Free Republic

The Edomites were portrayed as aggressors in biblical texts. but there's more to their story, according to a new study. With help from the nearby Egyptians, the Edomites developed technological prowess with a hot commodity at the time: copper. Studying ancient slag, archaeologists were able to uncover a complex geopolitical situation in the year 10,000 BCE. ========================================================================== The Edomites, an ancient kingdom derided in biblical texts as simple, have been underestimated for thousands of years, according to a new paper from a team of archaeologists. Far from simple tent-dwellers, the Edomites experienced a massive technological leap in the 10th...

Archeologist unearths biblical controversy Artifacts from Iron Age fortress confirm Old Testament dates of Edomite kingdom By MICHAEL VALPY Tuesday, January 25, 2005 Canadian archeologist Russell Adams's interest is in Bronze Age and Iron Age copper production. He never intended to walk into archeology's vicious debate over the historical accuracy of the Old Testament -- a conflict likened by one historian to a pack of feral canines at each other's throats. Yet by coincidence, Prof. Adams of Hamilton's McMaster University says, he and an international team of colleagues fit into place a significant piece of the puzzle of human history...