(April 10, 2016 at 12:39 pm)abaris Wrote:(April 10, 2016 at 12:08 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Don't worry about that, Abs. Archaeology is a dry subject. Just ask.
Yeah, but I always found the theory about the sea people at the root of the Israelites most fascinating. It would, if true, answer a great many questions. Not the one about where they originally came from. That would still be in the dark. But it seems like an early migration of peoples, seeking for new lands to exploit.
The collapse of the Late Bronze Age Empires..... Eric Cline's 1177 BC is a fantastic book on the subject...hinges on the depredations of The Sea People but what is not known is if they were the cause or just an effect. Cline's vision is of a 'systems collapse' in which it was not just one thing which led to the upheaval. So if the region was weakened by drought and earthquake (earthquake swarm is a possibility) then populations moving might have triggered revolts among the lower-classes to join in. The Sea Peoples are an amorphous enough grouping to fit that bill with groups joining and leaving.
In any event, Israel Finkelstein sees the settlers of the hill country which later evolved to be Israelites and Judahites as herders who settled down to grow their own grain after their trading partners on the coast were knocked out by the Sea People. William Dever suggests that these groups evolved from refugees from the destroyed cities and towns of the coast and who fled inland. Of course, there is no reason why it has to be an either/or proposition. Refugees could well have brought technology and farming techniques to the herders who would have been able to subsist on the meat and dairy products of their herds while the crops grew.
Anyway, I have an epub version of 1177. If you'd like it, PM me an email address.
