I read the original thread article to my kids this evening. Its conclusions are very similar to my rationale for their course studies in ancient history. I didn't come to the conclusion of global Phonecian maritime dominance recently or by the Bible. To me, as a former boat builder and student of architecture, art, engineering, and nature, I was drawn to those conclusions by observation. The architectural details were too similar. The glyphs were too similar in both use and detail. I also understood what a unique resource for shipbuilding that cedar really was. There are only 370 such trees left, most of them in a single grove. The hillside above them has been denuded by goats. It's political, and government land control is the culprit, just like it is here.
I suspect that a great deal more than we realize was lost with the sack of Carthage. What bits and pieces were left were probably buried even earlier in the conquest of Sicily and Sardinia.
The course I teach starts with geology and geography. It proceeds to weather and resource distribution. It then progresses through civilizations discussing how their technologies and cultures reflect those boundary conditions. I do wish I did have a better understanding of the migrations of the tribes of Israel. Some clearly displaced the Harrapans and the western migration to Ireland is fairly well established. Then there are the children of Ishmael. Clearly, the Phonecian culture is very influential today through its apparent influences in freemasonry. I don't know much about Zoroastrians. There are plenty of gaps that have to be filled opportunistically in instances such as this.
I am coming to the conclusion that God is making the progress of the tribes more obvious without giving us enough for the history to be totally proven. I am convinced He will demand a leap of faith to the end. I don't think that's really necessary seeing as those who would deny Him would do so even if He provided incontravertible evidence and put it up in lights. Whatever. I just do as I am told.
When I think of the Phoenicians, I think of a people that were libertarians. All they wanted to do was commerce. They didn't involve themselves politically with the countries they traded with. It doesn't seem they tried to run the world. They kept their secrets to themselves. They were mechanically inclined, building all kinds of things. It looks like to me the first great libertarian civilization. It's very telling that God destined them to the ash-heap of history with the Tyre and Zidon laments.
...and the library at Alexandria. I read somewhere (only seen it once and can't find again) that said that, Plutarch, on a tour of the ruins of Carthage, claims to have seen charts/graphs(?) that recorded trade with nations across the Atlantic.
The fastest way I know of to come up to speed on The Lost Tribes of Israel is with the small paperback book on The Assyrian Tablets in the British Museum. There is a whole lot of speculation, mythology, fiction and just plain religious self-interest in the study of the Lost Tribes. But the thousands of Assyrian Tablets from the time of the Assyrian Captivity tell the story.
I agree with that. As formal archeology progesses from it's beginnings about 1800 AD, every day the Bible is proven more accurate and we are given additional insights into its meanings. Very little in life does not require insight in order to understand, and historians cannot even agree on what happened YESTERDAY. But when fact is added to fact, and threads are linked to threads, the patterns do evolve and hopefully we become wiser.
I hope you found the 3-MINUTE HISTORY at my LostTribe Profile site (below) of some value in pulling the big picture together.