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THE BIBLE UNEARTHED: THE MAKING OF A RELIGION -- ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY & SCREENCAP GALLERY |
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What caused the collapse of the exchange system, and forced the pastoral nomads to settle down in the highlands?
[Israel Finkelstein] Remember that in the last phase of the late Bronze Age, we are entering slowly a major crisis in the entire region. Canaan, the neighboring lands, the entire eastern Mediterranean, is in a severe crisis. Empires collapse. Cities are destroyed. The Egyptian administration is gone from Canaan. People are running away from the villages. In a situation like this, the villages cannot produce enough grain for the exchange with the pastoral nomads. And the pastoral nomads have to settle down. This is exactly the moment when we see all of a sudden a wave of settlement in the highlands. In my opinion, these are the pastoral people of the late Bronze Age who now settle down because of this crisis.
[Narrator] Archaeology tells us that the material culture of the pastoral nomads who settled down in the highlands,
was not very different from neighboring peoples, except for ONE PARTICULARITY THAT DISTINGUISHES THEM: THEIR DIET.
In all the archaeological excavations of the highlands, NO PORK BONES HAVE EVER BEEN FOUND! WHAT CAN THIS MEAN? What reasons can we find to explain THIS ODDITY!
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