But the disruption of the Bronze Age trade networks created the conditions in which iron’s advantage — the wide availability of the raw material — became more significant.

What The Science Changed — And What It Didn’t

Ancient DNA research has significantly changed the study of the Sea Peoples, but it is important to be honest about both what the science has clarified and what it has not.

What the science has most clearly established is the Aegean connection of the Philistines.

The DNA evidence from Ashkelon represents a genuine and important scientific achievement: the first direct biological confirmation that at least one major Sea Peoples group had significant genetic ancestry from the Aegean region.

The hypothesis of Philistine Aegean origins, which had been argued from archaeological evidence for decades, is now supported at the molecular level.