Is there any evidence supporting the existence of Jacob, Joseph, Abraham or the other patriarchs of the Old Testament?
Answer: Although we might not expect to find personal references to such men in the archaeological records we can verify that the political, historical and social conditions fit their life and times in history.
For example, Joseph was sold for twenty silver shekels, according to Genesis 37:28. Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen found that this amount matches exactly with Joseph’s time period according to the Bible and not any earlier or later periods.
The treaties made by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob correspond very closely to the form of treaties in that period and not to other time periods. The description of Jacob’s life as a shepherd fits well into the shepherding practices of that region and time.
Other evidences that fit the times of the patriarchs include: the inheritance rights of an adopted son, confirmed by the Nuzi Tablets (as in Genesis 15:2–4, referring to Isaac’s servant), having children by proxy as in Genesis 16 when Abraham had Ishmael by Hagar, the domestication of camels, the fit of the types of names of the patriarchs to that period and the great lack of evidence for the use of those names in later periods.
Other specific evidence supporting the accounts of Abraham includes:
The name Abram has also been discovered in tablets dated around 1550 B.C.
The names and the political conditions described in the account of the invasion of the Mesopotamian kings in Genesis 14 have been verified by archaeology as fitting the time period described in the biblical account and not later periods.
The regions where Abraham lived have been shown to have been inhabited in Abraham’s time, as well as the existence of the cities of Ur and Haran, contrary to skeptics’ theories. The city of Haran, which is portrayed as a thriving city in the Bible at the time of Abraham, has been shown by archaeology to have been abandoned from about 1800 B.C. to 800 B.C. Archaeologist Barry Beitzel comments: “It’s highly improbable (that someone inventing the story later) would have chosen Haran as a key location when the town hadn’t existed for hundreds of years.”
Kenneth Kitchen refutes the modern claim that the patriarchs were legendary: “We are compelled, once and for all, to throw out Wellhausen’s bold claim that the patriarchs were merely a glorified mirage of/from the Hebrew monarchy period. For such a view there is not a particle of supporting factual evidence.”
See Chapter Six of The Bible Can Be Proven, entitled “The Shovel Doesn’t Lie” for these and other solid archaeological evidences for the Bible’s history.
 Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2003, 344-345.