The ancient Philistines — famous for their appearances in the Hebrew Bible, including the story of David and the giant Philistine Goliath — weren't local to what is now modern-day Israel.

Banana remnants in 3,000-year-old graves at Tel ‘Erani show the fruit reached the Judean coast by 1000 BCE, reshaping views on Iron Age trade and Philistine burial customs.

The team also retrieved DNA from three Bronze Age individuals found in an Ashkelon necropolis, who likely lived there before the Philistines, and were radiocarbon dated to around 1746 to 1542 B.C.E.

Banana remnants in 3,000-year-old graves at Tel ‘Erani show the fruit reached the Judean coast by 1000 BCE, reshaping views on Iron Age trade and Philistine burial customs.