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This guy can't say Hello in less than a thousand words. But since this was his dissertation he was writing it for his profs. (Been there, done that.) Here is his punch line:

CONCLUSION

This paper has shown that most of the ancient writers equated the Exodus with the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt around 1570-50 B.C.

(NOTE TO BLAM: This should make you feel VERY good. It's a hundred years earlier than the other popular "early" date, and getting close to your pet theory!)

Most ancient writers put the (ED:sic) Jews in Egypt for 215 years or less. According to most ancient writers the 430 years in Egypt was taken to start with the promise to Abraham, and the 400 years from the birth of Isaac. Others begin these years with Abraham's entry into Canaan.

All of the ancient Jewish and Christian writers considered in this paper took the 430 or 400 years to cover the time in Egypt as well as Canaan. Biblical writers also agree with these ancient traditions, and the archaeological evidence reenforces these views.

LOL. This is the one that caught my eye. We already know that angels are associated with comets/asteroids and that it isn't likely that a 'plague' will kill 185,000 people in one night. So, if we can figure out when the 'angel of the lord' ( comet) visited, then we have a date, no?

"This story seems to be the same as the one in the Old Testament where Sennacherib surrounds Jerusalem, King Hezekiah prays for deliverance, and Isaiah comforts king Hezekiah by telling him that God will "send a blast (spirit) upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and he shall return to his own land" (Isaiah 37:7; II Kings 19; II Chronicles 32). The "angel of the Lord" which some see as a Hebraism for the "plague," smote 185,000 Assyrians in one night (Alexander 1953, 73). The word "smote" implies a smiting with a disease (Young 1969, Vol. 2, 505). Mice is a Greek symbol for pestilence (Herodotus 1920, 447, n.2). This was probably the bubonic plague (NIV note Isaiah 37:36; 1985, 1069). Both the Bible and Herodotus agree that this "plague" happened in one night, and Sennacherib's army left, yet the other parts of the story are different. According to Herodotus it is the god Hephaestus (Vulcan) who brings deliverance not Yahweh, but this is typical of ancient stories where opposite sides claim their god was victorious. In conclusion, a majority of secular writers place the Exodus from Egypt with the explusion of the Hyksos from Egypt by Ahmose, equating the Jews with the Hyksos. Two accounts say that Bocchoris was king. The time of the Exodus is said to be 1,020 years before the first Olympiad (776 BC) which would be 1796 BC or three hundred and ninety three years before Danaus arrived in Argos (1290 BC), which would place the exodus at 1683 BC Other accounts just give general information about the origins of the Jews (See Table 5 for a summary)."

Pick any date, huh?