Emmanuel Anati IS HAR KARKOM THE BIBLICAL MOUNT SINAI?

Emmanuel Anati
IS HAR KARKOM
THE BIBLICAL
MOUNT SINAI?
ATELIER
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IS HAR KARKOM THE BIBLICAL MOUNT SINAI? By Emmanuel Anati
First English edition, 2013
ISBN 978-88-98284-02-3
Copyright@2013, by Emmanuel Anati
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
without permission in writing from the author, except for reviewers who may quote brief
passages.
Editorial project: Atelier editing
Editorial team: Ariela Fradkin, Federico Mailland, Giulia Scotti
Layout: Silvia Stefani
Copy-editor: Penny Butler
Keywords: Biblical Archeology, Cult of stones, Exodus, Har Karkom, Megaliths, Mount Sinai
Printed in Italy, February 2013
Emmanuel Anati
IS HAR KARKOM
THE BIBLICAL MOUNT SINAI?
ATELIER
Città della Cultura
Via Guglielmo Marconi, 7
25044 Capo di Ponte, Brescia
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CONTENTS
1 - The mountain and the findings .............................................
9
2 - The testimony of archeology ..................................................
27
3 - The biblical geography ...........................................................
47
4 -The chronological problems ....................................................
65
5 -Conclusions ...............................................................................
83
Bibliography ..................................................................................
85
Italian Archaeological Expedition to Har Karkom Bibliography
86
7
1 - THE MOUNTAIN AND THE FINDINGS
33 years of archeological survey have allowed us to
reconstruct the history of a mountain and its surrounding
valleys, where 1,300 archeological sites illustrate over a
million years of human presence. The discoveries in the
area reveal its particular character and function.
Har Karkom in the Negev desert (Israel) is a mesa-like
plateau of about 4x2 km, surrounded by precipices. The presence
of archeological sites and rock art was first recorded by this writer
in 1954 (Anati, 1956). Since 1980 he has directed a systematic
archeological survey and excavations carried out by the Italian
Archeological Expedition in a concession area of 200 km2. The
surveyed area included the mountain and the surrounding valleys
(corresponding to maps 229 (Har Karkom) and 226 (Beer Karkom)
of the Israeli grid) (Anati & Mailland, 2009; 2010).
More than 1,300 archeological sites were recorded in an area
where not a single site had been known before. Forty thousand
rock engravings make of this area the major concentration
recorded so far of pre-Roman rock art in the Near East. Over 120
cult sites, small temples, open-air altars, various types of shrines
some of them related to rock art, stone circles and other megalithic
monuments illustrate the religious role of this mountain since
the Upper Paleolithic period. Most of the cult sites belong to the
Bronze Age.
9
In geomorphological terms the mountain and its surroundings,
at altitudes of 600–850 m above sea level, are crossed by an 8 km
long valley (Wadi Karkom) flanked by an ancient trail leading
south–north from Har Karkom to Beer Karkom, a waterhole. From
Beer Karkom, the ancient Maale Sagi trail leads northwest to the
highlands of the Central Negev.
The mountain and its surroundings were intensely
occupied from remote times during certain periods and
abandoned in other periods. The human presence is believed
to have been strongly influenced by climatic fluctuations.
The Lower Paleolithic is represented by areas having major
concentrations of bifacial hand-axes and other flint implements.
The conspicuous findings of Middle Paleolithic Mousterian sites
and of early Upper Paleolithic sites on the mountain plateau
indicates a long period with abundant hunting resources probably
due to a humid climate in the Negev and other Near Eastern areas,
from c. 80,000 BP to 28,000 BP (Mailland, 2013).
Fig. 1 - Aerial view of the Paran desert with the high plateau of Har Karkom in the
background. This large mesa is a reference point in the landscape (ISR85:CI-6).
10
The volume of Paleolithic sites at Har Karkom is much higher
than in any other area of the Negev and of the entire Sinai Peninsula.
One possible reason is that Har Karkom was a source of flint of
excellent quality, a fundamental raw material for prehistoric
man which was being worked on the mountain, as documented
by numerous flint workshops. It may have been a strategic place
for gatherings and seasonal campsites, while the vegetation in
the surrounding valleys during humid climates supported the
lives of large Pleistocene mammals and consequently provided
profitable hunting for Paleolithic people. The presence of large
mammals in ancient times is recorded on the Har Karkom
plateau by the geoglyphs representing animal species, such as the
elephant and the rhinoceros, which became extinct in the area in
the Late Pleistocene, presumably around 28,000 BP. As the fauna
represented disappeared from the area at that time, these may well
be the world’s oldest geoglyphs so far documented.
Site HK/86b is a peculiar ceremonial structure characterized
by a group of standing pillars of natural flint nodules up to 120 cm
high, selected and collected by early man because of their natural
anthropomorphic or zoomorphic shapes, having only secondary
human-made retouches such as the eyes or thin incisions of
patterns that may represent body decoration. On the fossil floor,
there are pebble alignments, non-figurative geoglyphs, associated
with an early Upper Paleolithic flint industry named Karkomian.
Collections of ‘figurines’, small flint stones (about 10–20 cm length)
with anthropo-zoomorphic shapes, in part roughly retouched to
emphasize some anatomical parts such as eyes, were found on the
fossil ground. As is suggested by this sanctuary (HK/86b), there
was a place of worship on the mountain since the beginning of the
Upper Paleolithic.
In the concession area, 170 Early Upper Paleolithic sites were
recorded (Karkomian, Proto-Aurignacian and Aurignacian), and
only seven of Late Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian group). An arid
phase followed the alluvial period of the early Upper Paleolithic and
11
Fig. 2a - Geoglyphs likely to represent a rhinoceros and elephant Tracings by F.
Mailland (2012).
Fig. 2b - Har Karkom, site HK 24/b. Aerial view of two geoglyphs of quadrupeds, each
over 30 m long (EA94: ISR.II-27).
12
may account for the substantial lack of findings related to late Upper
Paleolithic in the Har Karkom area. Colder and more humid conditions
recurred in the Neolithic period, a phenomenon which invested the
Sinai Peninsula and extended to the Arabian Peninsula and to the
northern African Sahara as well. To this period are assigned some of
the rock art representations at Har Karkom and 15 campsites from the
PPNB (pre-pottery Neolithic B) and the pottery Neolithic.
In the Bronze Age Assemblage (BAC) period (including
Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age and the beginning of the Middle
Bronze age) the mountain became a paramount ceremonial high
place. Numerous rock engravings detailing worship, cult and
mythological themes were carved and numerous standing pillars,
stone circles, altars and shrines were erected. Over 100 sites of this
period were defined as ceremonial, evidencing the paramount role
of the Holy Mountain, Har Karkom, in the Bronze Age.
In the concession area of 200 km2, 272 BAC sites were
recorded, mainly near the mountain, although the density of
sites of this period sharply decreases in the surrounding areas. It
is the only known mountain in the entire Sinai Peninsula, so far,
which displays archeological evidence of such a central ceremonial
role. Many findings of this period lead to the hypothesis that this
mountain can be identified with the biblical Mount Sinai. This
proposal opened up a wide debate which is still in progress. Its
various aspects are elaborated in the following pages.
On the western and northern sides of the mountain there are
major valleys with numerous remains of settlements belonging
to the BAC period. The material culture of this period consists of
abundant flint tools and scanty pottery shards. On the plateau
there are many Paleolithic habitation sites. But there are none from
the BAC period, just plenty of cult sites of that period. Though
the anthropological study of these sites is not yet complete, it has
been preliminarily calculated that several thousand human beings
would have lived in the area during BAC times in seasonal or semipermanent settings.
13
Fig. 3a - The Upper Paleolithic site, HK/86b (EA96: VII-20).
Fig. 3b - The Paleolithic site HK86 with hut floors and flint workshops. The sanctuary,
HK86/b, is located in a small valley in a light colour to the left. The black spots are bushes,
which indicate the presence of water. Over 200 Paleolithic sites are known on the plateau of
Har Karkom and most of them are in an excellent state of preservation. On the hill between
the bushes and the Paleolithic site there are traces of geoglyphs (EA95: CVII-27).
14
Archeological evidence seems to indicate that this rather large
population had no access to the mountain. Many surface Paleolithic
sites are so well preserved that plans of huts and other structures
can be defined from the surface and from air photographs. The
numerous Paleolithic hut floors in an excellent state of preservation,
remains of flint workshops and fireplaces, the concentrations of flint
industry, the presence of fossil soil with traces of flint work, and
distribution of cores and flakes in coherent relative positions appear
to have remained untouched in situ for millennia. Remains of flint
workshops and of fireplaces are sometimes so neatly in situ as if they
had been abandoned yesterday. It is doubtful whether the Paleolithic
sites would have been so finely preserved if the multitudes of the
BAC period had access to the mountain plateau: the Paleolithic sites
would not have been preserved in such an excellent condition.
The mountain appears to have been a paramount ceremonial
site, reserved for worship and religious ceremonies, and the access
to the plateau may have been restricted to a few selected persons.
The many people who lived in the sites in the surrounding valleys
most likely never reached the plateau. They may have expressed
their devotion in the numerous shrines found near the habitation
sites at the foot of the mountain. Descriptions and plans of various
shrines may be found in previous publications (Anati, 1986; 2001;
2010; Anati & Mailland, 2009; 2010).
A water source was excavated and built in the Bronze Age in
the Beer Karkom area (map 226), which has remained in use ever
since. It may have been in use even earlier. Another unusual site
is BK/407a, an Early Bronze Age fortress located on top of the hill
which overlooks the waterhole, Beer Karkom. It is defended by a
surrounding wall reaching a thickness of 1.7 m in the form of a
semi-circle with five circular turrets (Figures 10a.b), which ends at
the edge of the precipice at both ends. It has two entrances, both
protected by turrets. Material culture in the fortress included BAC
flint implements, a few pottery pieces and a fragment of a small
alabaster vase from the Egyptian VIth dynasty.
15
Fig. 4 - Har Karkom, site HK 23/b. A circle of orthostats in the place where the main
path reaches the high plateau of Har Karkom (EA HK93: XVII-36).
Fig. 6 - Har Karkom, site HK212d. An orthostat and a large cupstone just below one of
the peaks of Har Karkom (EA98: LVI-35)
Fig. 5 - Altar stone with burn marks on the upper surface and small stones inserted in
a fissure of the rock. Two small stones alignments are on the sides of the altar stone.
Around it stones with rock engravings were placed (Site HK 32; photo ISR82-EA 11).
Fig. 7 - Beer Karkom, site BK 552. A series of orthostats, some of which are still standing;
others have fallen but their alignments can be recognized. In the foreground, there are
the remains of a circular structure (EA96: X-26).
16
17
Fig. 8 - Three hut floors from the Middle Paleolithic in site HK105 are well preserved
at the surface. In this site, which is over 50,000 years old, there are flint workshops and
remains of a Paleolithic fireplace (ISR83:XXXII-22).
18
This is the only building in the entire explored area of Har
Karkom and Beer Karkom that can be defined as having a strategic
and defensive purpose and it is the only massive Early Bronze
Age fortress known in the Negev desert. Beer Karkom may have
been a vital strategic site. Both it and Har Karkom, the mountain
of shrines, are unique of their kind in the entire Sinai Peninsula.
They are of such prominence in the Bronze Age that it is unlikely
that they should not be mentioned in the Pentateuch. It has been
proposed that Beer Karkom is the biblical site of Refidim and Har
Karkom is Mount Sinai. For those rejecting this proposal, what
would their biblical names be?
The sites that are peculiar to the BAC period are the so-called
plaza sites (Figure 11). They are stone-built structures organized
in large circles round a vast central plaza. No pottery was ever
found in plaza sites, only abundant early BAC flints attributed to
the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I. They are usually located
2–3 km from the foot of Har Karkom and form a ring around the
mountain. Several hypotheses have been formed about the function
of the plaza sites: guard points, boundaries round the mountain,
living quarters, workshops or commercial places? A volume was
dedicated to this query, and no final solution was found (Anati,
1987).
In the entire area of concession, no evidence was found of
human activity from the beginning of Middle Bronze Age II to Iron
Age I. Such a hiatus may raise a double query: either no connection
is possible between Har Karkom and the biblical story of Exodus,
or the conventionally attributed dates for Exodus must be
reconsidered. After the period of intense occupation in BAC times,
the plateau and the valleys around it were abandoned from c. 1950
B.C. to 1050 B.C. Again, this gap can be explained by a drought
episode. The entire Sinai Peninsula in fact lacks traces of living sites
during this period. Local evidence of this period of drought, which
is also recorded in Arabia and the Sahara, has been confirmed by
geological studies on the fluctuations of the Dead Sea shores and
19
Fig. 9 - Stone implements from the BAC period and the alabaster vase of site BK 407.
Figg. 10a.b - Aerial photograph and plan of site BK 407. This fortification overlooks and
defends the well at Beer Karkom (hidden by vegetation at the foot of the hills). On the right,
along the trail that reaches the water source, are the remains of a tower which once controlled
the access to the well. On the site of the fortification, flints of the BAC period were found, as
well as an Egyptian alabaster vase from the Sixth Dynasty or the First Intermediate Period
(Site BK 407; photo EA98: III-8; drawing: HK Archive; WARA W05901, W05902).
20
21
the variations in stalagmite formation in the Sorek Cave. (Horowitz
& Weinstein-Evron, 1986). Both the archeological findings and
paleoclimatic evidence indicate that tribal life was impossible in
most of the Negev and Sinai for about one millennium. The only
traces of human presence were sites like mines or caravan stations
along routes (Anati, 2001).
Archeological traces reappear in Iron Age II, around 1000 B.C.,
including remains of a hamlet of eight hut floors and a shrine. The
largest living site of the entire area belongs to the fourth or third
century B.C. It is well planned and had over 100 huts. It may represent
a planned military adventure of short duration. The human presence
consistently increased in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times,
with large villages and terraced agricultural fields (Anati, 1986).
The Nabataean caravan trade and pastoral activities contributed to
this phenomenon. Har Karkom is on the way from Petra, the capital
of the Nabataean kingdom, to Gaza, the Nabataeans’ main port on
the Mediterranean Sea. Wares for the Mediterranean coasts may
have passed through the Har Karkom area; in fact, the presence of
camel caravans is documented in the rock art of this period, often
associated with Nabataean inscriptions. In the Byzantine period, at
the beginning of Christianization, there is conspicuous evidence of
monastic settlements in the valleys around Har Karkom. The human
presence sharply decreased in early Islamic times and during the
Islamic period the area was occupied by desert nomads, who did not
settle permanently, but left behind traces of encampments.
The archeological sequence of the concession area is illustrated
in Chart 1. The findings are subdivided by period and into four
geographical areas. The chart gives the evidence for the major sites
in the central area around Har Karkom. The difference in the density
of sites from period to period is likely to have been influenced by the
changing climatic conditions and the changing function of the site. In all
the surveyed areas around, the density of pre-Roman archeological sites
is less than half that recorded in our concession area of Har Karkom and
Beer Karkom, while that of later periods it is quite similar. This may be
22
Har Karkom
Map 229
Beer Karkom
Map 226
Total
Map 229 +
Map 226
Period
South HK
North HK South BK
North BK
HK + BK
Lower Paleolithic
(to 200,000 B.C.)
6
39
11
0
56
Middle Paleolithic
(to 40,000 B.C.)
12
125
37
6
180
Early Upper Paleolithic
(to 26,000 B.C.)
11
128
31
6
176
Late Upper Paleolithic
0
1
6
0
7
Epipaleolithic
0
2
0
1
3
Pre-pottery Neolithic
0
2
3
3
8
Pottery Neolithic
0
9
0
0
9
BAC (4300 to 2000 B.C.)
40
172
131
19
362
Middle Bronze age II
0
0
0
0
0
Late Bronze Age
0
0
0
0
0
Iron Age I
0
0
0
0
0
Iron Age II
1
0
9
2
12
Persian
0
1
3
0
4
Hellenistic
0
1
9
1
11
Nabataean
0
3
7
2
12
Roman-Byzantine
15
50
137
66
268
Islamic
18
65
79
45
207
Total sites
103
598
463
151
1315
Chart 1: Frequency of sites by period at north and south Har Karkom and Beer Karkom:
comparative table of frequency.
an indication of the special role played by the mountain in early times.
The Har Karkom discoveries provide a section of human life
of over a million years in a crucial place that marked the destiny of
mankind, the land bridge that links Africa to Asia, where hominids
and then humans crossed from their African ‘Garden of Eden’ to
settle the planet Earth. They illustrate the lifestyles, resources and
beliefs of different ages in an area that is now deep desert. The
human presence in any geographical area is usually one of four
sorts according to lifestyle: nomadic, semi-nomadic, semi-sedentary
and sedentary. All four types were present at Har Karkom, a result
23
not only of the environment and climate fluctuations, but also of
the diverse traditions of people living there in different periods or
even in the same periods. The survey allowed us to obtain a section
of over a million years of human activity from a single area (Anati
& Mailland 2009; 2010).
The particular geomorphology and its present desert
character render the area ideal for archeological survey and gave
easy access to masses of data, which now require deep analysis
to make them generally available and to produce culture-history
out of the research base. The riddle of Mount Sinai is certainly a
major issue here, but the record of over a million years of human
presence, from the evidence of over 1,300 archeological sites
from one single area, is of no minor relevance for the history of
the region. Many issues are being studied and published. The
Paleolithic campsites and their planimetry provide information on
the demography and social structure of early man. The study of the
rock art reveals the beliefs and myths of desert people during long
periods of time. The geoglyphs give rise to the major problem of
their conceptual function. The study of the Bronze Age shrines and
other cult structures open up a new vista on rituals, ceremonies
and beliefs of different human groups living in the area at the time.
The following pages concern the documentation, the findings, of
just one aspect, the reasons and the considerations that led to the
identification of Har Karkom with the biblical Mount Sinai.
Fig. 11a - Profile of a platform of site HK 301/a (ISR86.EA: XXXIV-14).
Fig. 11b - Aerial view of site HK 301/a with four burnt platforms (EA98:IV-4).
24
25
2 - THE TESTIMONY OF ARCHEOLOGY
The archeological discoveries illustrate the ceremonial
and religious role of the mountain, which became a prime
cult centre in the Bronze age. Temples, shrines, altars
and megalithic monuments illustrate the beliefs and cult
practices of the desert people. Some discoveries display
parallels with details of the biblical account of Exodus.
Fig. 12 - Beer Karkom, site BK478. A “plaza” site: huts form a large circle. This is a
pattern of settlement that was common in the Early Bronze Age (HK Archives).
26
The area is the north of the Sinai peninsula, between Eilat and
Gaza, inside the state of Israel, in the area which still preserves
the biblical name of Negev. We first visited Har Karkom in 1954.
The name of the mountain was then Jebel Ideid, which according
to Tarabin Bedouin means the ‘mountain of celebrations’ and
according to a Bedouin from the Azazme tribe, the ‘mountain
of multitudes’. In both cases they are strange names for a stony
mountain in the middle of the desert. This mesa-like mountain,
surrounded by precipices, has two prominent hills at the centre,
some natural waterholes where water is available today for
about five months every year, and a few ancient trails which
remained in use for ages. In 1980, we came back to this mountain,
and started the archeological survey which is still in progress.
Meanwhile, the mountain had acquired the Israeli name of Har
Karkom, which means the Mount of Saffron. In December 1983,
after four years of fieldwork, the data collected suggested the
identification of Har Karkom with the biblical Mount Sinai.
27
Fig. 13a - An aerial view of the Har Karkom plateau with the precipices bordering the
east side (ISR: XVIII-33).
Fig. 13b - Aerial view of the two summits of Har Karkom (Site HK42). The elongated
summit is called the ‘masculine summit’ and the other, with three mounds, is called
the ‘feminine summit’. The cleft is located on the central rise of the ‘feminine summit’.
There is a visible trail which leads to it (EA95: CVI-21).
28
This proposal awakened polemics and debates. In 1986 several
editions of The Mountain of God were published in Italian, French and
English, and the controversy expanded. Since then new evidence
has come to light. In 2001 a new book was published, The Riddle of
Mount Sinai, which updated the discoveries. In 2010 La riscoperta del
Monte Sinai (The rediscovery of Mount Sinai) came out in Italian,
published by the Catholic Church (Anati, 1986; 2001; 2010). Over
100 articles have appeared in international scientific journals and
many more in the popular press. In the present text we are trying to
summarize the two books and other texts concerning the evidence
that led us to consider Har Karkom to be the biblical Mount Sinai
(See enclosure: ”Bibliography of Har Karkom Research”).
Year after year, new discoveries are made. In 1992, the socalled Paleolithic ‘sanctuary’ (HK82b), likely to be the oldest
sanctuary known, stimulated new considerations of the history
and meaning of this mountain. It became clear that it had been a
place of cult for millennia (Anati, 2012; Mailland, 2012). In 1993,
geoglyphs were discovered on the mountain. They are drawings
made of alignments of stones on the ground, some of them having
large dimensions. Some are geometric shapes, others represent
anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures. A few animal figures are
over 30 m long. They are best seen from the air and they have been
considered to be human offerings to an invisible celestial entity.
The dates of these geoglyphs are a source of debate. According to F.
Mailland, the representation of extinct animals, like the rhinoceros
and the elephant, suggest a date in the Pleistocene (Mailland, 2012).
Other geoglyphs may be later.
In 1994, a peculiar discovery concerned a cave, which was
inhabited by a solitary human being in the Bronze Age. It was
excavated by a team coordinated by Giorgio Fornoni. “Hermit
Cave”, as it was called, had the remains of a fireplace, an area used
as a bed-like platform of c. 1.80x60 cm. with the rock on one side
and a row of stones on the other, fragments of a large water jar, two
flint blades and a bone spatula. In addition, remains of cooking
29
Fig. 14a - The high plateau of site HK 221/b, with the group of orthostats in front. In the far
background a small heap on the surface indicates the location of the Hellenistic sanctuary
(DA90: XXIII-15).
Fig. 14b - Har Karkom. Aerial view of site HK 221/b. In the foreground the rectangular
shape is the Hellenistic sanctuary. At the back of the summit plateau there is a defensive
wall that protects the way in. Nearby are the orthostats. The cistern is located near the
right end of the wall, where one can see a clear white spot (EA95: CX-17).
Fig. 14c - The entrance to the Early Bronze Age cistern of HK 221/b (EA98: LXI-05).
30
were found, among which were bones of birds, small animals and
ostrich eggshells (dated by C14 to 4130 +/- 50 BP = 2136 B.C.).
Probably we will never know the name of this ‘hermit’, but now
we have archeological testimony of an episode which is similar to
that described in the Bible, where Moses ‘went to the mountain
and remained there by himself for 40 days’ (Exodus 24: 18).
The numerous standing stones, stone circles, paved platforms,
small shrines, built altars some of them with cupmarks, several
deliberately shaped anthropomorphic pillars and a variety of other
non-functional structures offer us the image of an immense openair natural museum built up in the course of millennia.
After over 30 years of survey, the area of investigation of 200
2
km counts today over 1,300 archeological sites. In 1980, nothing
was known of the archeology of this area, except for the ten rock
art sites that we discovered in 1954. The synthesis of the entire
survey has now been published (Anati & Mailland 2009; 2010).
But no survey is ever truly complete and additional details and
even new sites are continuing to be recorded. Several excavations
have been carried out, including living sites, shrines and tumuli.
The fieldwork in the area of Har Karkom has involved scholars
and experts from five continents and from various disciplines:
anthropologists, archeologists, architects, art historians, biblical
scholars, geologists, epigraphists, historians, historians of
religions, paleo-botanists, paleo-climatologists, prehistorians and
theologians. The international and multidisciplinary cooperation
favoured a broad debate and a broadminded view of the meaning
of the discoveries.
One of the excavations, coordinated by Flavio Barbiero, has
uncovered a cistern for the collection of water, with Early Bronze
Age pottery, on an isolated peak about 5 km northwest of the
Har Karkom plateau. The presence of this cistern on the peak of
a stone mountain adds another to the many mysteries which still
concern the mountain. Nearby there are some standing menhirs
(orthostats), so that one can suppose that the cistern served the cult
31
Fig. 15a - The black stone tumulus from site HK 203/b before the excavation
(EA98:LVII-38).
Fig. 15b - Har Karkom, site HK 203/b. The moment of the discovery of the white stone
that had been cut in the shape of a semicircle.
Fig. 15c - Har Karkom, site HK 203/b. The large fan scraper found near the white stone
in the tumulus (Archive HK. Drawing by Ida Mailland).
32
site. Another excavation, coordinated by Valerio Manfredi, was
undertaken on a mountain which is approximately 5 km south of
the Har Karkom peaks. It is the most prominent peak dominating
the surrounding Paran desert. On the peak there are four rounded
platforms, 8–10 m in diameter, over 1 m high, with circular walls
built with large overlapping stones. It is a monumental complex.
The surface finds of this area are all of the Early Bronze Age. The
excavation was conducted in one of the platforms down to the
bedrock. The structure did not contain a grave, or anything else: just
a totally sterile filling of stones. Two hypotheses challenge each other.
One is that the platforms were used to light large fires, which could
be seen from the surrounding desert for many miles around, the other
that these platforms are imposing altars for burning sacrifices. In any
case fire must have been shining from the top of this mountain which
dominates the entire Paran desert. The Paran Mountain is mentioned
as one of three sacred mountains in the same area: ‘God came from
Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them: he shined forth from Mount
Paran (Deut. 33: 2). The proposed identification of this mountain with
the biblical Mount Paran is so far a working hypothesis (cf. figg. 12a.b).
Another excavation, also coordinated by Valerio Manfredi,
concerned a tumulus located on the eastern edge of Har Karkom in a
prominent place. It was thought at first that it would contain a burial
of an important person. But nothing came out during the removal of
several cubic meters of stones. The team of excavators wanted to stop
the excavation when something strange was noticed. At the centre
of the structure, lying on a large rectangular boulder which was lying
on the bedrock, early people had laid down a calcareous white stone,
intentionally shaped. The stone is 60 cm long and about 10 cm thick
and weighs around 44 kg. Early Bronze Age flint tools, including a fan
scraper, were found near the stone. The tumulus is visible from far away.
It is considered to be a testimonial tumulus, the kind of monument that
is mentioned in the Pentateuch as gal-ed. According to biblical narrations
these monuments are built to commemorate an event, or as a testimony
of an agreement, or to dedicate a site (Gen. 31: 43–5; Joshua 7: 25-6, 8,28–9).
33
The tumulus of black stones was constructed to host a
white stone, intentionally shaped by man as a crescent, lying
on a boulder. Traces of burning on the boulder and in the
nearby layer indicate that a fire was lit in front of it. A tentative
reconstruction suggests that the boulder was first located in the
most exposed and visible point of the mountain. The crescentstone was cut and shaped and deposed on it. A fire was lit in
front of the boulder and then the whole structure was covered by
a heap of stones. A debate concluded that this was a dedicatory
monument, a gal-ed, with which the desert people of the Early
Bronze Age dedicated the mountain to the moon or rather to the
moon god, Sin.
The possible relation between Har Karkom and the moon
god Sin had already been hypothesized by the team studying
rock art, on the grounds of the numerous figures of ibex with
crescent-shaped horns seen in cult scenes. The ibex, with its
horns symbolizing the moon, is related to the god Sin. These
representations indicate the relevance that the cult of the god Sin
had on this mountain in the Bronze Age. The figure of the ibex
is often accompanied by a pair of footprints, which appear to
indicate worship and adoration. It is also sometimes depicted on
altar-stones, upon which there are cupmarks (man-made cupules
on flat surfaces). The depiction of the ibex is likely to indicate
the connection between the sacrifices and this animal. A study by
Rosetta Bastoni (1997), suggests the possibility that the name Sinai
derives from the name Sin, thus Mount Sinai being the mountain
of the god Sin (Sinai = of Sin).
Despite the fact that the top of Har Karkom is only 847 m
above sea level, and 1,246 m above the present level of the Dead Sea,
whose depression is a landmark on the horizon, it dominates the
surrounding desert. The mountain is visible from the mountains of
Edom and Moab in Jordan, more than 70 km away. Likewise, it can
be seen from Jebel Arif el-Naqe, likely to be the biblical Mount Seir,
located about 20 km northwest over the present border with Egypt.
34
The Paleolithic ‘sanctuary’ (HK/86b) has yielded a flint
industry found in 24 other sites of the area (Karkomian) which
displays blades, points of the type of the “Chatelperron point”
along with a Middle Paleolithic tradition of “Levallois flaking”,
and is considered to be initial Upper Paleolithic, likely earlier
than the local Aurignacian. Having no radiocarbon dating so
far, it is tentatively dated to c. 40,000 BP, but it may be earlier.
The sanctuary consists of about 40 anthropomorphic orthostats
made from flint, some of them over 1 m high. It is located in a
small valley on the edge of the eastern precipice of the mountain.
Smaller figurines of flint have also been found, as well as remains
of geoglyphs.
From this sanctuary we may presume that Har Karkom is likely
to have been a sacred mountain from an early phase of the presence
of Homo sapiens. The Paleolithic sanctuary has always remained
exposed and visible during the course of millennia. Though some of
its orthostats have fallen down near their original location and some
have been manipulated by recent visitors, the site still retains its
original effect.
The cult sites on the mesa are mainly of the BAC period, c. 4,300–
2,000 B.C. The material culture, in particular the flint industry, maintains
the same general character throughout the various phases of this period.
Minor typological changes can be defined technically but do not reflect
substantial changes. Society and the way of living seem to have kept
similar trends based on a pastoral and hunting economy. Some of the
hamlets and the flint implements may indicate the presence of wheat
agriculture. At the foot of the mountain several shrines, alignments
of menhirs and other cult structures of the same period, have been
recorded near the living sites. There are also later cult sites, including
a small temple from the Iron Age and a sanctuary from the Hellenistic
period; both are near the mountain, but are not on it.
The evolved phase of the BAC period (BAC IV, 3300-2000
B.C.) was the period of the most intense occupation, as is shown by
numerous sites on the mountain and the campsites at its base. Out of
35
-
The
Figg. 16a.b - Har Karkom, site HK38. Rock engraving of an ibex accompanied by
footprints. The ibex was the symbolic animal of the God Sin. The footprints indicate
an act of devotion (ISR84: XX-37).
Figg. 17a.b - Tracing and photograph of an anthropomorphic stone in which eyes
and nostrils have been emphasised. On the “forehead” of the figure an image of an
antelope has been engraved (Site HK 64b; drawing: HK Archive, photo EA93: XIXX-9;
WARA W01836, W05895).
36
187 sites which are located in the valleys at the foot of the mountain,
128 are habitation structures, villages with basements of stone wall
huts. Large human groups came to its foot and the mountain was the
theatre of numerous cult activities. Archeological discoveries illustrate
the gathering of large groups of people around the mountain; living
sites are equipped with shrines, altars and standing stones, which offer
the image of a paramount sacred mountain in the heart of the desert,
practically in the middle of nowhere. In this respect it has no parallels in
the Sinai Peninsula. Again, could it be that such an outstanding Bronze
Age holy mountain would not be mentioned in the Pentateuch? And
if so, what would the biblical name of the mountain be?
The area of Har Karkom has provided an immense amount of
documentation on the way of life, the social structure, the economy,
the customs and the beliefs of the desert people. It was clear from the
very beginning that Har Karkom had been a cult high place, a sort
of prehistoric Mecca, where human groups arrived and built their
campsites at its foot. But could it be the holy mountain of Exodus?
As mentioned already, only a few people were allowed to go up
to the plateau. The surface of the plateau is covered with important
Paleolithic remains: over 239 sites with hut floors, 42 fireplaces and
55 flint workshops were found practically intact. On the hammada,
the typical stony soil of the stony desert, some trails lead from one to
another of the cult sites of the BAC period and cross the Paleolithic sites.
It is unlikely that the large numbers of people at the BAC campsites
came to walk en masse on this surface, because if so the Paleolithic
sites would not have remained in this perfect state of preservation. It
seems that the BAC population had no access to the plateau: it was
probably restricted to the limited number of persons who practiced at
the shrines.
We may detect the sharp difference in the use of the mesa
between the Paleolithic and the BAC. Entire surfaces are covered
by Paleolithic flint implements, while the BAC material culture is
concentrated at specific and well-defined sites.
Probably the access to holy places was reserved to high priests
37
and was taboo for the majority of the population. An analogous
prohibition of people climbing the mountain can be found in a
passage in Exodus: ‘the people cannot go up Mount Sinai’ (Exodus:
19, 12-13). Similar rules are common in tribal societies. Just by
themselves they do not make the kind of argument that would
confirm the proposed identification of Mount Sinai, but the parallel
with the biblical account is noteworthy.
Pillars or menhirs, alignments of standing stones, circles
of stones, tumuli, altars, small ‘private sanctuaries’ in which an
orthostat is usually surrounded by smaller stones and unusual
paved platforms likely to be what the Bible calls bamoth (stages) are
all indications of cult activities. We can add to this the enormous
production of rock art (153 sites with over 40,000 engravings), the
geoglyphs, the remains of a small temple on the plateau and at
least nine more at the foot of the mountain. Indeed, Har Karkom
contains a unique aggregation of cult activities in the BAC period.
Every scholar acquainted with the findings agrees that Har
Karkom was a rather exceptional Bronze Age Holy Mountain, but
this fact by itself would not be sufficient to identify it with the
biblical Mount Sinai. And indeed, having been told “at school”
that the mountain near St Catherine is being Mount Sinai, even
for the present writer it demanded a certain effort to consider this
possibility.
The first archeological considerations which suggested a link
between Har Karkom and Mount Sinai were based on the analogies
between the field discoveries and biblical descriptions. Near one
habitation site of the BAC period, at the foot of the mountain (site
HK/52) a group of 12 pillars were standing in front of a stone
platform. This recalls the Exodus passage (24, 4): ‘And Moses got up
early in the morning and built at the foot of the mountain an altar
and 12 pillars, for the 12 tribes of Israel’. Here we found an altar
and 12 pillars at the foot of the mountain, near a campsite from the
Bronze Age. Obviously, no one is in a position to prove that this
monument was built by Moses, nor even that Moses ever existed,
38
Fig. 18a - A small “private sanctuary” on the plateau of Har Karkom (Site HK/13e). An
orthostat is standing in front of a black rock and it is surrounded by other stones which
were arranged by man. There are flint artefacts of the Early Bronze Age (EA96 VI-18).
Figg. 18b.c - Two of the orthostats of site HK 23/b. These monuments include stones
with natural shapes which have been chosen intentionally by man because of their
vaguely anthropomorphic forms (ISR EA93: X-14, ISR EA93: XVI-6).
39
but the monument is there, and if nothing more, it was probably
seen and interpreted by ancient visitors in biblical times.
On the top of one of the two hilltops of Har Karkom there
is a small rock cleft. A cleft on the summit of a mountain is not
common in the Sinai Peninsula. In Exodus 33: 21-22 Mount Sinai is
described as having this characteristic. It may well be a coincidence.
On the plateau of Har Karkom there are the remains of a small
temple from the BAC period built with non-worked stones, with
a platform (altar?), oriented to the east. Around this sanctuary are
tumuli, geoglyphs and rock engravings which include footprints,
engraved as if towards the mountain top. The footprint has been
a sign of veneration and cult in most parts of the Near East and
elsewhere since Neolithic times.
In the book of Exodus there are mentions of a temple that Moses
was supposed to have seen on the top of the mountain (Exodus 25:
40; 26: 30; 27: 8). This means that in the idea of the writers there was
a temple on the mountain. And here there is a temple. Again, it may
be a pure coincidence. Similarities between biblical descriptions
and archeological findings appear as simplistic and non-probative.
How could archeology provide factual evidence on traditions that
survived for millennia? How could mythical accounts find reliable
confirmation from material evidence?
Fig. 19a - Har Karkom, site HK1/b. A circle of large stones in the corner of a sanctuary of
the Early Bronze Age at Har Karkom has inside a series of small stones (some of which
are fallen). In front of them are traces of a fire. Both temples are likely to have been
located in what may have been Midianite territory (ISR84: XIV-14).
Fig. 19b - A group of small stones fitted in the corner of a sanctuary in the Uvda Valley.
The area of the standing stones is surrounded by boulders which delimit its area. The
small, standing stones are likely to have represented the cult of ancestors or ancestral
spirits, and may coincide with the family idols mentioned in Genesis by the name of
Terafim (ISR84: XXIII-39).
Fig. 19c - Har Karkom, site HK 234. Altar-stone with a large cupmark on the top, and a
protruding horn with traces of an engraved anthropomorphic face. On the side of the
monument there is an engraving depicting an anthropomorphic masked figure and an
ibex. It may commemorate the dedication of the altar-stone (ISR. 86: LI-17).
40
41
Fig. 20 - Site HK 52 at the foot of the mountain where an altar is located (the low, stone
platform in the centre of the photo) and 12 pillars aligned in two rows of six (EA98:
LVIII-28).
Fig. 21 - Har Karkom, site HK42. The rock cleft situated on one of the two summits of
the mountain (EA93: XX-24).
42
Other parallels between the biblical accounts and the
archeological findings were looking at first sight like coincidences.
But with the progress of research these coincidences became too
many. In the first place, rock art provides a remarkable number
of parallels with the biblical accounts. The rock engravings
representing the table with ten partitions, which was defined as
‘The Ten Commandments’, or the figure of the ‘serpent and the
staff’ or that of ‘the eye of God that looks from the rock’ are already
well known. Nothing similar has been found in other mountains in
the peninsula or in other rock art sites. This style of hermetic rock
art from the BAC period is typical of Har Karkom. This wealth of
biblical parallels is at least peculiar to those who wish to explain it as
purely casual. But again, just by themselves they are not probative.
Among the cult sites on and around this mountain there are
also many sites which may have nothing to do with the biblical
tradition. Stone circles and stone alignments were built around
some of the boulders that had come down from the mountain, and
around some of them there are traces of ceremonial trails, likely to
have been routes for ceremonial performances. There are 25 sites of
geoglyphs on the plateau and around it. There are standing pillars,
orthostats or menhirs in 60 sites, some of them forming circles or
alignments. Nothing of the sort is described in the Pentateuch.
The cult of this mountain persisted for millennia, with a
particular intensity in the Early Bronze Age and at the beginning
of the Middle Bronze Age, involving different populations and in
more than one instance, human groups camped at its foot. So far
we cannot say if one of those groups was made of slaves who fled
from Egypt but we can say that some of the archeological finds
tell us stories similar to those described in the Bible. The spirit of
several monuments and sites at Har Karkom is very similar to
that of the biblical accounts. They appear as illustrations to the
biblical text. But again all this could be a pure coincidence. In any
case, year after year the general image becomes richer and more
complex.
43
When the identification of Har Karkom with Mount Sinai was
proposed in 1983, 200 sites were known within our archeological
area of investigation. When the book The Mountain of God came
out in 1986, 500 archeological sites had been recorded. Since then,
the archeological expeditions conducted every year have brought
the number to over 1,300. Years of field research have allowed
us to acquire a concrete knowledge of the territory and to collect
conspicuous documentation. The mountain, as far as we know,
does not have parallels as a pertinent and paramount cult site in
the BAC period in the course of almost 2,000 years. It is unlikely
that such a site, in the area in which it is located, would not be
mentioned in the Bible. Again and again the same question arises:
if it is not Mount Sinai, what was its biblical name?
Current archeology identifies the remains of structures
of stones, floors of huts, fireplaces and other aspects of material
culture. In this context, there are many additional elements. Traces
of battered, compact paleo-soils, intentional traced trails leading
to standing stones and stone alignments, reveal the action of the
human hand on the entire territory. It seems that man manipulated
the forms of nature, completing and complementing them with
new elements such as rock art, geoglyphs, orthostats, stone circles,
tumuli, platforms, non-functional structures and other ceremonial
sites. The entire surface of many sites appears as an immense
mosaic where ancient people left their messages. In 30 years of
survey we were able to read some of these messages; others still
remain to be deciphered.
Today the majority of scholars agree that Har Karkom
was a great cult high place, a ‘mountain of God’, but they are
Fig. 22a - Har Karkom, site HK24. The “Midianite temple” in the centre of the plateau.
The platform (altar?) is facing east. On the western side of the structure is a small room
(HK Archives).
Fig. 22b - Har Karkom, site HK 24. Aerial view of the central part of the plateau with
the traces of trails. To the left are the remains of the Midianite temple. In the upper
part of the photo remains of geoglyphs representing large quadrupeds are among hut
basements (the white circular forms) from the Paleolithic period (EA95: CVI-4).
44
45
split on its possible identification with the biblical Mount Sinai.
Our modest feeling is that those refusing to make this identification
are not sufficiently acquainted with the discoveries.
Much archeological documentation collected at Har Karkom
corresponds to the biblical stories, but it does not demonstrate
Keller’s theory that ‘the Bible was right’ (Keller, 1957) and it does
not even demonstrate that there was a revelation on Mount Sinai
or that Moses ever existed. The hypothesis that we then proposed
is that the compilers of the narration, or the storytellers who came
before and after them, had a visual idea of Mount Sinai and Har
Karkom was the model that they had in front of their eyes (Anati,
2001).
