Testing competing archaeological theories of Israel’s origins using computation techniques

Joseph Livni

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2017, 28.1, 109-128; doi: 10.19282/AC.28.1.2017.07

Abstract

Conflicting archaeological evidence has generated conflicting theories about Israel’s origins. This work assembles all the theories into four categories and tests each category using computational tools borrowed from bio-mathematics. The bio-mathematical tools are models of diffusion, contagion and epidemics adjusted by various researches to study cultural transmission, ethnic borders and justice administration. The mathematical tools help reconcile known conflicting archaeological evidence and examine two aspects of the evidence that have not been considered so far: the alignment of the borders between material cultures and the conflict between sedentary and egalitarian lifestyles. Theories of immigration of pastoralist nomads passed the test.

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