Wheaton College Archaeology Laboratory

The Wheaton College Archaeology Laboratory focuses on Dothan, where Joseph found his brothers (Genesis 37), and where they planned to kill him, until Reuben saved his life, but Judah sold him into slavery to the Ishmeelites who took him to Egypt.

Dothan is also where Elisha was based in 2 Kings 6, when the King of Syria tried to find out who was spying against him. When his servant told him that Elisha knew his thoughts and told his enemy, the king of Israel, the Syrian king sent an army to Dothan to surround the city. However when Elisha prayed, his servant’s eyes were opened and he saw ‘chariots of fire’ surrounding the chariots of Syria. Elisha prayed to God to strike them with blindness, and took them to Samaria, the capitol of the Israelite kingdom.

From Wheaton.edu:

Joseph P. Free, who served as Professor of Archaeology at Wheaton College, excavated the ancient ruins of Dothan for ten seasons over the course of twelve years, from 1953-1964.  Dothan is located just ten kilometers from modern-day Jenin in Palestine. Free chose to excavate at Dothan because it was a city known from the Bible’s patriarchal narratives dealing with Joseph (Genesis 37) and the period of Elisha (2 Kings 6). And Free’s excavations yielded exciting finds from both of these biblical periods, among several others.  The ancient city of Dothan appears twice in narratives of the Old Testament.  

Today, the Wheaton College Archaeology Laboratory curates the Joseph P. Free Collection, which contains more than 14,000 artifacts from Tel Dothan. The public displays of artifacts located on the fifth floor of the Billy Graham Center primarily consist of materials spanning over two millennia that come from Free’s excavation at Dothan.

Featured Image Credit: Wheaton College. “Archaeology Museum.” Wheaton College, www.wheaton.edu/about-wheaton/museums-library-and-collections/archaeology-museum.