Skeletons of Child Slaves of Biblical Egypt Found in Ancient Mass Graves

Amanda Borschel-Dan : Jun 9, 2017
Times of Israel

Speculation lingers as to whether they could be connected to the Hebrew slaves of the Old Testament.

(Egypt) — [Reprinted with permission of The Times of Israel] – While the archaeological record may not shore up the Biblical account of the Exodus from Egypt, in light of recent finds one could be forgiven for speculating whether those Hebrew sons who weren't thrown into the Nile were rather conscripted as slaves. Those finds, at the ongoing excavation of the ancient Egyptian capital city Amarna, shed light on the treatment of ancient slaves — whoever they may have been — and their children. (Photo Credit: Mary Shepperson/Courtesy of The Amarna Project)

The city, in an isolated desert bay some 10 kilometers from the Nile, was the seat of power of Egypt's "monotheistic" Pharaoh Akhenaten. Called a "heretic" by his own people, Akhenaten ruled a mere 17 years until his death in 1332 BC. The discovery of workmen's burial plots — built and deserted within 15 years — provide a window into his brief reign and the mores of the time.

Archaeologist Mary Shepperson, who previously dug with the Amarna Project, reported in The Guardian this week on the discovery of "the simple desert graves of the ordinary Egyptians who lived and worked in Akhenaten's city and never got to leave."

The Times of Israel