Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Jonathan D. Safren wrote:

> Abraham's dealings with the Philistines are only one bit of an array of
> evidence placing the Abraham traditions (or at least their composition,
> oral or otherwise) in the 11th century BCE or later. There is also the
> matter of Abraham's camels (which first appeared as domesticated in the
> 11th century),

I'd just like to raise the question of domestication of camels. Why is it so
implausible that camels were used before the 12-11th century BCE? Just 
because the
earliest extrabiblical evidence we have for camels is from that time doesn't 
mean that
that date is set in concrete. It's quite possible (indeed probable) that 
camels were
domesticated at some time before that but the first time they happened to 
mentioned as
domesticated in the 12-11th century. We need to keep the dates for such 
things fairly
elastic or else we're imposing conclusions on the evidence rather than gaining
conclusions from the evidence.
Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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