駱駝踢爆舊約， 以學者指當時當地駱駝並未馴化


舊約聖經裡，亞伯拉罕、約瑟夫及約伯等人騎的是什麼駱駝？以色列兩名學者根據最新考古研究指出，駱駝直到西元前9世紀才在以色列馴化，所以舊約聖經記載不實，另足見舊約文本是在事件發生很久以後才集纂的，並非與當代時間契合的歷史紀錄。

舊約聖經裡記載，亞伯拉罕、約伯及以撒等族長都騎駱駝，而他們生活在紀元前2000年到前1500年之間。

但以色列特拉維夫大學考古及近東文化系兩位學者班－尤索夫(Erez Ben-Yosef)及沙皮爾－韓(Lidar Sapir-Hen)在黎凡特南部的阿拉伯谷地(Aravah Valley)找到迄今已知最早的馴化駱駝骨骼，檢查其放射性碳元素，發現駱駝是在西元前9世紀抵達以色列，而非更早之前認定的前12世紀。

兩位學者的論文發表在《特拉維夫大學》期刊。聖經文本與可驗歷史之間發生不吻合情形，令外界矚目。班－尤索夫指出，駱駝引進以色列地區是大事，對經濟及社會發展影響極深。

班－尤索夫指出，藉由分析黎凡特河谷的黃銅產地考古證據，他們估計年代的能力，誤差在幾十年之間，而非幾百年。

Archaeologists Carbon-Date Camel Bones, Discover Major Discrepancy In Bible Story
("The Huffington Post," February 6, 2014)

Researchers Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef from Tel Aviv University have discovered what may be a discrepancy in the history laid out in the Bible.

Using carbon-dating to determine the age of the oldest-known camel bones, the researchers determined that camels were first introduced to Israel around the 9th century BCE.

The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament refers to camels as pack animals as early as the story of Abraham. Though there is no archaeological evidence of Abraham's life, many in the religious and scientific communities, including Chabad and the Associates For Biblical Research, cite the 20th century BCE as his time of birth. If the new evidence is correct, however, this suggests discrepancies between the Bible and human history as explained by science.

The researchers scoured ancient copper production sites in the Aravah Valley, where camel bones were only present in sites active in the last third of the 10 century and the 9th century BCE. Sapir-Hen and Ben-Yosef write in their report:

"[The camel bones] demonstrate a sudden appearance of camels at the site, following a major change in the organization of production in the entire region."

This suggests that camels were introduced to the region abruptly, perhaps by Egyptians along Mediterranean trade routes.

Dr. Robert Harris, an Associate Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, says this shouldn't come as a shock to the theological community.

“While these findings may have been published recently, those of us on the inside have known the essential facts for a generation now," Harris conveyed to HuffPost Religion through associates at JTS. "This is just one of many anachronisms in the Bible, but these do not detract from its sanctity, because it is a spiritual source, not a historical one.”

Biblical archaeology is understandably an imperfect science. Archaeologist William Dever explained in an interview with PBS several years ago:

"We want to make the Bible history. Many people think it has to be history or nothing. But there is no word for history in the Hebrew Bible. In other words, what did the biblical writers think they were doing? Writing objective history? No. That's a modern discipline. They were telling stories. They wanted you to know what these purported events mean."