Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?

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This book tackles a crucial topic in archaeology and biblical studies: the origins of early Israel. While the Western tradition has long traced its roots to ancient Israel, recent historians and archaeologists have challenged the biblical narrative's accuracy. The author explores ongoing debates about ancient Israel's true nature, presenting archaeological evidence to evaluate familiar biblical stories. He critically engages with both revisionist views, which dismiss biblical literature as mere "pious propaganda," and conservative perspectives that hesitate to question its factual basis. Drawing on three decades of archaeological fieldwork in the Near East, he offers a compelling interpretation of Israelite history. In examining the circumstances surrounding Israel's emergence in Canaan, the author reevaluates the Exodus-Conquest narratives found in the books of Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, and 1 & 2 Samuel, using well-documented archaeological findings from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. Notably, he discusses the discovery of around 300 small agricultural villages in what would later become biblical Israel. He posits that the true ancestors of the "Israelite peoples" were likely Canaanites, alongside pastoral nomads and some Semitic slaves escaping Egypt, who formed a new agrarian, communitarian, and monotheistic society through cultural and socioeconomic struggles. Written in an engaging style and illustrated