Previously, on alt.atheism, Sound of Trumpet in episode
<1150580794.623745.129710@f6g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>...

In a Ruined Copper Works, Evidence That Bolsters a Doubted Biblical Tale

New Orleans discovered! Ann Rice's works confirmed! Vampires exist!

Sound of Trumpet wrote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1648705/posts



In a Ruined Copper Works, Evidence That Bolsters a Doubted Biblical
Tale


New York Times ^ | 6/13/2006 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD


Posted on 06/13/2006 12:20:10 PM PDT by Sabramerican




In biblical lore, Edom was the implacable adversary and menacing
neighbor of the Israelites. The Edomites lived south of the Dead Sea
and east of the desolate rift valley known as Wadi Arabah, and from
time to time they had to be dealt with by force, notably by the likes
of Kings David and Solomon.

Today, the Edomites are again in the thick of combat - of the
scholarly kind. The conflict is heated and protracted, as is often the
case with issues related to the reliability of the Bible as history.

Chronology is at the crux of the debate. Exactly when did the nomadic
tribes of Edom become an organized society with the might to threaten
Israel? Were David and Solomon really kings of a state with growing
power in the 10th century B.C.? Had writers of the Bible magnified the
stature of the two societies at such an early time in history?

An international team of archaeologists has recorded radiocarbon dates
that they say show the tribes of Edom may have indeed come together in
a cohesive society as early as the 12th century B.C., certainly by the
10th. The evidence was found in the ruins of a large copper-processing
center and fortress at Khirbat en-Nahas, in the lowlands of what was
Edom and is now part of Jordan.

Thomas E. Levy, a leader of the excavations, said in an interview last
week that the findings there and at abandoned mines elsewhere in the
region demonstrated that the Edomites had developed a complex state
much earlier than previously thought.

Dr. Levy, an archaeologist at the University of California, San Diego,
said the research had yielded not only the first high-precision dates
in the region, but also such telling artifacts as scarabs, ceramics,
metal arrowheads, hammers, grinding stones and slag heaps. Radiocarbon
analysis of charred wood, grain and fruit in several sediment layers
revealed two major phases of copper processing, first in the 12th and
11th centuries, later in the 10th and 9th.

Khirbat en-Nahas is 30 miles from the Dead Sea and 30 miles north of
Petra, Jordan's most famous archaeological site. The name means "ruins
of copper" in Arabic. One of the first ancient occupation sites in the
Edomite lowlands to be intensively investigated, the ruins of its
buildings and grounds spread over 24 acres, and the fortifications
enclose an area 240 by 240 feet.

"Only a complex society such as a paramount chiefdom or primitive
kingdom would have the organizational know-how to produce copper metal
on such an industrial scale," Dr. Levy concluded.

The first results of the research by Dr. Levy and Mohammad Najjar,
director of excavations and surveys at the Department of Antiquities of
Jordan, were described two years ago at a conference at the University
of Oxford, England, and in a report in the British journal Antiquity.
Reverberations of support and criticism have shaken the field of
biblical archaeology ever since.

With the addition of new dates and more evidence of the importance of
copper in the emergence of Edom, the two archaeologists have amplified
their interpretations in an article being published this month in the
magazine Biblical Archaeology Review.

"We have discovered a degree of social complexity in the land of Edom,"
they wrote, "that demonstrates the weak reed on the basis of which a
number of scholars have scoffed at the idea of a state or complex
chiefdom in Edom at this early period."

The findings, Dr. Levy and Dr. Najjar added, lend credence to biblical
accounts of the rivalry between Edom and the Israelites in what was
then known as Judah. By extension, they said, this supported the
tradition that Judah itself had by the time of David and Solomon, in
the early 10th century, emerged as a kingdom with ambition and the
means of fighting off the Edomites.

The Hebrew Bible mentioned the Edomites no fewer than 99 times. In
Genesis, Esau, Jacob's twin brother, is described as the ancestor of
the Edomites, and a reference is made to "the kings who reigned in the
land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites." Dr. Levy
said this statement showed that the Israelites acknowledged Edom's
early political development.

In the context, Dr. Levy and Dr. Najjar wrote, "the biblical references
to the Edomites, especially their conflicts with David and subsequent
Judahite kings, garner a new plausibility."

