A Photoshopped image is being shared as 'Goliath’s skull exhumed at Mount Elah'

A Facebook post has a screenshot that has two photos, one purportedly showing two men exhuming a skull and the other a news clip with the title “Goliath’s skull found in Holy land”. The claim in the screenshot is that the head of Goliath, a character in the Bible, was exhumed at the feet of Mount Elah as discovered by German Archaeologist Dr. Martin. Let’s check the authenticity of the claim.

The archived version of the post can be found here.

Claim: Image of Goliath’s skull exhumed at the feet of Mount Elah as discovered by German Archaeologist Dr. Martin.
Fact: The image of ‘two men exhuming a skull’ is an entry of a photoshop contest seeking hoax archaeological discovery. The image is not related to any true event. And, the news clip in the screenshot is that of ‘Weekly World News’, a tabloid ill-reputed for publishing sensational and fake news. So, the claim is FALSE.

The screenshot had a news clip of ‘Weekly World News’. So when searched for that article, it was found and known to have been published in June-1993. In the article, it was written that a leading Archaeologist Dr. Martin has claimed to have found Goliath’s skull in a valley west of Jerusalem. So, when looked for other news reports about it, a few other websites were found to have carried news regarding the same news clip of Weekly World News (WWN). But, there are no reports of any prominent newspapers regarding the exhuming of Goliath’s skull discovered by archaeologist Dr. Martin. When looked for the credibility of WWN, reports were found that the tabloid was known to be ill-reputed for publishing stories based on sensationalism and fake news. More information about the nature and credibility of the news that was published by WWN tabloid can be read here.

From an article of ‘Snopes’, it was found that the photograph of ‘two men exhuming a skull’ is actually an entry of a photoshop contest seeking hoax archaeological discovery. So, the image is not that of a true event.

To conclude, the image of an entry of a photoshop contest is being shared as Goliath’s skull exhumed at Mount Elah.

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