Recently, Levy and R. B. Adams (Levy et al. 1999) excavated an Early Iron Age cemetery that reflects a population with a pastoral nomadic economy that can provisionally be linked to the Shasu. This is an important discovery because it provides some of the first evidence for Iron Age pastoralists in Edom. A total of 62 circular graves were excavated in a cemetery called Wadi Fidan 40 located on the north bank of the Wadi Fidan in the Jabal Hamrat Fidan region of Edom. Based on the surface distribution of grave structures, an estimated 3500 graves are present at this mortuary site. The absence of settlement sites in the vicinity of the cemetery, the absence of ceramic grave goods, the presence of wooden bowl offerings, and other attributes all point to the cemetery as belonging to a pastoral group. Using the Egyptian historical sources outlined above, there is some confidence in ascribing the cemetery to the Shasu nomads. Given Rainey’s (2001) reading of both the Merenptah inscription and reliefs from Karnak, we would agree that “Israel was evidently one group among many Shasu who were moving out of the steppe lands to find their livelihood in areas that would permit them to obtain their own food.” As seen from the discussion here of the growing biblical and extrabiblical textual sources and archaeology, the pastoral roots of ancient Israel played a central role in their process of ethnogenesis.
- see
Migrations, Ethnogenesis, and Settlement Dynamics: Israelites in Iron Age Canaan and Shuwa-Arabs in the Chad Basin