But new finds seem to project us towards a new interpretation,
that is, primarily the dedicatory tumulus to the lunar god Sin. On
the grounds of the finds discovered in the course of the excavation,
this monument can be dated to an early phase of the Early Bronze
Age, probably 3200–2600 B.C. The mountain was then dedicated
to the lunar god Sin, a divinity of Mesopotamian origin having the
main worship center in Haran, which is considered to be the land of
origin of the Hebrew Patriarchs. The proposal of the possible origin
of the name of Mount Sinai in the Mesopotamian god Sin seems to
add a new riddle to the many existing already. If Mount Sinai is the
mountain dedicated to the god Sin, what connection could it have
with the story of Moses and the revelation of the Hebrew laws?
Could there be any relation between the ancient gods Sin and Yah?
This query will be dealt with elsewhere.
However, the main arguments for the identification of Har
Karkom with the biblical Mount Sinai are its location. What are
the indications provided by the topography of Mount Sinai as
described in the Bible? What concept did the compilers have about
the shape and the geographical location of Mount Sinai? We shall
talk about that in the following pages.
46
3 - THE BIBLICAL GEOGRAPHY
The biblical narrative of Exodus and of Mount
Sinai describes in detail the location of the Mountain
of Moses. The archeological finds and the topography
of the territory help us understand the biblical texts and
reveal the core of the biblical narration.
The march towards the Promised Land is not an exclusive
feature of Hebrew mythology; it follows the trend of archetypal
myths of origin of various populations in at least four continents.
Indeed, reaching the Promised Land is an ambition of almost
everybody; every human being on Earth is looking for a promised
land. Exodus is a recurring theme even in the biblical narration.
Narrations as those of the exodus of Adam and Eve from the Garden
of Eden, the exodus of the Patriarch Abraham from the Land of the
Two Rivers to the Promised Land, the exodus of the Patriarch Jacob
to Egypt, are antecedents of the exodus of the children of Israel from
Egypt.
The biblical story of the wanderings in the desert and Mount
Sinai has a strong ethical message. The crossing of the desert and
the revelation at the Mountain of God appear as a metaphor of a
rite de passage of universal value, through which a people becomes
adult, free and having a new identity. What of this story preserves
historical memory and what reflects the elaborations of generations
of story-tellers is a query open to a series of different answers, from
47
the believers of the absolute truth of the story to those considering
the story the result of absolute invention. The truth is probably in
the middle. No myth can survive for thousands of years if it does
not have some roots in truth and no myth can remain purely an
objective chronicle after being transmitted for generations.
Whether or not based on historical events, a vast literature
came into existence during the last 2,000 years on the story of Exodus.
In our opinion, the vision of Mount Sinai near the monastery of
St Catherine, in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, does not fit the
topography of the biblical description of its location and is not
supported by archeological evidence. Why the knowledge of the
original location of the Mountain of God was lost by the collective
memory is not clear, though various explanations are proposed by
different authors. The attempts to localize the Mountain of God
near St Catherine go back to the Byzantine period, more than
one millennium after the prophet Eliya is said to have visited the
mountain, and since then the doubts have stimulated research
(Kings 19: 6–15).
The search for the locality has engaged time and effort
on the part of many explorers, archeologists, geographers and
theologians and there are over 20 Candidate Mountains identified
with the biblical Mount Sinai by various writers. Several scholars
have gone so far as to conclude that the whole story of Exodus was
a pure and simple myth and that Mount Sinai never existed. This
hypothesis seems to us an easy and superficial solution. A sacred
mountain is likely to have existed, though the miracles described
may well have metaphorical meaning or may have been magnified
by troubadours.
Other scholars have seen the wanderings of the children of
Israel as a casual movement from one well to another, with the lists of
the stations of Exodus as a litany of magic words without meaning.
In a previous publication (Anati, 1997) it was demonstrated that
this hypothesis is simply wrong. Others saw this wandering as an
itinerary from Egypt to the Byzantine Jebel Mousa ‘Mountain of
48
Fig. 23 - The main mountains proposed by the various authors for the identification of
the biblical Mount Sinai (HK Archives).
49
Moses’, situated in the south of the peninsula near St Catherine,
and from there to Ain Kuderat, believed to be the biblical Kadesh
Barnea, in the north of the peninsula. Others again suggested the
possibility that the itinerary of Exodus described sites along the
Mediterranean coast, in the north of Sinai.
On the basis of the topographical descriptions of the
Pentateuch, in the last 50 years various scholars have advocated
that Mount Sinai had to be located in the north of the peninsula
and not in the south. There are several hypotheses of identification,
but never before had the area of Har Karkom been proposed and
never before had a mountain proposed for the identification been
supported by archeology as being a sacred mountain in the Bronze
Age, a place of worship and where multitudes gathered.
Whoever thinks the story is a fairy tale has no need to look
for the geography of Exodus. Whoever begins an analysis of the
topography of the itinerary of Exodus with the preconceived
idea that Mount Sinai should be in the region of St Catherine or
in any other area in the south of the Sinai Peninsula will find it
impossible to give a geographical sense to the sequence of the
stations of Exodus. The whole biblical itinerary of Exodus, from
Egypt to Mount Sinai and to Kadesh Barnea took place in the
north of the peninsula. The south appears to have been totally
ignored (Anati, 1997).
It seems likely that the described itinerary was topographically
acceptable to the people who knew the area and its topography
when it was memorized, compiled, recited or declaimed in the first
millennium B.C. In fact it is clear still today to whoever is familiar
with the territory. Having myself explored the Negev and Sinai
for 50 years, the biblical descriptions of several of the sites in the
itinerary of Exodus appear as real, reliable, identifiable and precise.
The present writer has carried on archeological excavations
and explorations in the Negev and elsewhere in the Sinai Peninsula
ever since 1952. In 1989 and again in 1992 departing from the
‘Land of Goshen’, in the Nile Delta, the writer followed the various
50
hypotheses of Exodus in the territory, in the Egyptian Sinai, in the
Israeli Negev and in the Jordanian highlands, visiting wells and
sites along ancient trails. After years of ‘wanderings in the desert’
in order to carry on archeological prospection of other kinds,
mainly on prehistoric sites and rock art, it was surprising to realize
that it was possible to produce a new decoding of the territory by
examining data which had been examined before, but with the new
perspective of looking for early routes and a geographical history
of Exodus. We went back to areas where we had been before. Trails,
mountains and valleys, wells and remains of nomadic campsites
that had always been there suddenly acquired new dimensions. In
our view the list of stations in the biblical narrative has a precise
geographical sense, as we have shown in our book Esodo, tra mito e
storia (1997).
The idea that Har Karkom could be identified with the biblical
Mount Sinai came after four years of fieldwork and exploration on
the mountain and in the area, and 30 years after we first discovered
rock art in that area. Our fieldwork was not oriented to biblical
archeology and we did not look for Mount Sinai. It was not easy to
conceive that the archeological discoveries could be connected to
the biblical narrative and it was a difficult step to go into biblical
exegesis. Ever since, in the last 30 years, both biblical exegesis and
field exploration have made some progress.
The numerous cult structures had demonstrated the role
of the mountain as a paramount cult high place. On the basis of
topographical and archeological evidence, in 1983 the idea that Har
Karkom could be identified with the sacred mountain of the biblical
narrative gradually was born. Since then, 30 years have elapsed and
research, prospection and discoveries have given new dimensions to
this hypothesis. Like other innovations in research, the idea has been
received with skepticism by some scholars, but no serious debate
has ever taken place on the basis of the evidence produced about
Har Karkom. The evidence published so far is not complete but is
sufficient for the necessary knowledge for a sound evaluation.
51
Fig. 24 - Tribal territories and the deserts in the narration of exodus are all located in the
north of the peninsula. None of the names of the peoples and of the deserts mentioned
in the narration of exodus are located in the south of the peninsula (From Anati, 1997,
HK Archives).
52
Looking at the biblical accounts, C.S. Jarvis, B. Mazar and others
had already established in the 1930s that Mount Sinai should be located
in the north of the peninsula, but the identification of a specific site
relying on archeological evidence was embarrassing and disturbing for
those having different preconceived ideas (Jarvis, 1931; Mazar, 1977).
It was a scandalizing new fact. All the other mountain candidates for
Mount Sinai have no pertinent suitable archeological documentation.
In the area of St Catherine the earliest traces of the cult of the mountain
go back only to Byzantine times. As far as we know, besides the Greek
Orthodox Church, which maintained until recently that Mount Sinai
should be in the area of St Catherine, no other religious denomination has
so far established a clear position concerning the geographical location
of Mount Sinai. Since this mountain is the main point of reference and
holy place of monotheism, the fact that most monotheistic religions
have ignored its location is worth consideration. This may also explain
why its discovery is disturbing and causing rejection.
The main biblical texts which help identify the area where the
mountain is located, according to the compilers, are the lists of the sites
of Exodus and the description of the mountain and its topography
in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Because of the
present writer’s long history of work in the Negev and Sinai, he does
not share the ideas of those who study the itinerary at their desks and
consider that the biblical stations are not identifiable or that they are
canonical litanies without geographical significance. On the contrary,
we consider that the biblical itinerary of Exodus, from the land of
Goshen to Mount Sinai, and from there to Kadesh Barnea, and from
there to Jericho, has a geographic logic and can be traced. The text,
when it was compiled, was aimed at a public who knew the territory
and knew where Elim, Alush or Refidim, were located; they were
obviously acquainted with the location of the Shur desert, the deserts
of Sin, Zin and Paran, and the territory of the Edomites, Midianites,
Amalekites, Horites and Amorites. Most tribal people have a total
knowledge of their territory and its geographical names and it is
unlikely that the biblical populations were less informed than others.
53
New elements have been added to the itinerary of Exodus
proposed in my book The Mountain of God (Anati, 1986). The
topography has been enriched by further geographical and
archeological data. They concern, in particular, the two biblical
stations of Mara and Elim, at sites responding to the biblical
description, respectively at El Murra and in the vicinities of Abu
Awgeila, and in the biblical site of Refidim at Beer Karkom (see
Esodo tra mito e storia, Anati, 1997). If, as we trust, there are sufficient
elements for identifying these sites, the biblical itinerary of Exodus
and the area in which Mount Sinai can be located become clear.
Beyond the new data, a fundamental query emerges. After the
long stay at Mount Sinai did the biblical itinerary describe faraway
sites or sites along the border of the Promised Land? One of the
factors which at first excluded any relation between Har Karkom
and Exodus was its position on the border of the Promised Land.
The southern border of the land of Israel, according to the Book of
Joshua (15: 1–4), went from the shores of the Dead Sea, through the
south of Maale Haakrabim, to the south of Kadesh Barnea, to the
River of Egypt (Wadi el-Arish), all the way to the Mediterranean
coast. Mount Sinai is frequently seen in the literature as a faraway
site. Har Karkom is far from any itinerary of Exodus previously
proposed, it is outside the borders described in the Book of Joshua,
but it is not far from them. It is located in what is defined by the
general term of the Land of Edom, halfway between Ezion Gaber
and Kadesh Barnea at the north of the area called the Paran desert.
In the sea of alternative proposals on the itinerary of Exodus,
there are some points which are more or less agreed by most
scholars, such as the location of Kadesh Barnea in the area of the
oasis of Ein Kudeirat and of Ezion-Gaber on the shores of the Gulf of
Akaba, near the modern town of Eilat. Nevertheless, for over 1,500
years most interpreters of the Exodus since Byzantine times have
considered the area of St Catherine to be the site of the Mountain
of Moses and so they see the biblical itinerary after Mount Sinai
as a random wandering in the south and centre of the peninsula,
54
Fig. 25 - “Eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the way of Seir” (Deut. 1,
2). The map shows two roads from Har Karkom to Kadesh Barnea. One, by the way
of Jebel Arif el Naqe, which is identified with Mount Seir, crosses the foot of this
mountain and has ten groups of wells along its way. For a group of people walking by
foot, it is an eleven day journey, as remembered in the Bible. The other way, the way of
Amalek, is shorter but more difficult, with two mountain passes (HK Archives).
55
in terra incognita. A detailed consideration of the names, the
description and the sequence of the stations mentioned in Numbers
10–13 shows a very different reality (Anati, 1997).
In Deut. 1: 19 is written: ‘And we departed from Horeb, we
went through all the great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw
by the way of the mountain of the Amorites…’ This Amorite route,
from Mount Sinai after the Paran desert, should be in the Amorite
territory. Various passages of the Pentateuch place the Amorites to
the south of the Dead Sea, not far from the Arava Valley. This is not
the south of the Sinai Peninsula.
The Paran desert, near Hazerot, is described as the site of
the departure of the ‘explorers’ who carried back a huge bunch
of grapes. They reached Hebron departing from the desert of Zin
(Numbers 13: 1). The Paran desert is the ‘great and terrible desert’
of the previous citation and, from the biblical narrative, it is located
between Mount Sinai, the Arava Valley and the desert of Zin
(which is different from the desert of Sin, which is further south).
Nahal Zin, from the Arava Valley to today’s Sde Boker, north of
Har Karkom, is identified with the biblical desert of Zin where an
important caravan route still passes from the Arava to the Arad
region and then to the Hebron mountains. Most of these names
were commonly known places at the time of compilation; some of
them are still in use and can be located on a map.
The list of stations following Mount Sinai again shows the
itinerary described in the books of Deuteronomy and Numbers.
The site of Bene Yaakan has a Horite name (Numbers 33: 32; Deut.
