Recent discoveries at Tel 'Erani reveal that bananas reached the Judean coast by 1000 BCE, altering previous views of Iron Age trade networks. The banana remnants were found in 3,000-year-old graves. This suggests that long-range trade between the Levant and distant regions was more extensive than previously believed.
Researchers from Bar-Ilan University and the Max Planck Institute conducted the analysis. They analyzed dental plaque from individuals buried at the Tel Erani site. The analysis identified banana starch granules, along with sesame and millet, which were not native to the Levant during that period.
This discovery indicates the import of dried fruit, potentially from South Asia, and possibly experimental cultivation using imported propagules. The findings place Iron Age Philistia within a far-flung commercial network that was previously thought to have existed only in later centuries. This highlights Philistia's outward-looking nature and internal diversity.