The most common material religious artefact finds from Philistine sites are goddess figurines/chairs, sometimes called Ashdoda. This seems to imply a dominant female figure, which is consistent with Ancient Aegean religion. Economy Cities excavated in the area attributed to Philistines give evidence of careful town planning, including industrial zones. The olive industry of Ekron alone includes about 200 olive oil installations. Engineers estimate that the city's production may have been more than 1,000 tons, 30 percent of Israel's present-day production. There is considerable evidence for a large industry in fermented drink. Finds include breweries, wineries, and retail shops marketing beer and wine. Beer mugs and wine kraters are among the most common pottery finds. The Philistines also seemed to be experienced metalworkers, as complex wares of gold, bronze, and iron, have been found at Philistine sites as early as the 12th century BC, as well as artisanal weaponry. Further evidence of the Philistine domination of the metallurgical market lies in the Hebrew Bible, which claims that the Israelites relied heavily on Philistine blacksmiths for iron tools and weapons, despite the near-constant state of war between the two groups. See also Museum of Philistine Culture, a museum displaying the major archaeological artifacts from the five ancient Philistine city-states Palistin (or Walistin), a Syro-Hittite kingdom (11th–9th c. BC) in what is now NW Syria and the SE Turkish province of Hatay Archaeology in Gaza Notes References Citations Sources External links