Wednesday, November 24, 2010
International Trade in the Days of Solomon?
At the Society of Biblical Literature annual convention, I like to hang out at the archeology sessions. One of the more interesting presentations this year was from an archeologist working in the land of Israel, who, among other things, had uncovered some tenth-century BC religious vessels. The vessels had incense residue in them, and upon testing, the incense had components in it native to Sri Lanka (apparently). That's quite an import in the tenth century BC. Further testing needs to be done to confirm this. *IF* confirmed, it's quite a discovery. Israel Finkelstein, for example, has been claiming that the report of the Queen of Sheba (southern Arabia) visiting Solomon is fictitious, because trade routes weren't that extensive in the time of David/Solomon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi John,
This is a super interesting find. Thanks for drawing it to our attention. Plus, it was nice to chat with you at SBL.
Hey John, great to run into you at SBL. Stay in touch.
Post a Comment