10: 6), and the Horites (Genesis 14, 36; Deut. 2) lived near the
Arava Valley. According to the biblical description, Yotvata and
Avrona are localities in the Arava (Numbers 33: 34), and Ezion
Gaber was at the end of the Arava, on the northern end of the
Gulf of Akaba (Numbers 33: 36). Following these indications on a
map, the biblical itinerary becomes clear. Departing from Mount
Sinai and crossing the Paran desert, it reaches the Arava Valley
near the desert of Zin, then, after the departure of the explorers,
56
Fig. 26 - Map showing the main landmarks visible from Har Karkom. Mountain peaks
as far away as 80km can be seen (HK Archives).
57
Fig. 27 - Schematic topographical map of Har Karkom. Cult-sites are concentrated on the
high plateau, and the living sites from the Bronze Age are located in the surrounding
valleys (HK Archives).
58
turns south towards Yotvata, Avrona and Ezion Gaber, reaching
eventually Kadesh Barnea avoiding the land of the Amalekites and
other tribal areas. Such descriptions appear to reflect topographic
references to names and localities, indicating that the compiler had
a sound knowledge of the territory. The location of Mount Sinai
can be defined in a restricted area in the southern Negev.
In other contexts as well, the biblical chronicler knew how to
locate Mount Sinai: ‘Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian, and he led the flock beyond the desert, and came
to the Mountain of God, Horeb’ (Exodus 3: 1). In the story of Moses
in Midian, Mount Sinai, which is also called Horeb, is described as a
herding territory of the Midianites, beyond the (Paran) desert which
separates it from the habitation site of Jethro, the Midianite, not far
from the Arava Valley (Perhaps in the Uvda Valley?).
On the way, between Jethro’s place of residence and Egypt,
Aaron went to meet Moses who was coming from the land of
Midian, going back to Egypt, and met him near the Mountain of
God (Exodus 4: 26). That means that, according to the biblical view,
the way from Midian to Egypt crosses by Mount Sinai. The land of
Midian and the land of Egypt were clearly located by the compilers
and Mount Sinai is on the way. These descriptions locate what the
Bible calls Mount Sinai in the area of Har Karkom.
Har Karkom is the only locality, among those proposed for
Mount Sinai, which fits without any effort into all these co-ordinates.
It is also the only mountain that has a recorded archeological
evidence of the paramount cult role it had in the Bronze Age. A
more detailed description of the topography of the itinerary and
of the connected geographical inferences has been presented in
previous publications (Anati, 1997; 2001; 2010).
According to the biblical story, the Hebrews went to
collect water at Mount Horeb while staying at Refidim. The
Bible describes Refidim as being at short walking distance from
Mount Sinai (Exodus 17: 15). It is also presented as the well that
caused debate and dispute. The tribes of the Amalekites and the
59
Midianites disputed the ownership of the well. The narrative tells
us that both these tribes were present at Refidim which, according
to the topographical view of the biblical narrations, is on the border
between their territories. The Midianites were on the side of the
Arava Valley and the Amalekites on the Highlands of the Central
Negev. This is also an additional hint of the location of Mount Sinai
according to the biblical narrative. It locates it in the pastoral land
of the midianites, not far from the border with the land of Amalek.
The Amalekites came to Refidim to send away the children of
Israel, while Jethro the Midianites came to welcome them.
The well of Beer Karkom, 7 km north of Har Karkom, where
there are remains of large campsites from the BAC period, reflects
the same topography and seems to correspond to the biblical site
of Refidim. Near the well there is a major track coming down from
the mountains of the Central Negev; it may well be the same that
the biblical chronicler mentions while describing the arrival of
the Amalekites at Refidim. Har Karkom is therefore located in the
pastoral land of the Midianites, near the border between Midian
and Amalek. This is the biblical location of Mount Sinai.
Other biblical descriptions provide useful topographical data
on the territory. At the beginning of Deuteronomy it is written
‘there are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount
Seir unto Kadesh Barnea’ (Deut. 1: 2) Kadesh Barnea is currently
identified with Ain Kudeirat or the nearby Ain Kadis. Mount Seir
(Seir means hairy) is identified with Jebel Arif el-Naqe, which has
a valley with water on the northern side, with grazing areas where
the wells of Bir Main and Bir el Beidha are located. It really is a hairy
mountain, in the sense that its foot-hills are still covered in bushes.
There is a good trail between Har Karkom and Ain Kudeirat, via
Jebel Arif el-Naqe. Along this route there are ten wells at a distance
of between 7 km and 15 km from each other. The walking distance
from one well to the other varies between four and eight hours
which is the range of daily walking time avoiding the hottest hours.
In 1987 the trail could be used by donkeys and camels and certain
60
sections were not suitable for jeeps. Part of this trail was recently
replaced by an asphalt paved road for vehicles.
The compilator knew the itinerary while mentioning 11 days.
Along this trail one may stop every evening near a source of water. If
Har Karkom is Mount Sinai, for a clan or other group that walks on foot,
eleven days are indeed needed to get to Kadesh Barnea from Horeb by
way of Mount Seir (Anati, 1997, fig. 75, p. 115). Who could want to say
that such biblical passages are meaningless nursery rhymes?
Figg. 28a.b - Har Karkom, site HK 37. Rock engravings on the plateau of Har Karkom are
situated near a waterhole, which seem to relate to the Deuteronomy passage (Deut. 8: 14–
15): “Then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, who brought thee out
of the land of Mizrayim, from the house of bondage; who led thee through that great and
terrible wilderness, in which there were venomous serpents, and scorpions, and “saraf”
(poisonous lizard ?), where there was no water; who brought forth water for thee out of the
rock of flint” (EA96:XXII-1).
61
Figg. 29a.b - Rock engraving of the staff and the serpent (Site HK 32). The staff has a pair of
horns, which means ‘powerful’ or ‘full of energy’. The drawing, on a small standing stone,
is likely to commemorate the story of a staff and a serpent (ISR-94:XLVII-27).
Fig. 31 - Har Karkom, HK 2. Rock engraving representing a worshipper with an abstract
sign next to it. This theme is repeated several times along the trail that leads from the
western valley to the plateau of Har Karkom (ISR82:EA-1).
Figg. 30a.b - Har Karkom, site HK 126/b. Rock engraving called ‘The Ten Commandments’
(HK Archives) (EA98: LVI-03).
Fig. 32 - Rock engraving of ‘the eye that looks down from the rock’. There are seven lines
up and seven lines down from the eye (EA98:LVIII-06).
62
63
It is worth emphasizing that the Bible describes deserts and
tribal zones around Mount Sinai. One of the main pieces of data
emerging is that according to the narrative Mount Sinai, must
be situated in the Midianite territory near the borders between
Midian and Amalek (Exodus 17: 9–20). The Bible also says that
the Amalekites occupied the highlands of the Central Negev and
the zone of Kadesh Barnea, while the Midianites were located
on both sides of the Arava Valley (Anati, 1997). According to
the biblical narrative Mount Sinai is located between these two
regions. Following the biblical topographic indications, Mount
Sinai is located in the area of Har Karkom. This could have been
established even if nothing had been found at Har Karkom.
The archeological remains seem to give new life to the biblical
accounts. No other mountain, among all those proposed for
identification with Mount Sinai, and also among all the mountains
in the entire Negev and Sinai area, corresponds so precisely to
all these characteristics. Thus, beyond the biblical narrative there
is a high degree of reliability in the topographical descriptions.
Archeological and anthropological investigation can attempt to
understand how much of the story is real and how much the fruit
of myths or fantasy. The monuments and the archeological sites
that we find today are at the surface and they have been visible
all the time in the course of the last millennia. Perhaps 3,000 years
ago they were better preserved than today. It is likely that people
travelling at that time saw them and attempted to interpret them, to
relate them to some historical past, as is still done by the Bedouins
of today.
We have examined the discovery in its context, we have
considered the archeological and topographic evidence, we have
seen the identikit of the Mountain of God, according to the biblical
text. An important query is still open, that of chronology. If there
was an exodus, if there was a Moses and the presence of a Hebrew
people at the foot of Mount Sinai, what is the date of this event?
This will be the subject of the following pages.
64
4 - THE CHRONOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
Ancient Egyptian texts, changing climates and
archeological finds reveal a surprising consensus on
chronology.
For over a century, archeologists and biblical scholars have
debated the question of the age during which the exodus of the
Hebrews from Egypt towards the Promised Land took place. Some
of them question the historical reliability of the biblical text. There
were and there are those who consider that the story of Exodus is a
historical document, others view it as a liturgical declamation, others
claim that the event concerned a small group of slaves fleeing from
Egypt, presumably only a small part of the Hebrew people; there are
people who believe that there have been several exoduses; and there
are those who value the narration as the fruit of a myth without any
historical basis. The biblical account refers to one exodus which was
shared by 12 tribes having Moses as charismatic leader.
The problem of the chronology of Exodus exists only if one accepts
that an exodus might indeed have taken place. The itinerary of the
biblical narrative follows a geographical logic. Having ascertained this,
in our view, it is possible to deduce that Exodus’s itinerary, as described
in the Bible in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy was
geographically intelligible at the time its compilation took place to
whoever knew the territory. In theory the geographical coherence
only indicates the topographical knowledge of the compilers.
65
It does not demonstrate that the narrated events really happened.
In the last few generations exegesists have developed different
ways of defining the possible background of the story of Exodus, the
real events behind the narrative. Various theories locate the epoch of the
conception of the story from the late third millennium to the beginning
of the first millennium B.C. Several exegesists rely on the dating
proposed by the Bible itself: ‘And it came to pass in the 480th year after
the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth
year of Solomon’s reign over Israel… that he began to build the house of
the Lord’ (I Kings 6: 1). Although under fire in recent criticism, Solomon
is a historical figure believed to have started his long reign around 970
B.C. Accordingly, the departure from Egypt is hypothesized at around
1450 B.C. Another calculation is that which relies on the succession of
Judges, according to the Book of Judges, which goes back at least 100
years earlier, therefore around 1550 B.C. However, the most diffuse
theory in recent years has proposed that the exodus took place in the
13th century B.C. (Cazelles, 1954; 1955; Kallai, 1983; Mazar, 1986).
The first indication that we have so far of the presence of Israel
as a political entity in Canaan to the west of the Jordan is found on a
stele erected at Thebes in Egypt by the Pharaoh Mer-ne-Ptah, around
1220 B.C. Israel appears there as one of the people who had surrendered
or been destroyed by an Egyptian military campaign. Israel appears
as a political entity which occupies only part of the land of Canaan.
According to the archeological evidence and the biblical narrative, we
are then at the dawn of the period of Judges. If there was an exodus from
Egypt, this should have taken place before the erection of the stele. There
is not, however, a unanimous opinion on the length of time from the
departure from Egypt to the settling of Israel west of the Jordan River.
At the beginning of the book of Exodus the advent of a pharaoh
who did not recognize the rights of the Hebrews is indicated: ‘there
arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph’ (Exodus
1: 8). ‘Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them
with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh protected cities,
Pithom and Raamses’ (Exodus 1: 11–12). The reference to the change
66
of policy towards immigrants may be a relevant chronological
indication, as discussed already (Anati, 2010).
According to the narrative, the towns of Raamses and Pithom
appear to have been built in the period in which the children of Israel
were in Egypt. Raamses, the capital of Egypt in the north of the Delta
from the time of the Pharaoh Raamses II (c. 1292–1237 B.C.) to the
22nd dynasty (935–730 B.C.), acquired this name under Raamses II.
The exegetical conventional dating assumes that if the city of Raamses
was constructed after 1300 B.C. and if the Hebrews built it, the exodus
must have taken place after that date. This has been retained as the
main fixed point of the conventional chronology of a leading exegetical
school and one might say that it has the function of a trap.
Raamses is mentioned as a geographical area in the Book of
Genesis also, referring to a period that all exegesists would agree must
have been well before the 13th century B.C. “…and Joseph settled his
father and his brothers in the land of Raamses…” (Genesis 47:11). The
name emerges as a geographical indicator in the Books of Exodus
and Genesis for the site where, according to tradition, the Hebrews
settled, developed and then were obliged to do hard labour in Egypt.
It was not the name it had in the period of the Patriarchs and is not
necessarily the same name that the site had at the time of Moses. This
is true also for other names that the Bible uses in an anachronistic way.
For example, the story of Abimelech at Gerar, defined to be in the
land of the Philistines (Gen. 26:1). The area could hardly have had that
name at the time of Isaac the Patriarch, before the Philistines arrived,
while at the period the text was compiled it undoubtedly did have
that name. It is a normal narrative process, as when we might say: ‘…
the Neolithic people settled in the area of Tel Aviv…’. This does not
signify that the site was called Tel Aviv in the Neolithic period.
As a consequence of such preconceived assumptions, this
exegetical chronology had fixed the limits between which the exodus
should have taken place at between 1292 and 1220 B.C., thus in any
event in the 13th century B.C. The ancient tells in the Delta area have
archeological layers of the New Kingdom which overlap older levels.
67
Har
Beer
Har
Maktesh
Karkom Karkom Saggi Ramon
Har
MR
Ramon SW
Har
Har
Hamran Hamran
Sw
SE
Sde
Har
Shivta Sde
Nafha
Boqer Boqer
E
W
Palaeolithic
324
98
3
21
25
5
3
7
3
5
1
12
Neolithic
11
6
1
3
3
0
0
0
2
1
1
1
212
BAC
(Chalcolithic
to MB age I)
150
76
61
43
78
45
80
59
21
40
36
MB age II
& Iron age I
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Iron age II
& Persian
1
14
2
16
13
27
83
80
93
6
22
20
Hellenistic
&
Nabataean
4
19
10
2
3
35
26
11
42
45
0
1
Roman
Byzantine
65
203
110
122
34
129
121
123
274
271
59
54
Islamic
83
124
3
21
41
0
4
0
12
8
6
8
Fig. 33 - Quantative, chronological table of the archaeological sites of the Negev. Data
collected from 8 zones of 100km² each, explored and studied by different archaeologists.
