Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Brian,
     On camels, let me quote a paragraph from the _International Standard
Bible Encyclopedia_ article on the subject, by A. E. Day and R. K. Harrison:

     It is no longer necessary to regard the mention of camels in the
patriarchal narratives as anachronisms, since there is ample archeological
evidence for the domestication of the camel before the time of the
patriarchs. Camel bones from the pre-Sargonid era (ca. 2400 B.C.) were
excavated at Mari by Perrot, while similar remains at least a millennium
older have been recovered from sites on the island of Bahrein. Camel bones
dating back to the 3rd millennium B.C. have also been recovered from India
and southeastern Persia, while a relief from Byblos in Phoenicia, dated in
the 18th cent. B.C., depicts a camel in a kneeling position. Cylinder seals
from northern Mesopotamia dating from the Middle Bronze Age show riders
seated upon camels, indicating that the camel was by then a well-attested
feature of Near Eastern domestic life.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard