Semites into the Middle East

Dennis, Glen and others who have participated on the list in relation
to these matters.

An excellent, and highly controvercial book by Thomas L Thompson "The
Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel" (New York:
Basic Books, 1999) xix+412 pp., $30.00 (hardback)

I would refer you to Hebraicist, Archaeologist abd Biblical Scholar
Norman K Gottwald's review of Thomas Thompson's recent book

By far the best integrated and most readable portion of the book
is the survey of Palestinian history (the historical route), which
extends from the beginning through Hasmonean times, drawing on
archaeology, linguistics and cross-cultural comparisons, and brings
the Biblical data into the picture with utmost critical caution. Two
of Thompson's claims will be new to most readers. The first, based
primarily on comparative Hamitic and Semitic linguistics, is that the
early Semitic populations of Palestine and the ancient Near East at
large migrated from north Africa in the period 6000-4000 B.C.E. as
drought produced the vast Sahara Desert. The second is the denial of
an invasion of Asiatic Hyksos into Egypt as an explanation for the
collapse of the Middle Kingdom; Thompson thinks instead that Delta
Egyptians, heavily influenced by contact with Asia, disrupted the old
order and were later stigmatized as pernicious "foreigners" once the
New Kingdom was established.

For your interest

John