Experts have established that before the conquest by the Jewish tribes at the end of the second millennium BC and the acquisition of written history, Ancient Palestine was a territory where signs of human habitation were discovered six hundred thousand years before our era. Based on the found fragments of skeletons, flint tools, architectural elements, burials, scientists discovered that hunting and gathering in this region began approximately 0.6 million years ago and was subsequently accompanied by the production of tools from pebbles, chopped. Later, the inhabitants of this region mastered the technique of producing chopping objects by chipping and flaking, which somewhat increased labor productivity in those days.
From hunting and gathering to city life
The history of Ancient Palestine before the emergence of writing is usually divided into three stages. The first, which lasted until the 10th millennium BC, shows that people in this region were mainly engaged in gathering and hunting. In the period 10,000 - 5,300 years BC, the inhabitants of most of the Palestinian lands mastered agriculture, later they moved into the era of cities, which was characterized by the emergence of trade, permanent settlements that protected the nascent armies. Recording of historical events began here about 2 thousand years BC.
Ancient Palestine is notable for the fact that on its territory, eight thousand years before the birth of Christ, the city of Jericho existed, as it were, as a "mansion". This is one of the most ancient cities on the planet, located 260 meters below sea level (the lowest location). Its first settlers did not own pottery, but they knew how to cultivate the land and built walls of wild stone around the city, while living in houses made of unbaked bricks. The Natufians (as scientists call them) appeared as a result of a mixture of Negro-Australoids and Caucasians. They lived in Jericho in 8-9 millennium BC. After them, this territory was occupied by representatives of the Takhunian culture - tribes that already mastered the art of pottery. This peculiar capital of Ancient Palestine was repeatedly destroyed, including by order of Joshua in the early 12th century BC.
Palestinian cities did not become the center of a single civilization in ancient times
At the end of the fourth millennium BC, small city-states began to appear in Palestine,quite prosperous due to the fact that in this area there were numerous trade routes connecting Europe, Asia and Africa. In addition, the inhabitants of the Palestinian lands themselves could offer goods that were in demand. These were s alt and bitumen from the Dead Sea, antimony from the Levant, balms from the Galilee, copper and turquoise from Sinai, olives, wine, livestock and crop products. At that time, Ancient Palestine was a commercially developed region, but did not become a civilizational center, unlike Egypt, northern Syria and Mesopotamia, where almost empires existed. In the Palestinian territories of that time there were already settlements similar to the medieval cities of Europe, but, unlike Egypt, there was no single script and a strong enough king who could unite separate administrative entities under his rule.
What cities did Palestine have at that time? The ancient world, discovered by scientists during excavations in the twentieth century, turned out to be quite developed for that time. In particular, an unprecedented number of animal bones were found in the Neolithic Ashkelon, which indicates that this was possibly the site of a large ancient slaughterhouse, where the resulting meat products were s alted using Dead Sea s alts. In total, a cultural layer 16 meters thick was discovered in this area. During his research, it was established that through this city there was a path from Egypt to the Hittites and further to Rome and Greece, the path from the Parthian kingdom to Egypt. Next to this large settlement, there was a "road of incense" from Arabia and a "way of spices" fromNabataeans and Petra through Eilat, Yemeni ports to the Indian Ocean. It is not surprising that everyone who came to Palestinian lands sought to capture the city.
Settlements in Palestine are repeatedly mentioned in the Bible
What settlements was Ancient Palestine still known to contemporaries? A lesson in the 5th grade of a school may need to be supplemented with information about settlements such as Gaza and Ashdod. Gaza is considered one of the most ancient cities in the world (founded in 3 thousand BC), is part of the Philistine pentagon - five settlements where the Philistines lived, who were originally the only ones in the Middle East who owned iron smelting technologies and were successful wars. Gaza is mentioned more than twenty times in the Bible. An ancient city in Palestine, Ashdod was densely populated as early as the 10th millennium BC. The first buildings on this site date back to the seventeenth century BC, and the first written records date back to the 14th century BC. Ashdod at all times was a major trading settlement, which was alternately occupied by the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and others.
An interesting concept about the causes of migration to Palestinian lands in 2000 BC. e
Ancient Palestine (5th grade is unlikely to be exposed to such theories) has been subject to significant immigration flows since the third millennium BC. Some science fiction scientists (Zakaria Sitchin in particular) believe that the migration of peoples from the deserts of the west and northeast could be associated with the use of a semblance of nuclearweapons in 2048 BC in the region of the Sinai Peninsula by some more highly developed civilization. This caused radiation contamination of the area and a large wave of migration (traces of a possible impact remained on the Sinai Peninsula in the form of pebbles baked at high temperatures). In particular, numerous tribes of the Hyksos arrived in the Palestinian lands (perhaps they were associations of the Amalekites, Hannanes, Khurites and other nomadic tribes), who possessed chariot troops and easily conquered Egypt and Palestine, which at that time did not possess cavalry troops.
