Are there any mentions in the bible, of technology that we'rent actually invented at the time claimed in the story?

by sconestm

I started to wonder, if the writers have been 100% accurate with the use of technology referenced throughout the bible. Does it mention things like the bronze age, and is it equal to the "proven" timeline from our history books?

husky54

So, the short answer is yes!

Allow me to correct the question a bit. Labels like "Bronze Age" are applied by archaeologists to time periods when certain metals were in use. So, the "Bronze Age" is not mentioned in the biblical text. (This is just kind of how history writing works--names for generations and epochs and time periods always come later, after the fact.) So, the "Bronze Age" is technically split up into three portions (Early, Middle, and Late) and each of those three divisions are divided into smaller units themselves. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which we usually say starts around 1200 or so, but there is no hard/fast date when it was all of a sudden the Iron Age and no longer the Bronze Age. Transitions happened slowly and naturally, and so there is some predictable overlap as material culture changed and evolved within the social systems that used those materials. The Iron Age (~1200-586 BCE) is then divided up into two sub-divisions of its own (Iron I [c. 1200-1000], Iron II [1000-586]) and each of those has subdivisions as well (e.g., Iron IIA, Iron IIB, etc.).

Now, as for technology, I'm going to approach the question with a broader understanding of "technology" than perhaps you intended, but it should be clear why as I answer.

So, the first example (and one of my favorites) comes from 1 Samuel 13. This text records events that purportedly took place during the 10th c. BCE. Specifically, we want to look at verses 19-22. I'll provide the Hebrew and my own translation:

‏ וְחָרָשׁ֙ לֹ֣א יִמָּצֵ֔א בְּכֹ֖ל אֶ֣רֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־אָמְרֻ [אָמְר֣וּ] פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים פֶּ֚ן יַעֲשׂ֣וּ הָעִבְרִ֔ים חֶ֖רֶב א֥וֹ חֲנִֽית׃ ‎‏ וַיֵּרְד֥וּ כָל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים לִ֠לְטוֹשׁ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־מַחֲרַשְׁתּ֤וֹ וְאֶת־אֵתוֹ֙ וְאֶת־קַרְדֻּמּ֔וֹ וְאֵ֖ת מַחֲרֵשָׁתֽוֹ׃ ‎‏ וְֽהָיְתָ֞ה הַפְּצִ֣ירָה פִ֗ים לַמַּֽחֲרֵשֹׁת֙ וְלָ֣אֵתִ֔ים וְלִשְׁלֹ֥שׁ קִלְּשׁ֖וֹן וּלְהַקַּרְדֻּמִּ֑ים וּלְהַצִּ֖יב הַדָּרְבָֽן׃ ‎‏ וְהָיָה֙ בְּי֣וֹם מִלְחֶ֔מֶת וְלֹ֨א נִמְצָ֜א חֶ֤רֶב וַחֲנִית֙ בְּיַ֣ד כָּל־הָעָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֶת־שָׁא֖וּל וְאֶת־יוֹנָתָ֑ן וַתִּמָּצֵ֣א לְשָׁא֔וּל וּלְיוֹנָתָ֖ן בְּנֽוֹ׃

Now, there could not be found a craftsman anywhere in the land of Israel, because the Philistines said, "Lest they [i.e., the Israelites] fashion [for themselves] sword or spear." So all of Israel went down to the Philistines in order that each man could sharpen his own ploughshare, or his [other kind of] ploughshare, or his axe, or his [third kind of] ploughshare. And so the charge was a pim for the various types of ploughshares, and for three pronged forks, and for axes, and for setting the goad. Thus, on the day of battle there was not found a sword or spear in the hand of any of the people with Saul or with Jonathan; but, Saul and Jonathan his son had them.

So, the problem with this particular text is that, as I noted above, it purports to record part of the socio-economic situation of the 10th century Levant. However, the pim weight was not in use (so far as we know) until some time during the 8th c. BCE. So, here we have a likely example of a later redactor, coming along and inserting some material later material into an older swath of texts/traditions about Saul.

Camels.

There is good reason to believe that references to domesticated camels that appear in the patriarchal narratives in the Pentateuch (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy) retrojected domesticated camels into a past setting prior to a time when camels had been domesticated in the Levant. E.g., in Genesis 24, when Rebecca finally meets Isaac, she is riding a camel. However, if we plot this chronologically (by biblical dating methods, which are suspect, of course...regardless), then Rebecca was riding a domesticated camel PRIOR to a time when they were in use as domesticated beasts of burden in this area.

Similarly, we can look at things like various archaeological sites and compare when they were destroyed to when the biblical text suggests they were destroyed. The classical exemplar of this is the city of Ai. The book of Joshua suggests that the Israelites destroyed Ai themselves as they conquered the land after the Exodus. However, the archaeological data shows that the destruction of Ai happened MUCH earlier than the biblical text purports. So, what likely happened is that whoever was responsible for writing down the account of Joshua 7 likely saw the mound of ruins that remained of Ai and made up an etiology for the site's destruction. This is kind of the reverse of what you're asking, and it's not about technology, but it grants us insight into how some biblical texts operated.

Here are a few good resources that you may find helpful:

King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel

Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, Volume I: 10,000-586 B.C.E.

Zevit, The Religions of Ancient Israel

McCarter's commentary on 1 Samuel in the Anchor Bible series