Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Could Abraham Have Owned Camels?
Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Nothing gets the blood boiling in a new year more than a story about camel domestication! But this may be the biggest news in biblical archaeology all year. For decades now, the best research has shown that camels weren't domesticated until the middle of the second millennium B.C.E., which would mean the references in the Bible to Abraham, say, having camels would have been an anachronism. I spent a small bit of time in Walking the Bible discussing this surprisingly fascinating topic. How do you determine when animals are domesticated?! One answer is when you discover their bones from a sacrifice, actually. See yesterday's Breaking Camel News.

Anyway, researchers in Iran have just uncovered evidence of camel domestication as early as the 3rd millennium B.C.E. Here's the key graf:

A team of anthropologists say they have identified a camel rider among the skeletal remains which belongs to a man from the 3rd millennium BC.
The team were from the Anthropology Department of Iran's Archeology Research Center and the British New Castle University, who had the mission to conduct paleo-pathological studies on the remaining skeletons of Burnt City adults.
The team say evidence of bone trauma suggests that the rider lived most of his life on camelback, possibly from the time he was a young adult to the time of death.

Labels: Biblical Archaeology, Camels

Posted by B Feiler at 8:33 AM
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