Late 7th-Century Egyptian and East Greek Pottery at Megiddo (Level X-3)

Overview

The Megiddo Expedition has published several layers from after the Assyrian conquest of 732 BCE from a small area (Area X), with a mudbrick wall and two successive buildings. Level X-3, which they date to the late 7th century BCE, produced what they describe as an exceptional number of Egyptian-made pottery vessels and a significant amount of East Greek pottery. They read this as an Egyptian (26th Dynasty, Saite) presence at Megiddo, with Greek mercenaries in Egyptian service.

Finkelstein, Adams, Fantalkin and Kleiman (Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, January 2025) present this as the archaeological background to the meeting of Josiah and Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo in 609 BCE (2 Kgs 23:29).

In August 2026 Shalvi, Gimatzidis, Kahn, Wodzinska, Ownby and Gilboa (Levant) re-examined the stratigraphy and the Phoenician, Greek, Egyptian and Assyrianizing pottery. They argue that Megiddo was abandoned c. 640 BCE, before Assyria collapsed, and not significantly resettled in the Iron Age, so that there was no Saite-period stronghold at Megiddo in 609.

What the evidence shows

• Area X exposed a mudbrick wall and two successive buildings with layers of the 8th-6th centuries BCE (BAS summary of the SJOT paper).
• Level X-3 contains 'an exceptional number of Egyptian-made pottery vessels' and 'a significant number of East Greek pottery' (SJOT 2025 abstract).
• BAS reports the excavators' claim that no other site in the region has as much Egyptian pottery, and no inland site as much Greek pottery.
• The Levant 2026 response counters that Strata III and II are both phases of Neo-Assyrian Magiddu, with no archaeologically attested Neo-Babylonian occupation and abandonment c. 640 BCE.
• No inscription naming Necho or Josiah has been reported from these layers.

Open questions

• Was Megiddo an Egyptian stronghold in 609 BCE? Finkelstein et al. (SJOT 39/1, 2025) date Level X-3 to the late 7th century and read its Egyptian-made vessels and East Greek wares as a Saite garrison with Greek mercenaries. Shalvi et al. (Levant, 2026) re-examine the stratigraphy and the same four ceramic groups and date the end of occupation to c. 640 BCE, before any Saite control, with no significant later Iron Age resettlement. The dispute is over the dating of the Greek and Egyptian pottery types and how the strata connect, not over whether the pottery exists.
• Josiah's death: 2 Kgs 23:29 says only that Necho killed Josiah at Megiddo 'when he saw him'. 2 Chr 35:20-24 describes a battle in the valley of Megiddo. BAS notes that the difference between the two accounts is still argued. The pottery could bear on whether an Egyptian post stood at Megiddo; it cannot show which account describes the encounter.

Since 2024

• 2025-01Finkelstein et al. publish Level X-3's Egyptian and East Greek assemblage in SJOT 39/1. [1]
• 2025-09Finkelstein and Adams summarise the Megiddo Expedition's contributions in NEA 88/3. [4]
• 2026-08Shalvi, Gimatzidis, Kahn et al. (Levant) argue that Megiddo was abandoned c. 640 BCE, directly disputing the Saite-garrison reading. [2]

Sources

1. I. Finkelstein, M. J. Adams, A. Fantalkin, A. Kleiman, 'Josiah at Megiddo: New Evidence from the Field,' Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 39/1 (2025) 3-20, DOI 10.1080/09018328.2025.2454490 link excavation report
2. G. Shalvi, S. Gimatzidis, D. Kahn, A. Wodzinska, M. Ownby, A. Gilboa, 'The Assyrian-Egyptian-Babylonian transition in the southern Levant as seen from Megiddo: a response to recent suggestions,' Levant (online 24 Aug 2026) 204-225, DOI 10.1080/00758914.2026.2693383 link study
3. N. Steinmeyer, 'Necho and Josiah at Megiddo,' Bible History Daily, Biblical Archaeology Society (first published 10 Mar 2025, updated 6 Mar 2026) link study
4. I. Finkelstein and M. J. Adams, 'The Contribution of the Megiddo Expedition to the Archaeology of the Levant and Beyond,' Near Eastern Archaeology 88/3 (2025) 240-247, DOI 10.1086/736852 link study

Checked against new publications through 2026-09.