In 1993, archaeologists uncovered a shattered stone at Tel Dan in northern Israel—and it silenced a long-standing debate about King David.
The fragment, now known as the Tel Dan Stele, records a military victory by a foreign king and includes two explosive phrases: “the king of Israel” and “the House of David.” This inscription dates to the 9th century BC, within living memory of the biblical kings—making it one of the earliest non-biblical confirmations that David was not a legend, but the founder of a real royal dynasty.