Quote:But talking about 8th through 3rd c. is not in the running for being called rapid or sudden.
But Finkelstein is not talking about the 3d century. The rapid increase in population occurs in the 8th-7th centuries and went from a small village to something in the 10-12,000 range. In the 6th century the town is sacked and burned by the Babylonians and remains vacant until the Persian period. Even then, based on the built-up area, Finkelstein calculates that there was little more than a small compound of perhaps 400 people ( back to not much more than Athas' fortified manor house concept!). To be fair, another Israeli archaeologist, Oded Lipschitz, suggests a population of 1,000. However, both are a far cry from the ludicrous numbers of Ezra 2
Quote:64 The whole company numbered 42,360, 65 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 200 male and female singers. 66 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.
The amusing thing is that even after the Romans and/or Herod the Great installed aqueducts to increase the water supply the city never had a population of that size. Just made up shit by the bible thumpers.