They are still with us. They migrated to the Netherlands where they
make excellent cheese.

Frank.

Sound of Trumpet wrote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1648705/posts



In a Ruined Copper Works, Evidence That Bolsters a Doubted Biblical
Tale


New York Times ^ | 6/13/2006 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD


Posted on 06/13/2006 12:20:10 PM PDT by Sabramerican




In biblical lore, Edom was the implacable adversary and menacing
neighbor of the Israelites. The Edomites lived south of the Dead Sea
and east of the desolate rift valley known as Wadi Arabah, and from
time to time they had to be dealt with by force, notably by the likes
of Kings David and Solomon.

Today, the Edomites are again in the thick of combat - of the
scholarly kind. The conflict is heated and protracted, as is often the
case with issues related to the reliability of the Bible as history.

Chronology is at the crux of the debate. Exactly when did the nomadic
tribes of Edom become an organized society with the might to threaten
Israel? Were David and Solomon really kings of a state with growing
power in the 10th century B.C.? Had writers of the Bible magnified the
stature of the two societies at such an early time in history?

An international team of archaeologists has recorded radiocarbon dates
that they say show the tribes of Edom may have indeed come together in
a cohesive society as early as the 12th century B.C., certainly by the
10th. The evidence was found in the ruins of a large copper-processing
center and fortress at Khirbat en-Nahas, in the lowlands of what was
Edom and is now part of Jordan.

Thomas E. Levy, a leader of the excavations, said in an interview last
week that the findings there and at abandoned mines elsewhere in the
region demonstrated that the Edomites had developed a complex state
much earlier than previously thought.

Dr. Levy, an archaeologist at the University of California, San Diego,
said the research had yielded not only the first high-precision dates
in the region, but also such telling artifacts as scarabs, ceramics,
metal arrowheads, hammers, grinding stones and slag heaps. Radiocarbon
analysis of charred wood, grain and fruit in several sediment layers
revealed two major phases of copper processing, first in the 12th and
11th centuries, later in the 10th and 9th.

Khirbat en-Nahas is 30 miles from the Dead Sea and 30 miles north of
Petra, Jordan's most famous archaeological site. The name means "ruins
of copper" in Arabic. One of the first ancient occupation sites in the
Edomite lowlands to be intensively investigated, the ruins of its
buildings and grounds spread over 24 acres, and the fortifications
enclose an area 240 by 240 feet.

"Only a complex society such as a paramount chiefdom or primitive
kingdom would have the organizational know-how to produce copper metal
on such an industrial scale," Dr. Levy concluded.

The first results of the research by Dr. Levy and Mohammad Najjar,
director of excavations and surveys at the Department of Antiquities of
Jordan, were described two years ago at a conference at the University
of Oxford, England, and in a report in the British journal Antiquity.
Reverberations of support and criticism have shaken the field of
biblical archaeology ever since.

With the addition of new dates and more evidence of the importance of
copper in the emergence of Edom, the two archaeologists have amplified
their interpretations in an article being published this month in the
magazine Biblical Archaeology Review.

"We have discovered a degree of social complexity in the land of Edom,"
they wrote, "that demonstrates the weak reed on the basis of which a
number of scholars have scoffed at the idea of a state or complex
chiefdom in Edom at this early period."

The findings, Dr. Levy and Dr. Najjar added, lend credence to biblical
accounts of the rivalry between Edom and the Israelites in what was
then known as Judah. By extension, they said, this supported the
tradition that Judah itself had by the time of David and Solomon, in
the early 10th century, emerged as a kingdom with ambition and the
means of fighting off the Edomites.

The Hebrew Bible mentioned the Edomites no fewer than 99 times. In
Genesis, Esau, Jacob's twin brother, is described as the ancestor of
the Edomites, and a reference is made to "the kings who reigned in the
land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites." Dr. Levy
said this statement showed that the Israelites acknowledged Edom's
early political development.

In the context, Dr. Levy and Dr. Najjar wrote, "the biblical references
to the Edomites, especially their conflicts with David and subsequent
Judahite kings, garner a new plausibility."

They are still with us. They migrated to the Netherlands where they
make excellent cheese.

Frank.