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The archaeological site, which sits near Israel's border with Lebanon, was an Iron Age settlement built about 4500 BC and abandoned in 733 BC. It was at Tel-Dan that researchers found a
nearly 3,000-year-old inscription on the so-called Tel Dan Stele - stone slab - mentioning the fabled House of David. Professor Meyer told Express.co.uk: "Up until 1993 to 1994 not one
shred of archaeological evidence existed outside the pages of the Bible that mentioned the name of one of the most central figures of the Old Testament: King David. "Though he is
mentioned over 1,000 times in the Bible and is the author of 73 psalms, David didn’t show up outside the record of the Bible. "This absence of evidence emboldened many to state that
King David never existed and was a figment of the imagination of a post-exilic Jewish community who, after returning to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity in the fifth century BC, invented
King David as a national figure which the fledgeling nation could rally around as they rebuilt their country."
