Over the years have read accounts in the Bible about bears, lions, leopards etc being in the holy land, has their been any discussion of the bones of such animals in archaeology circles. Just interested. Just can't picture an African type king of the beasts roming the hills of palestine. Anyone knowing any info or where i can peruse it on the internet or elsewhere you help would be very much appreciated and thank you in advance.
animal bones in the holy land
by ssn587 2 Replies latest jw friends
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TD
I don't think there's any doubt on this. The lion ranged clear up into central Europe in prehistory and it's pretty clear from extra-Biblical sources that the lion was familiar to people at the time. It figures pretty prominently in Egyptian art for example:
The sphinx is simply a lion with the head of Pharaoh:
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Nathan Natas
The Middle East was not always as dry as it is today. In greener climes, beasts abounded.
Large parts of what is now the Sahara was once an inland sea. Proof is found in the "desert of whales" - so called because of all the large whale fossils found in the sand of that desert.
