Last updated: February 2, 2026
Archaeology shows little evidence for a biblical Israelite conquest of Canaan.
"...the external material evidence supports almost nothing of the biblical account of a large-scale, concerted Israelite military invasion of Canaan, either that of Numbers east of the Jordan, or of Joshua west of the Jordan."
William G. Dever, Professor Emeritus, University of Arizona. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?1
"Following seventy years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archeologists have found out: The patriarchs' acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been known for years, but Israelis are a stubborn people, and no one wants to hear it."
Ze'ev Herzog, Professor of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University. The New Yorker2
"In the [Biblical] text, you have the story of the Israelites coming from outside, and then besieging the Canaanite cities, destroying them and then becoming a nation in the land of Canaan, whereas archaeology tells us something which is the opposite. According to archaeology, the rise of early Israel is an outcome of the collapse of Canaanite society, not the reason for that collapse."
Israel Finkelstein, Professor of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University. The Archaeology of the Israelite Settlement3
"There is no reason to accept that Joshua's conquest ever happened in anything like the form described in the Bible."
Baruch Halpern, Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Georgia. The First Historians4
The Book of Joshua describes a swift, brutal, and divinely-led military campaign by the Israelites to conquer the land of Canaan after their exodus from Egypt. The narrative is characterized by miraculous victories and the complete annihilation of the Canaanite population.
"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them--to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses."
The book details a series of decisive battles where major Canaanite cities were destroyed:
"When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed... They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys."
The conquest is framed as the fulfillment of a divine command to utterly destroy the inhabitants of the land to prevent idolatry.
"So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded."
Despite the Bible's detailed account of a military conquest, archaeological findings at key sites mentioned in Joshua differ from the narrative. There is a widespread lack of evidence for the destruction layers and population changes that such a campaign would produce.
The story of Jericho's collapsing walls is one of the most famous in the Bible, but archaeology tells a different story.
No Walls, No City: Unoccupied at the time of the supposed conquest. Excavations, most notably by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950s, found that Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) was a heavily fortified city in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. However, it was destroyed around 1550 BCE, long before the Israelites' supposed arrival. During the Late Bronze Age (c. 1400-1200 BCE), when the conquest would have occurred, the site was small and unwalled, if not entirely abandoned. There were no walls to fall.
Source: Kathleen Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho5 (1957).
The Bible describes the conquest and burning of Ai, but the site's history does not match.
A Ruin for 1,000 Years: Site was long abandoned. The site identified as Ai (Khirbet et-Tell) was a massive, fortified city during the Early Bronze Age but was destroyed around 2400 BCE. It lay in ruins for over a millennium. A small, unfortified village was established on the site around 1200 BCE, but there was no fortified city for Joshua to conquer. The name "Ai" itself means "the ruin."
Source: Joseph Callaway, The 1964-1966 Ai (et-Tell) Excavations6 (1976).
Hazor is one of the few sites with a destruction layer that could potentially align with the biblical timeline, but the evidence is not conclusive.
Destruction, But By Whom?: Evidence remains uncertain. Hazor was a major Canaanite city that was violently destroyed in the 13th century BCE. While some scholars attribute this to the incoming Israelites, there is no direct evidence confirming their identity as the destroyers. Other groups, such as the Sea Peoples or internal Canaanite conflicts, are also possible explanations. The destruction date also does not align clearly with a 15th-century conquest (the "early date").
Source: Amnon Ben-Tor, "Who Destroyed Canaanite Hazor?", Biblical Archaeology Review7 (2003).
Many other cities listed as conquered by Joshua show no evidence of destruction in the Late Bronze Age, including Heshbon, Arad, and Gibeon.
During the entire Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE), the period for both proposed conquest dates, Canaan was firmly under the control of the Egyptian Empire. Egyptian garrisons were stationed throughout the region, and local vassal kings reported to Pharaoh.
The earliest known extrabiblical reference to "Israel" contradicts the idea of a recent conquest.
Instead of a violent conquest, archaeology reveals a different story of Israel's origins:
The story of the conquest, likely written centuries after the events it describes (around the 7th century BCE), served an important theological and political purpose for the later Kingdom of Judah. It wasn't intended as a literal history but as: