A few observations. 1) It is indeed "odd" that the interpretation of "Israel" on Merneptah stele is accepted by many scholars during a period that Israel Finklestein's archaeological research shows the region was uninhabited.
2) Also odd is the lack of comprehension regarding the "seeds."
3) Lastly, it is curious: this article states the agricultural settlement in the hill country of the Negev is where this/these tribe(s) settled.
1) It doesn't refer to "Israel." It refers to the agricultural Yezreel/Jezreel area.
2) Yezreel is the "City of Seeds": the place the crop seeds were stored.
3) Unexplained by me: The Negev University archaeologists discovered "stone phalli and vulva/circles" in thousands of small shrines in agricultural settings. These can only be explained as Shiva and Uma fertility cult iconography. This is still witnessed in S.E. Asian agricultural settings.
A few observations. 1) It is indeed "odd" that the interpretation of "Israel" on Merneptah stele is accepted by many scholars during a period that Israel Finklestein's archaeological research shows the region was uninhabited.
2) Also odd is the lack of comprehension regarding the "seeds."
3) Lastly, it is curious: this article states the agricultural settlement in the hill country of the Negev is where this/these tribe(s) settled.
1) It doesn't refer to "Israel." It refers to the agricultural Yezreel/Jezreel area.
2) Yezreel is the "City of Seeds": the place the crop seeds were stored.
3) Unexplained by me: The Negev University archaeologists discovered "stone phalli and vulva/circles" in thousands of small shrines in agricultural settings. These can only be explained as Shiva and Uma fertility cult iconography. This is still witnessed in S.E. Asian agricultural settings.