What emerges is the important density of finds from the BAC period between 6000 and
4000 B.P. (that is between 4000 and 2000 B.C.), and the total absence of finds from the
Middle to the Late Bronze Age between 4000 and 3200 B.P. (that is 2000 and 1200 B.C.)
The Iron Age is well-represented primarily on the mountains of the Central Negev while
it is limited in the area of Har Karkom. The Roman Byzantine period shows an intense
repopulation in the whole Negev area (data available in December, 1992, cf. E. Anati, 1993).
Fig. 34 - General table of the archaeological findings in the Negev and the Sinai. Between
2000 and 1000 B.C. there is an almost complete hiatus of human presence throughout
the peninsula. The only remains of structures are mining areas and military stations
planned by regime. There is no evidence of tribal life (HK Archives).
68
69
This is also the case for the towns of Raamses and Pitom, which may be
identified with the archeological sites of Kantir and of Tell el-Maskhuta,
where there are archeological levels going back to the Early Bronze Age.
Pitom and Raamses existed well before the names given them in the
biblical narrative. The names identify their location for the geographical
record, they cannot be used as a chronological definition of the events.
The archeological finds of recent years, together with the
comparative literature of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, contribute
to the solution of the chronological problem. Table (fig. 33) provides
a summary of archeological finds in the Sinai and Negev area and
shows that the entire territory of the peninsula reveals no archeological
documentation of living sites for most of the second millennium B.C.
The few archeological sites were non tribal, but rather governmental
structures like mines, checkpoints or military installations. If the
populations mentioned in the biblical narrative, such as Midianites
and Amalekites, Amorites, Horites and Edomites, really existed in a
tribal context in this territory before the 13th century B.C., before the
stele of Mer-ne-Ptah, it probably was before the period of drought: it
is unlikely that this could have taken place after the 20th century B.C.
The story of Exodus starts with the departure from Egypt of a
group of “Asiatics” who were kept as slaves and acquired freedom
by running away in the territory of sand. Then it describes a period of
nomadism in the desert, during which there were long-lasting stops at
the foot of Mount Sinai and at Kadesh Barnea (‘forty years in the desert’).
From nomads they became semi-nomads or oasis dwellers in the oasis
of Kadesh Barnea. There are the first attempts at entering the Promised
Land, making wars against the Amalekites and the king of Arad. It
illustrates a subsequent period of adventures, wars and conquests in
Transjordan, against the people of Edom, Moab and Ammon, in the
course of which a part of the Hebrew confederation passed from a
state of nomadism to that of semi-sedentary, agricultural and pastoral
communities. This is followed by the narration of the raids of Joshua in
the land of Canaan. Finally in the Book of Judges there is the description
of the gradual settlement of the tribes and their final sedentarization.
70
The story tells of different epochs in the course of which there
are several phases of formation and transformation of a people; the
confederation grows socially and politically, demographically and
technologically. The biblical text describes indirectly but clearly
the economic changes, the development of social structure and the
changes in the way of life, the passage from the tent to the hut and
from the hut to the house (Anati, 1997).
The evolution which is described follows a logic which reflects
what has been acquired as a succession of cultural processes by
modern archeology and anthropology. From nomadism to an
increasingly sedentary life and agricultural colonization, to the
formation of a semi-urban society, is not necessarily a universal trend,
but it fits the geographical area in question. The biblical narrative
provides a coherent succession which may be synchronized with
archeological documentation and climatic changes. No doubt it will
be clear, at least to anthropologists and archeologists, what interest
there is in a synchronic concordance between the various phases of
the biblical narrative, climatic changes and the archeological periods
to which they can be attributed. Figure 34 is not proposing a solution
to the query but is providing the frame for a structural analysis.
One of the recurring themes in the studies of Exodus is the
embarrassment caused by the lack of other literary sources for
events that appear to be so important in the Bible. Could it be that
nothing is recorded by Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts on the
epoch of Exodus?
In the Egyptian period of the New Kingdom (1550-1200 B.C.),
during the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties, the court of the pharaoh
was full of bureaucrats and intellectuals, and the state archives
were worthy of every respect. If the episode of the flight from Egypt
and the passage of the ‘Red Sea’ referred to the New Kingdom,
some traces should have been found in the Egyptian text, perhaps
proposing a more brilliant version for the Egyptians. The lack of any
reference has convinced some scholars that the biblical narrative is
pure mythology without any historical base.
71
Fig. 35 - A schematic table of the periods of biblical narrations and socio-economic
contexts corresponding to the annotations on the climatic changes (HK Archives).
72
The biblical episodes describing the permanence of the
Hebrews in Egypt refer to the presence of notable ethnic groups of
Asiatics in the Delta zone, and the political changes that modified
their social position. In our view similar events are indeed described
by the Egyptian written documents; however, the pertinent texts
do not belong to the New Kingdom but to the Old Kingdom. In
other words they do not go back to the 13th century, but to the
late third millennium B.C., one millennium before the contexts on
which biblical scholars have focused their research.
The story of Exodus has nothing to do with the Raamseside
period. If the children of Israel built the town of Raamses, that
town did not have that name at that time. The natural reply is:
impossible! Obviously such a bold unconventional proposal
that upsets the traditional chronology, challenging authoritative
historical and theological literature and adding one millennium to
the story of the Hebrews might upset academics. Let us try to think
again.
In previous publications we have gone into detail on the
possible references of the Egyptian texts to the biblical story of
Exodus (Anati, 1997; 2010). Reliable translations of most of these
texts are found in Pritchard (1969) which we use here as reference.
Let us briefly summarize some of these texts.
During the VIth dynasty, especially under the reign of Pepi I (2375–
2350 B.C.), the Egyptians conducted several punitive military campaigns.
A commander by the name of Uni immortalized the actions against
the Asiatics ‘that live in the territory of sand’ and describes situations
comparable with those in the Book of Exodus. From the accounts we
get a picture of a world conceptually and contextually very near that
described in the biblical narrative. The army of Uni devastated the animal
enclosures, destroyed the huts, chopped down the fig and grape trees
and safely came back to Egypt. The description could refer to one of the
tribes of the pastoralists and incipient cultivators in the semi-desert zone,
like the Midianites or the Amelekites. It could also be a war report of an
event in which, as usual, each one of the sides claimed success. The story
73
of Uni has other relevant details treated in a previous publication (Anati,
2010).
The biblical narration of the ten plagues finds a series of analogies
in the Ipuwer Ammonitions, an Egyptian text going back to the VIth
dynasty (2345–2181 B.C.). There are also similarities in the system of
allegories and the way of evaluating natural phenomena and giving
them specific significance. This text has numerous other hints which
we should consider. ‘The delta marshes carry shields (are in turmoil)…
foreigners have become landlords’, just like the biblical story of the clan
of Jacob in the land of Goshen. ‘We do not know what may happen
throughout the land… poor men have become possessors of treasures.
He who could not make a pair of sandals is the possessor of riches’. This
is a clear reference to foreigners who settled down in the Delta region,
‘in the best of the land’ (Genesis 7: 11). ‘Barbarians from outside have
come into Egypt… foreigners are skilled in the work of the Delta’. The
land was kept by foreigners: ‘the Asiatic have become landlords’ seems
to reflect a version of the biblical story; ‘the storehouse is stripped bare’.
The royal stores are mentioned also in Genesis in the story of Joseph.
The text, which is very long for its period, seems to describe an era of
wealth for the Asiatic tribes who arrived in the Delta zone, and a deep
sense of bitterness on the part of the Egyptians who were put aside by
the adventurous strangers. It almost seems to be the other side of a story.
Analogies with the narration of the plagues in Exodus include among
other things: ‘Women are dried up, and none can conceive… many dead
are buried in the river… the river is blood’ (Pritchard, 1969, pp. 441-444).
The concept of the divinity as time finds its highest expression
in the narration of the revelation of Mount Sinai, where Yahweh
revealed himself to Moses, saying: ‘I will be what I am’ (Exodus 3:
14). The god who comes down to the mountain has in his name the
three tenses, present, past and future. There is a conceptual analogy
with the myth of origin of the god Atum, or Atom, which is set upon
the primordial mountain (or hill), and who reveals himself saying: ‘I
am the great God that created himself… who created his own names.
I am yesterday but I know tomorrow’. The dedicatory text is found in
74
the pyramid of Pharaoh Pepi II, of the VIth dynasty, who reigned in
the 23rd century B.C., between about 2278 and 2184 B.C. (Pritchard,
1969, p. 3).
The Instructions of Merikare is an Egyptian text from the
22nd century B.C. compiled for the education of a prince, and in
it some commandments are proposed. Among those are: ‘Respect
thy father and thy ancestors… Do not distinguish the son of a
(rich) man from a poor man… Revere the God’. There are similar
precepts that according to the biblical texts were given with the
Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.
Another Egyptian document, known as the Neferrohu
Prophecies, may be of some interest. It goes back to the 20 century
B.C. (XIIth dynasty) and among other things it says: ‘the Asiatic will
not be permitted to come back into Egypt that they might beg for
water in the customary manner, in order to let their beasts drink’
(Pritchard, 1969, pp.444-446). Some Asiatics had fled away into the
desert and the resentful Egyptians expected that they would not be
able to survive and would come back begging for water.
The biblical accounts, according to which Moses lived in Midian for
many years and there formed a family, are an exceptional ethnological
document for the amount of its cultural information and for what it
tells us about the habits of the desert population. The remains of the
villages at the foot of Har Karkom and in the Uvda Valley constitute
an impressive archeological testimony of this way of life that the Bible
describes. Such a way of life may have lasted for long periods in the
desert, until it ended because of climatic deterioration. The description
refers to the BAC period; it cannot fit the period of drought.
The Midianite episode of Moses shows numerous analogies with
an Egyptian account, which, in the form in which it reached us, refers
to the 20th century B.C. (c. 1960 B.C.). Sinuhe, an official of the Pharaoh
Amen-em-het I, lived in the royal harem and served the hereditary
princess. He committed some crime and when the Pharaoh died, he
feared the successor. He fled to Asia ‘in the land of Yaa where figs and
grapes are grown and wine is more abundant than water’, where he is
75
Fig. 36 - Beer Karkom, site BK 426. Detail of one of the platforms of the bamoth type.
The platform has an altar facing HarKarkom. It is presumed that stone basements were
covered with a layer of compacted earth (EA90:VIII-9).
Fig. 37 - Beer Karkom, site BK 463. A platform with a stone altar facing Har Karkom
(ISR84: IL-19).
76
welcomed in by a local chief. He gets the elder daughter as wife, and
creates a family. From his father-in-law he receives animals and pastoral
land and finally he is called back to Egypt to deal with an important task.
The narration of Sinuhe has so many elements in common
with the biblical story of Moses who flees to Midian and of his
father-in-law Jethro, that we may hypothesize a common matrix of
the two accounts. Obviously this matrix can only be older than or
of the same period as the earliest of the two versions and therefore,
it cannot be later than the 20th century B.C. The term ‘Land of Yaa’
would be worth a dissertation but it would lead us away from the
main point of this work.
There are also comparative points with Mesopotamian
literature, and in this context it will be enough to mention one.
Sargon of Akkad, charismatic leader of the Semites, led his people
from the arid periphery to the conquest of the green, fertile land
of Mesopotamia, around 2300 B.C. The myth of the origin of
Sargon is almost identical to that of Moses: ‘My mother, the high
priestess, conceived me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a
basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into
the river which rose not (over) me’ (Pritchard, 1969, p.119). Both
conducted their respective people towards the conquest of their
Promised Land. The myth of origin of the two characters at the
roots of the Semitic world, Moses and Sargon, appears to have
been inspired by a common narrative matrix, which necessarily is
prior or contemporary to the first of the two narratives that have
reached us, that is, earlier than the 23rd century B.C. The Egyptian
and Mesopotamian texts appear to have many conceptual and
factual connections with the biblical accounts hinting at the age
in which such accounts were conceived.
Descriptions of the construction of megalithic monuments
are repeated on various occasions in the course of the biblical
narrative: an altar and 12 pillars at the foot of Mount Sinai, a circle
of 12 stones at Gilgal, the construction of funerary tumuli in several
instances, testimonial tumuli (in Hebrew gal-ed) and other sacred
77
stones. Pillars or menhirs and other megalithic structures are part
of the biblical landscape at the time of Exodus and Joshua. For
the archeologists these elements have a chronological value. They
can be attributed to the third millennium B.C. They are types of
monuments found in the territory in the Early Bronze Age and
at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age and their use sharply
decreased or ended shortly after 2000 B.C.
The archeological excavations and survey have established
the dating for Kadesh Barnea, Arad, Jericho, Ai and other sites
mentioned in the biblical accounts of Exodus and in the Book of
Joshua. According to the archeological findings, several of these
localities developed in the third millennium B.C. and suffered
devastation and destruction in the last third of this millennium.
Several scholars have gone out of their way to make their
archeological discoveries coincide with the conventional date
attributed to the exodus by the traditional schools, but in fact none
of these sites existed in the 13th century B.C.
When no substantial traces of the Late Bronze Age were found
at Jericho, some biblical scholars asserted that biblical Jericho was
not there. When the archeological excavations failed to find traces
of the Late Bronze Age at Ai, Arad and Kadesh Barnea, the same
thing was said. Could all these identifications be wrong? This is
hardly possible. The general picture provided by the archeological
sites illustrates a period of turmoil, attacks and devastation of the
fortified cities coming from the periphery. But if the archeological
levels of these sites indicate earlier periods, how can they match the
traditional chronology of the biblical narrations? Either the dates
attributed to the archeological levels are wrong or the proposed
dates of Exodus are wrong.
Archeological discoveries indicate that there were invasions
of people from the periphery to the fortified cities of the fertile land
in the late third millennium B.C. Today, we know that the process
of desertification rendered life in the desert ever more difficult.
