I don't buy it at all, but I met the author online, and (though I think he's way off) he's a nice enough guy.
The Tragic End of the Bronze Age:
A Virus Makes History
by Tom Slattery
Posted on 11/23/2004 6:11:43 PM PST by blam
Tomb may shed light on 10th plague
By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff | November 23, 2004
LUXOR, Egypt — Out of the blinding light of a fall morning here in the Valley of the Kings, American archeologist Kent Weeks led the way down a narrow, stone passageway and into the entrance of a tomb.
Weeks peered his flashlight into the enveloping darkness of ‘‘the hidden tomb,’’ as he calls it, and pressed on through the damp, winding passages toward what may be his archeological team’s most significant find after years of methodical digging, scraping, and brushing.
At the end of a long hallway a human skull rested, propped up in a wooden box, and framed in the bleak light of a bare bulb powered by a generator that rumbled through the stony silence of the tomb.
This skull — Weeks believes, and new scientific evidence suggests — may be that of the oldest son of Rameses II, the pharaoh who most historians agree was the ruler of ancient Egypt more than 3,000 years ago at the time of the biblical story of the Exodus.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Kent Weeks has been working the Valley of the Kings for 20-some years now, and his mention of the 10th plague is probably just a bit of PR meant to scare up some funding. He has very good relations with Egyptian authorities (for the most part, nowadays, that would be Zahi Hawass), but his book on KV5 shows some of his (often humorous) resourcefulness. His rediscovery of KV5 was spectacular.
In answer to some of the questions here... the tomb was filled (as Weeks put it, "chock-a-block full") with debris from flash floods, and the 150+ chambers of the tomb (yes, it's huge) were (and in some cases, still are) impossible to enter until grueling excavations were done.
The dearth of human remains in the tomb stems from the extensive graverobbing that went on in antiquity, probably within a few years or decades of the death of Ramses II. Ramses' mummy was moved from the largest single room in the valley tombs (not KV5) and along with quite a number of others from the New Kingdom, was deposited in a single tomb, either constructed for the purpose or commandeered. That too was discovered by robbers, but apparently not until modern times, and the thieves' activity was discovered, which led to the public discovery of the cache.
Well yes they came from Iraq - the Chaldees iirc - but that was way before salvery in Egypt. Or am I missing something?
Sorry, Radix, thank *you* for sending the link to the article. Quantim sent a link for the 50,000 year old campfire site story. :')
Sitchin, well, he's not too good IMHO, not least because the orbital characteristics of his supposed planet don't work (they don't conform to Kepler/Newton) and also the supposed timing would put the planet in at perihelion circa 200 BC.
The Sumerians did come from elsewhere -- their own tradition was that they came from the sea.
I don't buy it at all, but I met the author online, and (though I think he's way off) he's a nice enough guy.
The Tragic End of the Bronze Age:
A Virus Makes History
by Tom Slattery
It was also explain by a certain mold in the grain. The first born were traditionally given a double portion in times of famine. The first born would have been given a lethal dose.
IIRC, Velikovsky (the transliteration I recall) wrote Worlds in Collision. He believes the earth was struck by a meteor, and the effects are described as the plagues in Exodus. He goes through them one by one explaining each in those terms. It's years since I read it back in college, but it was pretty interesting.
What? You won't believe it unless you have an answer to that question?
errr, to stop fearing God and to forget Him.
I always assumed that God used natural agents for the plagues. Beyond that he would have "managed" the circumstances as needed to achieve His end, such as who got infected.
It's just how I picture God working. For example, if God feels the need for a big meteor to strike Sodom on a given date, I have no problem with him causing the chain of events that leads to that a few million years ago.
But then you get into that whole predestination thing and have to ask about the Sodomites free will. But with a name like "Sodomite" you really gotta know nothing goods gonna happen (thats meant as a joke).
Lovely little movie about this idea with Tom Conti and Teri Garr, callled Miracles, of all things.
Today, most of the Chaldeans run party stores and small grocery stores in metropolitan Detroit.
It is a capital error to attempt to extend scientific models where data are scarce or nonexistent. Many well-intentioned, otherwise reasonable people make this error.
Glad to see that you haven't!
Keep the faith.
Zecharia Stitchen is a kook.
"Just brainstorming, I still prefer the "ergot poisoning" theory.."
Ergot only infects rye.... which the egyptians didn't grow.
It's not for a lack of trying.
Further, the exodus is placed, timewise, during the Golden Age of Egypt, a time of its highest prosperity and power. That is at odds with the account of the Plagues which brought Egypt to its knees. It just seems inconceivable to me that such an historic event would be completely erased from the vast historical evidence and artifacts that we have from Egyptian culture.
I don't recall Adam and Eve being the ONLY people, just the first.
They married their sisters (according to my pastor).
Ah, ok, I'm not trying to dispute archeology or prove the bible, just that the timing was curious since Abraham purportedly came from the area that is now Iraq but this was way before the story in Egypt (obviously I'm not much of a bible scholar here, just a passing interest).
On the other hand, if God rained 10 plagues including famine, locusts, flood and the killing of all firstborn, could be that He destroyed the documents too. Or, that they destroyed the documents hoping to forget they ever messed with the Jews :-)
"Further, the exodus is placed, timewise, during the Golden Age of Egypt"
How do we know this if there is no evidence? Could be give or take 500 years no?
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