Archaeology has substantially complicated this picture.

The material culture of the Philistine cities shows a sophisticated urban civilization, not a barbarian culture.

The pottery traditions, the architecture, the evidence of literacy (Philistines eventually adopted a script for writing their language), the elaborate cult practices, the metalworking traditions — all of these indicate a complex, capable civilization.

The DNA evidence adds another dimension.

The Philistines of the early Iron Age were not simply Canaanites with different pottery.

They had a distinct genetic heritage that connected them to the Aegean world, confirming the biblical and archaeological tradition of their foreign origin while providing a more precise characterization of where that foreign origin lay.