The peripheral tribes were compelled towards aggression by
78
Fig. 38 - Uvda Valley near the Arava. Remains of an agricultural settlement with a
threshing floor and a canal for the collection of water, belonging to the Early Bronze
Age and the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. These villages may be attributed to
the Midianite tribe (ISR84: XXIV-10).
Fig. 39 - General view of Arad Tell. The fortified city of the Early Bronze age was abandoned
in the course of the third millennium B.C. and never reconstructed again. On a hill
overlooking it is an Israelite fortress of the Iron Age. In the Late Bronze Age, according to the
archeological data at our disposal, the city of Arad did not exist (EAHK IL93: IX-8).
79
hunger and thirst. Moving from the Negev and Sinai towards the
highlands of Transjordan may relate to the need of the nomadic
tribes for pastoral land in the early phases of desertification.
The narrative of the Book of Joshua, with the attacks on the
cities of Canaan, in our view, may illustrate events caused by
the worsening climatic circumstances when the drought further
expanded.
On the basis of the archeological finds in Moab and Edom
in Jordan, the Bible could hardly have referred to an epoch after
the 20th century B.C. for the populations mentioned; the war
fought and the cities conquered in the biblical narrative concern
traditions that imply the presence of a population. The territory
which is said in the Bible to have been occupied and colonized by
the Israelites was, according to the archeological documentation,
intensely populated in the third millennium B.C. and desert in the
second millennium B.C. In the second millennium B.C. they could
not possibly have been conquered, colonized or cultivated. If there
is a historical memory behind the biblical texts, the chronology of
the Exodus narration has to fit the archeological evidence.
‘And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites,
saying: Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the
fields, or into the vineyards’ (Numbers 21: 21–22). Fields and
vineyards were possible in the zone before the 20th century B.C.
Then the villages were abandoned and in the second millennium
B.C. there was neither a sedentary population in this area nor a
climate that would allow fields and vineyards.
Considering all these factors, it seems likely that the biblical
accounts reflect what the archeological investigations have revealed
at Har Karkom, Beer Karkom and Kadesh Barnea, as at Jericho,
Ai, Arad, Edom, Moab and elsewhere. Recent paleo-climatological
studies have confirmed that the areas concerned, like other areas
of Arabia and the Sahara, were not habitable during the period of
intense aridity which covered almost all of the second millennium
B.C. (Issar, 1995; Issar et al., 1992)
80
The concordance with the climatic fluctuations, the comparison
with the Egyptian literature, the archeological documentation at
Jericho and at Ai and the finds at Har Karkom and Ein Kudeirat
seem to confirm a historical basis for Exodus and indicate that the
events in the biblical accounts may well refer to the period of the
VIth Egyptian dynasty (2345–2181 B.C.).
According to this view, the mythical history that includes the
wanderings in the desert, the presence at the foot of Mount Sinai
and at Kadesh Barnea, the conquest of Transjordan, the period of
incursions of Joshua and the subsequent ‘missing period’, until the
beginning of the time of the Book of Judges, would cover around
1,000 years, from 2300 to 1200 B.C. The years mentioned in the
Bible, like ‘40 years in the desert’ may have to be read as ‘many
years in the desert’ (Anati, 2010).
The ethical and moral messages, the universal values do not
change. What is changing is the historical value of the biblical
account. The synchronization with the historical documents of
ancient Egyptian texts, with climatic and environmental changes
and with the testimony of archeology may help us consider the
possibility of a historical background for the biblical story of
Exodus.
81
5- CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 40 - Crevices and large breaks at the edges of Har Karkom seem to explain the
biblical name Har Horeb which means ‘Mountain in the process of collapsing’ (ISR84:
LVI-13).
82
The present text is a short summary of a volume published in
Italian in 2010 (Anati, 2010). It describes the main discoveries and the
reasoning that led to the identification of Har Karkom as the biblical
Mount Sinai.
Archeological evidence, the recorded climatic changes, Egyptian
and Mesopotamian literary documents, provide synchronization and
a testimony for the Exodus narration of the Bible. The newly proposed
chronology offers a historical background for the setting of the Exodus
story. The biblical account about Mount Sinai refers to a mountain
which is identified with Har Karkom, according to its geographical
position, topography and archeological finds. Moses’s visiting card
was not found and the present documentation does not provide
direct testimony of the presence of the children of Israel. It illustrates
a paramount cult site which corresponds to the biblical description of
Mount Sinai and is located in the precise location that can be assumed
by the biblical description.
Mount Sinai, the mount of the god Sin, had a long history as a
holy mountain starting in Paleolithic times. In the BAC period it had
a remarkable development, becoming a sort of Mecca in the middle of
the desert, a place of gathering and of religious and social performances
used by different populations. Its role decreased and ultimately came
to an end when climatic changes made the human gatherings more
difficult and then impossible.
83
If the children of Israel were among the tribal groups that shared
this holy site, they are likely to have been the last population that used the
mountain for cult purposes before the period of drought which brought
these traditions to an end. In the same cultural context, other populations
were present in the area and, as specified elsewhere (in Anati, 2010), some
hints may help us to identify camping stations and living sites of different
groups which may have a connection with the peoples mentioned in
the biblical accounts called Midianites, Amalekites or Edomites. Can we
identify the campsites of groups that may have belonged to the biblical
children of Israel? It does not seem impossible and research is in progress.
The identification, location and chronological framework
of the Mountain of God are providing a new base for the historical
reconstruction of the biblical narration. For some theologians it may be
disturbing to realize that Mount Sinai was a holy mountain for many
people, and not an exclusive cult site of Moses. For some contemporary
scholars it may be disturbing even to have to accept that a biblical
Mount Sinai indeed existed and could be located.
What is the historical core of the biblical text? The mythical
narratives are a result of an elaboration of the core and the archeological
evidence may help define the core and contribute new chapters to the
early history of Israel. Some of the previous convictions and beliefs
have to be revised. We apologize for creating these disturbances. The
story of desert peoples acquires a new dimension and new vistas. New
perspectives are open for research. Among the many open questions one
is particularly tantalizing: among the numerous Bronze Age camping
sites are there any hints to identify the presence of the children of Israel?
Gratitude is expressed to all those who contribute knowledgeable
and serious criticism of our books and papers and help us verify again
and again the various aspects of the many queries. The last words go to
thank all those who participated in this cultural and scientific endeavour
over the last 33 years, and those who support the continuation of research
to decode the traces of man and to clarify the riddle of Mount Sinai.
Note: Readers who wish to put questions to Professor Emmanuel Anati are invited to
write by email to <[email protected]>. The most significant letters will be published
in an appropriate mail box.
84
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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85
ITALIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION
TO HAR KARKOM
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARCHAEOLOGY
ANATI Emmanuel
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86
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87
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du Prof. E. Anati”).
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vol. 36, 2010, pp. 115-133, figg. 75-86, tabs.
- With I. Mailland, M.E. Peroschi, S. Amicone, F. Mailland, A Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site (PPNB) at Har
Karkom (Negev, Israel), Report on the hk/361 site, B.C.SP, vol. 35, 2009, pp. 51-72, figs. 22-38.
- Har Karkom. Guida ai siti principali del riscoperto Monte sinai, Padova (Messaggero di Sant’Antonio Editrice), 2010, 143 pp., ill.
- La riscoperta del Monte Sinai. Ritrovamenti archeologici alla luce del racconto dell’Esodo), Padova (Messaggero
di Sant’Antonio - Editrice), 2010, 247 pp., 205 figs.
- Considerazioni e aggiornamenti sy l’arte rupestre di Har Karkom Desserto del Negev, Israele, B.C.SP,
vol. 36, 2010, pp. 115-133, figs. 75-86, tabs.
- With/con Federico Mailland, Archaeological Survey of Israel, Map of Beer Karkom (226), Geneva (Esprit de
l’Homme & Capo di Ponte, BS (CISPE), 2010, 208 pp, ills.
- The Paleolithic sanctuary at Har Karkom, Negev Desert, The Intellectual and Spiritual Expression of Non-Literate
Societies, Proceedings of UISPP XVI Congress, vo. 1, session 17 (CISENP), Oxford (BAR), 2012, pp. 13-20, 10 ill.
BASTONI Rosetta
- Arte rupestre di Har Karkom e il suo contesto ambientale, Valcamonica Symposium’94, 1994, 3 pp.
- Arte rupestre: Har Karkom e il dio Sin, B.C.N, 1997, pp. 22-25.
- Lo stambecco nell’arte rupestre di Har Karkom e nell’iconografia dei più antichi manufatti del Vicino
Oriente, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei messaggi, XVIII Valcamonica
Symposium, 2000, 1 p.
- Il Dio Lunare Sin, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 53-56, ill.
- Mitologia mesopotamica e relazione con Har Karkom il Sinai ritrovao, Making history of prehistory. The role
of rock art, XXIII Valcamonica Symposium Papers, 2009, Capo di Ponte (Edizioni del Centro), 2009, p. 62.
CASTELLETTI Sergio
- Har Karkom – Monte Sinai: La ricerca dei Nascondigli, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Sciamanismo e
mito, XVI Valcamonica Symposium, 1998, 3 pp.
- Har Karkom 1998 – Gruppo Grotte, B.C.N, 1999, pp. 17-19.
- Har Karkom; le vie della montagna, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei
messaggi, XVIII Valcamonica Symposium, 2000, 2 pp.
88
COTTINELLI Luigi
- Santuario Paleolitico in Har Karkom, Valcamonica Symposium’92, 1992, 16 pp.
- Tipologia strutturale dei siti BAC di Har Karkom, Valcamonica Symposium‘93, 1993, 8 pp.
- Har Karkom. I siti Ellenistico-Bizantini, Valcamonica Symposium’94, 1994, 3 pp.
- With E. Anati & F. Mailand, Il santuario più antico del mondo, Archeologia Viva, vol. 15/56, 1996, pp.
26-38.
- I siti di epoca ellenistica, romana, bizantina. Aspetti sociali, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom e Monte Sinai:
Archeologia e Mito, Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte Archeologiche), 1998,
pp. 39-55.
- Le due vette di Har Karkom, B.C.N, vol. Marzo 2001, pp. 23-24.
- Presenze cristiane ad Har Karkom, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 50-52, ill.
FORNONI Giorgio
- La Grotta HK/244, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito, Milan (Comune di
Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte Archeologiche), 1998, pp. 35-38.
- La Grotta dell’eremita, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 25-27, ill.
FREEMAN Paul
- The 1994 Expedition to Har Karkom, Bay Area Rock Art News, May 1994, pp. 3-4.
GIROLOMONI Gino
- Har Karkom.: La montagna di Dio, Mediterraneo, vol. 1/2, 1998, pp. 49-57.
- Spedizione archeologica Har Karkom 2006, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 37-42, ill.
GIROLOMONI Gino (a cura di)
- Mediterraneo Dossier, Isola del Piano, PU (Fondazione Alce Nero), 2006
MAILLAND Federico
- Har Karkom nel paleolitico: l’importanza del luogo, Valcamonica Symposium’92, 1992, 13 pp.
- Har Karkom: le origini del mito, Valcamonica Symposium’95, 1995, 17 pp.
- With E. Anati & L. Cottinelli, Il santuario più antico del mondo, Archeologia Viva, vol. 15/56, 1996, pp.
26-38.
- Har Karkom nel Paleolitico: il passaggio, la presenza e i fenomeni di culto, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har
Karkom e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito, Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche
raccolte Archeologiche), 1998, pp. 9-14, 113-116.
- Topografia e datazione nell’esodo secondo le testimonianze archeologiche, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e
tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei messaggi, XVIII Valcamonica Symposium, 2000, 2 pp.
- Witness of Palaeolithic conceptual expressions at Har Karkom, Israel, in E. Anati & J.-P. Mohen (eds.),
Les expressions intellectuelles et spirituelles des peuples sans ecriture, 2007, Capo di Ponte (CISPE & Edizioni del
Centro), pp. 76-82, 9 figs.
- Har Karkom: Studio dei geoglifi mediante fotografia zenitale, B.C.SP, vol. 35, 2009, pp. 43-50, figs. 19-21.
- Geoglyphs on the Har Karkom plateau (Negev, Israel), Making history of prehistory. The role of rock art, PreAtti XXIII Pre-Atti Valcamonica Symposium Papers, 2009, Capo di Ponte (Edizioni del Centro), 2009, pp.
43-50 pp., figs. 19-21-b.
- The Geoglyphs of Har Karkom (Negev, Israel), classification and interpretation, Arte e comunicazione
nelle società pre-letterate, Art and Communication in Pre-Literate Soieties, XXIV Valcamonica Symposium 2011,
Milano (Jaca Book), 2011, pp. 278-283, 10 figs.
- Geoglyphs: Origins and meaning, The Intellectual and Spiritugal Expressions of Non-Literate Peoples,
Colloquio UISPP-CISNEP Capo di Ponte 22-24 June 2012, Capo di Ponte (Atelier, 2012, pp. 149-154.
MAILLAND F., M.E. Peroschi, S. Amicone, I. Mailland, & E. Anati
- A Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site (PPNB) at Har Karkom (Negev, Israel), Report on the hk/361 site, B.C.SP,
vol. 35, 2009, pp. 51-72, figs. 22-38.
MAILLAND Federico (ed.)
- Har Karkom e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito, Atti del Convegno di Studi, Associazione Lombarda
Archeologica, 18 January 1997, Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche Raccolte
Archeologiche), 1998, 127 pp.
89
- With E. Anati, Archaeological Survey of Israel, Map of Har Karkom (229), Geneva (Esprit de l’Homme & Capo
di Ponte, BS (CISPE), 2010, 256+L pp, ills.
MAILLAND Federico & Ida
- The Har Karkom Plateau During the Palaeolithic, Valcamonica Symposium’93, 1993, 13 pp.
- Har Karkom nel Paleolitico, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 20-23, ill.
