The Mystery of Missing Pigs: Uncovering the Ancient Identity of Israeli Cities

Does anyone know what "another thing" means? Absolutely. We are so averse to pigs that we immediately understand this indirect term - we don't even say the word pig. It's a symbol of non-Jewish cuisine, detested by Jews as per Torah law.

When archaeological excavations began in Israel, a highly effective identification marker for ancient Israeli settlements emerged: the absence of pigs! The Philistines and Canaanites raised and ate pigs, but the Israelites did not. In every Canaanite city, remains of domesticated pigs were found. Cities free of pig remnants were identified as Israeli cities.

Over time, some researchers found this unsettling. Could it be that the Israelites adhered to Torah laws? And that this fact is archaeologically proven? A tough issue. They pondered for seven days and nights and proposed an idea: Israelites were nomads, and nomads don't mesh well with pig farming. But reality refuted this "explanation," as nomads in many cultures do eat pigs, and Israelites weren't exactly nomads despite their forty years wandering the desert.

A researcher named Harris developed another "startup" theory: pigs eat oak acorns, which weren't sufficiently common in the land, thus hindering pig farming. Yet this, too, faced a problem: it turns out oak trees were abundant in the land, and pigs can manage without them (Nili Lipshitz).

So, a significant embarrassment for those striving to deny... But not to worry. A few years ago, excavations in the Givati parking lot in ancient Jerusalem revealed some pig bones there. Unfortunately, this dates to the end of the First Temple period, which the prophet Isaiah mentions regarding "those who eat the flesh of swine, abomination, and the mouse," indicating there were idolaters and sinners in Jerusalem at that time. This doesn't alter the entire ancient history of the Jewish people, who have observed the commandments since they became a nation.