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The royal archives of Mari, excavated from 1933 onward, yielded around 20,000 cuneiform tablets dated to the early second millennium BC. They describe customs, names, and political dynamics that match the patriarchal narratives in Genesis with striking precision: the names of the patriarchs (including a form of Jacob), the practice of giving handmaids as concubines, household idols (teraphim), and even covenant ceremonies that pass between divided animals.
Why this matters
Provides the cultural background that makes the Genesis patriarchal accounts read as documents from their claimed era, not as much-later inventions. The customs Genesis assumes everyone understands are documented in tablets from the same century.
Scripture references
Genesis 15:9-10Genesis 31:19Genesis 31:34
Location
Tell Hariri, Syria