REL 3004 Study Guide - Judaean Desert, Judaean Mountains, Beersheba
Document Summary
Archeology supports that iron i israelite settlers of the hill country came from pastoral background and not from urban background. Two zones of occupation: fertile areas had continuous occupation: coastal plains, Shephelah, and northern valleys: marginal regions where climate was more arid and changed more often had periods of more pastoral style occupation: Wave of settlement crested in mb ii b- small villages; Mb ii c unfortified abandoned and fortified emerged; Late bronze age reveals fall and crisis, especially in the hill end of mb ii most destroyed. country. Population estimated to be half of what it was formerly, in the mb. Finkelstein"s thesis: camel wasn"t yet domesticated; therefore israelites herding sheep couldn"t have lived deep in the desert. People abandoned smaller sites, either moving to larger ones or becoming nomadized: evidence of majority pastoral groups during time. Mb: isolated sanctuaries or those not a part of the sites they are in proximity to.
