... No problem. As I mentioned to AJ, I uploaded a file that goes along the same thought. Feel free to let me know and correction or elaborations I should...
Hey All: Regarding the Israelites, Edomites, Moabites and Midianites, it is assumed that these ethnic identities were distinguishable prior to the Iron Age....
Hi Holly, you wrote ... there have been some very interesting studies of ethnicity published in the last few years - Killebrew's 'Biblical Peoples and...
Richard wrote: Basically I am saying that you seem to be equating lifestyle choice (viz pastoralists) with ethnicity, and I don't think this is quite the right...
Hi Richard Thanks for the warm wishes. You wrote ... Regarding the "land of the Shasu", I am aware of the Egyptian determinative. You may like to check some...
Hi Ratson ... Thanks - I'll have a gander when I've a little more time. ... That's just it, Ratson, I'm not trying to find the roots in Hebrew, I'm trying to...
Hey John: Welcome back. We have all missed your inciteful input. Next time you travel abroad, remind yourself to drop in once in a while so we know that you...
John wrote: You several times talk of "spread of Shasu (wanderers)", "groups of these Shasu" etc, with the implication that Shasu were a people group. Up until...
Hi Holly, you wrote ... Actually it was me rather than John who wrote that! John's words suggested that he considered "Shasu" to be the name of a group of...
Richard the taboo against pig eating seems to have not been the proto-Israelite marker once thought. It seems that the consumption of pig flesh was introduced...
Hi Holly You may remember a discussion a long time ago how the Yaudi tribe may have split into two, the Yaudi Bene Samal in the north settling around Cilcian...
Hi John, this isn't quite how writers talk about ethnic boundary markers these days - a particular "signal" may be used as a boundary between groups A and B,...
Messages from the past become easy to read The Los Angeles Times, November 2, 2009 Four thousand years ago, a government bureaucrat in Mesopotamia jotted down...
... ====== Very sad commentary. It is exactly the reason that I believe Dr. Uri Rubin, Tel Aviv, should be encouraged to register his HaQuran with the Library...
Richard Regarding ethnic markers of distinction, I agree with you with regards the distinctions between Philistines and Egyptians. But the ethnic markers with...
Hi John, I agree with your assessment of the wide scope of the word "Canaanite" - some traces can still be found in the time of Augustine of Hippo (c. 400 CE)...
Dear Richard Yes you are definitely right in looking at changes between Late Bronze (Canaanite) and the Hill Dwellers of Judea and Samaria, there are clear...
Coincidently, just this week I have been reading a paper by Baruch Halpern, The Sea People and Identity, in Scripta Mediterranea, vol. XXVII & XXVIII, 2007....
I finally have been able to consider Strong's Concordance "user friendly". It's taken me 15 years. But it took me 15 years to get "user friendly" with the...
If such a taboo did exist, then it seems to have originated within the Late Bronze Age in the Levant. A number of authorities point to the widespread use of...
Hi Jon Richard Hess in the "Religions of the Israelites", suggests that pig raising was concident with larger urban populations. Like in pre-modern Europe...
Hello John. Yes, I think Hess is correct. In the period of the mighty Canannite city-states, where peoples were less inclined to venture outside, beyond the...
Continuing Sagas: Archaeologist Says Arabs Broke Temple Mount Status Quo Arutz Sheva [Israel], 11/04/09 In wake of the claims that Israel is excavating under...
Hi Jon, thanks for this reference - perhaps affording a connection with the Sinuhe "land of Yaa"? All the best, Richard http://www.oldtestamentstudies.net...
Hi Jon, John and all, there seems to be some disparity concerning what proportion of food pig bones made up in what place and time. Here are some figures from...
Hi John, Jon, see my earlier post about pig bone distribution - I am not sure about Hess's claim here as at some periods the highlands saw considerable use of...
Hi John, I have a lot of time for Hess as a writer (he's someone we have in mind to be external examiner for my PhD next year) and will have to track down this...
Dear Richard I think it easy to get too carried away by the presence or absence of pig bones. Pigs are generally absent from amongst the northern Aramaean...
Dear Richard I agree with your contrasting between the Philistine and Hill country cultures that shows clear destinctions in Iron I. I also agree with your...
I recall that during the Middle Ages a fear of witches caused some sort of attacks on old crones with cats. Most of the old women in Warsaw resisted, and kept...