MAILLAND Ida
- Har Karkom : proto-arte agli albori del Paleolitico Superiore, Making history of prehistory. The role of rock art;
Pre-Atti, XXIII Valcamonica Symposium Papers, 2009, Capo di Ponte (Edizioni del Centro), 2009, pp. 215224, 18 figs.
MAILLAND I., M.E. Peroschi, S. Amicone, F. Mailland, & E. Anati
- A Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site (PPNB) at Har Karkom (Negev, Israel), Report on the hk/361 site, B.C.SP,
vol. 35, 2009, pp. 51-72, figs. 22-38.
MANFREDI Valerio
- Ricognizione e scavo del sito 221 bis nella zona di Har Karkom (Negev, Israel), Valcamonica Symposium’93,
1993, 17 pp.
- Ricognizione e scavo del sito 221 bis nella zona di Har Karkom (Negev Israeliano), B.C.SP, vol. 28, 1995,
pp. 106-114.
- Una nuova via sacra di accesso all’altipiano di Har Karkom, B.C.N, vol. Marzo 2001, pp. 25-28.
BIBLICAL EXEGESIS
ANATI Emmanuel
- Har Karkom e la cronologia dell’Esodo, B.C.N, vol. 4/2, 1987, pp. 25-36.
- Gian Franco Ravasi: Il dibattito su Har Karkom e Commenti di E. Anati, B.C.N, vol. 4/3, 1987, pp. 28-31.
- Har Karkom: la montagna di Dio?, Archeo, n. 35, January 1988, pp. 24-29.
- Exodus et Sinai: Une réconsideration, Dort ziehen Schiffe dahin... Collected Communications to the XIVth
Congress for the Study of the Old Testament, Paris, 1992, Frankfurt am Main (Peter Lang), 1996, pp. 11-25.
- Esodo tra mito e storia, Studi Camuni,, vol. 18, Capo di Ponte (Edizioni del Centro), 1997, 300 pp.
- Har Karkom 1997, B.C.N, vol. Marzo 1998, pp. 13-14.
- Locating Mount Sinai, The Canadian Jewish News, 05.06.2003, p. 9; 12.06.2003, p. 9.
- AZZAROLI A.
- I cavalli nella narrazione dell’Esodo e la cronologia di Har Karkom, B.C.SP, vol. 25, p.11.
- Har Karkom: Esegesi e Topografia, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 10-13, ill.
- L’epoca dell’Esodo, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 14-19, ill.
BARBAGLIA Silvio
- Har Karkom interroga l’esegesi e la teologia. Un primo bilancio della ricezione dell’ipotesi di e. anati nei
dibattiti sulle origini di israele., Liber AAnnuus, vol. 61, 2010, pp. 17-35.
BARBIERO Flavio
- La Bibbia Senza Segreti, Milan (Rusconi) 1988, pp. 296-440.
- Sacralità di Har Karkom, Valcamonica Symposium’93, 1993, 14 pp.
- Indizi per l’utilizzo del Monte Horeb come luogo di conservazione di cimeli, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har
Karkom e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito, Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche
raccolte Archeologiche), 1998, pp. 85-91.
- I cristiani ad Har Karkom, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei messaggi, XVIII
Valcamonica Symposium, 2000, 1 p.
- Diario di viaggio di Egeria, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 28-35, ill.
BASTONI Rosetta
- Sinai e il dio Sin, Valcamonica Symposium’96, 1996, 1 p.
- Arte rupestre: Har Karkom e il dio Sin, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito,
Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte Archeologiche), 1998, pp. 25-34, 119.
- Har Karkom & the God Sin, Bay Area Rock Art News, vol. 18/2, 2000, pp. 1-3.
- Mitologia mesopotamica e relazione con Har Karkom. fIl Sinai ritrovato, Making history of prehistory.The
90
role of rock art, XXIII Pre-Atti Valcamonica Symposium Papers, 2009, Capo di Ponte (Edizioni del Centro),
2009, p. 62.
BONTEMPI Franco
- Simbologie di Har Karkom e simbologie bibliche, Valcamonica Symposium’96, 1996, 1 p.
- Le scoperte di Har Karkom e l’esegesi, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito,
Milano (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte Archeologiche), 1998, pp. 25-34,
103-104.
- Har Karkom, la montagna sacra e la storia di Isacco ed Ismaele, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Decifrare
le immagini, XVII Valcamonica Symposium, 1999, 1 p.
- Il monoteismo di Mosé, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei messaggi, XVIII
Valcamonica Symposium, 2000, 4 pp.
- Har Karkom, la montagna sacra e la storia di Isacco ed Ismaele, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Decifrare
le immagini, XVII Valcamonica Symposium, 1999, 1 p.
CHETWYND Tom
- The Age of Myth, London (Harper Collins) 1991, pp. 156-160.
- The Gap. Why Justy There: The Promised Land, Valcamonica Symposium’92, 1992, 3 pp.
FINKELSTEIN Israel
- Raiders of the Lost Mountain, BAR, July 1988.
GABBI Giorgio
- I Monti di Dio, L’Airone, suppl. n. 39, 1992.
GILBERT M.
- Har Karkom et le Mt. Sinai, B.C.SP, vol. 23, 1986, pp. 9-10.
GIROLOMONI Gino
- Presenze sul Sinai. Da Abramo a Emmanuel (2000 a.C. – 2000 d.C.), in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom
e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito, Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte
Archeologiche), 1998, pp. 93-97.
- Sulle tracce di Abramo, Mediterraneo, Vol. 2/7, 1998, pp. 46-53.
- Il Monte Sinai all’epoca dei patriarchi. Racconto biblico e ritrovamenti, Quaderni valtellinesi, n. 76, 1998/3,
1998, pp. 5-13.
- Abramo. Agar, Ismaele, Madian, Jetro, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Decifrare le immagini, XVII
Valcamonica Symposium, 1999, 4 pp.
- Abramo. Agar, Ismaele, Madian, Jetro, Mediterraneo, vol. 3/11, 1999/2000, pp. 30-34.
- Anati ci restituisce il Sinai, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 1-2, ill.
- Har Karkom 2009. La spedizione archeologica di Anati, Mediterraneo, vol. 12/32, 2010, pp. 30-33.
GIROLOMONI Gino (ed.)
- Mediterraneo Dossier, Isola del Piano, PU (Fondazione Alce Nero), 2006
LASSALE André
- Iconographie, narrations bibliques et découvertes archéologiques, Valcamonica Symposium’94, 1994, 11
pp.
LONGONI Piergiorgio
- Essodo, cammino dell’anima, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei messaggi,
XVIII Valcamonica Symposium, 2000, 2 pp.
LUCKERMAN M.A.
- The Dating of Har Karkom and Joshua, B.C.SP, vol. 23, 1986, pp. 11-12.
MANFREDI Valerio
- Il Monte Sinai nella cartografia antica, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito,
Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte Archeologiche), 1998, pp. 69-83, 125-127.
- Il Monte Sinai nella cartografia antica, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp.
45-49, ill.
PITKÄAHO RISTO
- Joseph and Imhotep, in “Valcamonica Symposim’97, Grafismo e semiotica”, B.C.SP, vol. 30-31, 1999, pp.
91
197-206, ill.
POZZI Rodolfo & Maria Grazia
- Har Karkom è il Monte Sinai? Quaderni Erbesi, vol. XIII, 1992, pp. 1-29.
RAVASI Gian Franco
- Il dibattito su Har Karkom, B.C.N, vol. IV\3, pp. 28-31.
RICHIARDI Marcello
- Esodo tra mito e storia. Gli aspetti militari - Topografia e datazione nell’esodo secondo le testimonianze
archeologiche, in E. Anati, Arte rupestre e tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei messaggi, XVIII Valcamonica
Symposium, 2000, 7 pp.
SINI S.
- Har Karkom and the Ten Commandments, B.C.SP, vol. 25-26, 1990 pp. 9-10.
SOGGIN J.A.
- Har Karkom e le narrazioni bibliche dell’esodo, B.C.SP, vol. 23, pp. 8-9.
- Ubicazione del Monte Sinai secondo l’esegesi biblica, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom e Monte Sinai:
Archeologia e Mito, Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte Archeologiche),
1998, pp. 99-101.
SPEDICATO Emilio
- A new chronology for Egypian and related Ancient Histories, in F. Mailland (ed.), Har Karkom
e Monte Sinai: Archeologia e Mito, Milan (Comune di Milano, Settore Cultura e Musei, Civiche raccolte
Archeologiche), 1998, pp.105-106.
WARNOD Jeanine
- The Mount Sinai of Har Karkom, Bay Area Rock Art News, May 1994, pp. 1-4.
the books of ATELIER
ATELIER
colloqui
OTHER DISCIPLINES
BARICCHI Walter
- Troppa gente senza guida, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 57-58, ill.
DIAMOND Larryn
- La geologia di Har Karkom, deserto del Negev meridionale, Israele, in E. Anati, Har Karkom. Montagna
sacra nel deserto dell’Esodo, 1984, pp. 101- 107.
- The Geology of Har Karkom, Southern Negev Desert, Israel, in E. Anati, The Mountain of God, (It. ed.: La
Montagna di Dio. Har Karkom; Fr. ed.: La Montagne de Dieu. Har Karkom), pp. 333-341.
HARRIS James R.
- Was Thamudic of the Negev a Midianite script derivered from Proto-Dynastic? Valcamonica Symposium’95,
1995, 9 pp.
HARRIS James R. & Dann W. HONE
- The Name of God at Har Karkom, B.C.SP, vol. 29, 1996, pp. 142-146.
- The dating & ethnic origins of Midianites of the Negev inscriptions, Valcamonica Symposium’96, 1996, 22 pp.
HOROWITZ A.
- The Climate of the Central Negev in the Third Millennium B.C., in E. Anati, The Mountain of God, (It. ed.:
La Montagna di Dio. Har Karkom; Fr. ed.: La Montagne de Dieu. Har Karkom), p. 346.
LONGONI Piergiorgio
- La Porta del Cielo, in G. Girolomoni (a cura di), Mediterraneo Dossier, 2006, pp. 59-60, ill.
PIRELLI Paola & Giovanna DAVINI
- La vegetazione di Har Karkom, in E. Anati, Har Karkom. Montagna sacra nel deserto dell’Esodo, 1984, pp. 108-112.
- The Vegetation at Har Karkom, in E. Anati, The Mountain of God, (It. ed.: La Montagna di Dio. Har Karkom;
Fr. ed.: La Montagne de Dieu. Har Karkom), 1986, pp. 347-349.
SAMORINI Giorgio
- Sulla presenza di piante allucinogene ad Har Karkom, in E. Anati, Har Karkom. Montagna sacra nel deserto
dell’Esodo, 1984, p. 113;
- Hallucinogenic Plants at Har Karkom, in E. Anati, The Mountain of God, (It. ed.: La Montagna di Dio. Har
Karkom; Fr. ed.: La Montagne de Dieu. Har Karkom), 1986, p. 350.
TCHERNOV Eitan
92
I segni originari dell’arte
Riflessioni semiotiche a partire
dall’opera di Anati
Proceedings of the Colloquium
organized by the University of
Urbino in 2010.
It includes papers of authors
from nine different disciplines:
anthropology,
archaeology,
art, art history, philosophy,
psychoanalysis, psychology,
semiotics, sociology.
The intellectual and spiritual
expressions of non-literate
peoples
Espressioni intellettuali e
spirituali dei popoli senza
scrittura
Proceedings of the UISPP Colloquium
in 2012. It includes papers of 30
authors from the humanities and
social sciences, from 11 countries.
Books
in conceptual
anthropology
I SAGGI
DI ATELIER
ANTROPOLOGIA
CONCETTUALE
Saggi I 2011
Maschere
Saggi IV 2012
Mito tra utopia e verità
Chi sei? Chi sono?
Origini delle religioni
Nascere e crescere da nomadi
Origini della Musica
Iniziazione e riti di passaggio
Saggi II 2011
Alla ricerca dell’identità
Saggi III 2012
Saggi VI 2013
Saggi V 2012
La relazione madre - figli
nelle società primarie
Saggi VII 2013
Professor
Emmanuel
Anati is President of
CISPE
(International
Centre for Prehistoric
and Ethnologic Studies) and Chairman of
UISPP-CISENP (Union International
des Sciences Prehistoriques et Protohistoriques –International Scientific Commission “The Intellectual and Spiritual
Expressions of non-literate societies”.
He is founder and President (hon.) of
Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici in
Capo di Ponte, Italy. He has been Professor of Prehistory at Tel-Aviv University, Israel and Professor Ordinarius of
Palaeo-ethnology at the University of
Lecce, Italy. He is the founder of the
International Committee on Rock Art
(CAR) of the International Council on
Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). For
nine years he served as the first Chairman of the Executive Board.
His main scientific interests are the art
and religion of prehistoric and tribal
cultures. He has conducted research
in Europe, the Near East, Africa and
other regions. Anati’s work in Valcamonica, where he founded and heads
the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, has led to UNESCO’s inclusion
of the rock art of this Alpine valley in
its list of World Cultural Heritage. His
research project in the Negev desert,
Israel, is world renown for the discovery of a holy mountain with numerous ancient sanctuaries which is likely to be the Biblical Mount Sinai. On
behalf of UNESCO and various governments he has carried out research
and has served as consultant for the
creation and development of archaeological reserves and parks, major exhibitions and other field projects.
Anati has edited several prestigious
publications. He is the director of the
periodical, “World Journal of Prehistoric and Tribal Art” (BCSP) And of
“Atelier publishing”. He headed the
series “The Footsteps of Man” for the
Cambridge University Press, and the
series “Le Orme dell’Uomo” for Jaca
Book, Milan. He has written over 70
volumes and numerous monographs
for leading publishers in Europe and
America. Works by Anati have been
published in over twenty languages.
Atelier is a w
the intellectu
It is a meeti
philosophers
students of
Atelier organ
a publishing
laboratory-m
Membership
share their k
For further in