Objects that are not characteristic of the era and houses with two corners
Note that the prehistoric culture of Ancient Palestine is rich in archaeological mysteries. In particular, scientists have found blades in layers belonging to the Middle Paleolithic that are very different in technical terms from the main array of tools owned by cavemen in that area. How they got there and why they quickly disappeared from circulation remains a mystery to this day. Studying how Ancient Palestine was organized (grade 5 of the school), you can draw the attention of students to how ancient settlements were arranged in this area. Here, at first, there were apse houses (with one rounded wall, which was opposed by a wall with two corners). People lived in several rooms of such a structure, almost always together with livestock and food supplies.
In a later period, rich people began to build two-story rectangular structures, where the owners lived on the secondfloor, and on the first there were a barn, storage, utility rooms. There were few private houses in the cities themselves - most of the city squares were occupied by defensive fortifications, public buildings, like temples, the streets were narrow. Here lived mainly artisans, nobility, soldiers, merchants, while the peasants lived outside the city walls, in settlements.
Their temples looked like Mesopotamian ones
The presence in the settlements (Megiddo, Gai, Beth-Jeharov, Bet-Shan) of the remains of large structures reaching tens of meters in length with columns, courtyards, often oriented along the east-west line, allowed a number of scientists to assert that the inhabitants of Palestine in ancient times worshiped deities (the temples are similar to the Mesopotamian temples of Baal-Dagon in structure). But during excavations in these cities it was not possible to find any similarities of altars and objects of worship. Therefore, some experts believe that these "temples" were just granaries. In the early period of its existence, ancient Palestine experienced an invasion of peoples who left a mark in its culture in the form of specific ceramics (sulphurized) and brought (it is not established from where) stone mortars with pestles, while the new people almost did not use tools made of bone or flint. The culture of this region was also influenced by the powerful neighbor - Egypt, from where, presumably, came the "fashion" for vessels made of red ceramics with one handle, on a narrow leg.
In ancient Palestine, the font was pictures
The ancient state in Palestine found its firstwriting around the second millennium BC, and this writing was pictographic. The signs used included various geometric figures, for example, a cross and images of a person in various poses. Most often, marks were made on vessels in which goods were transported. But other civilizations wrote much more about this region. For example, in Egypt, in the twenty-fourth century BC, the first records of military campaigns in the Syrian-Palestinian region (under the leadership of the commander Uni) appeared. This area was referred to in the Hannahite sources as, respectively, Canaan. Herodotus also wrote about Palestine (Palestinian Syria) in his writings, and of course, this territory is repeatedly mentioned in religious documents, including the Bible.
From the middle of the second millennium BC, partly Ancient Phoenicia and Palestine (almost completely), where the Canaanite (including the Philistines) and Amonite tribes lived, began to be attacked by the nomadic peoples of the Khabiri (Ibru, ancestors of the ancient Jews) who, in turn, gradually adopted a sedentary lifestyle. In their midst, on the basis of the development of trade exchange and constant wars, class stratification arose, which allowed the we althy and powerful members of society to claim the title of leaders, who began to establish small tribal unions against the backdrop of the weakening influence of empires of past centuries (Egypt). The heads of these unions began to unite the territories around them. Thus, Israel appeared in these territories.the kingdom of King Saul, which later became the united kingdom of Israel and Judah (under Kings David and Solomon). It fell apart after the death of Solomon, and was partially conquered by the Assyrian king Sargon II.
There has been no peace in this region for millennia
The history of Ancient Palestine in the following millennia is associated with constant clashes of various interests, cultures, states and nationalities that exist to this day, without adding peace and tranquility to this region. For example, after the fall of Assyria at the end of the seventh century BC. e. the Jews tried to return the Palestinian territories, but instead they were attacked a little later by King Nebuchadnezzar and sacked their capital, etc. From these lands, the population was repeatedly taken into captivity (Babylonian, Egyptian), but invariably returned there.
Differences between Palestine and Phoenicia
Ancient Phoenicia and Palestine, despite the similar composition of the peoples living in them and their proximity, have some features of the development of each territory. For example, Phoenicia never had large agricultural areas, but it had large trading port cities, where maritime affairs (military and civil) have long been developing. Excellent sailors, the Phoenicians, delivered goods to Egypt, periodically falling under the yoke of this ancient empire (in the middle of the second millennium BC, for example). Later, trade developed with Crete, which at that time had the largest copper reserves.
Phoenician cities-states produced dried fish, wine, olive oil, and were the first to use slaves for rowing galleys. It was on this territory that the alphabetic writing system based on Egyptian hieroglyphs was born, which later gave rise to the Greek alphabet. The Phoenician territory in the 12th century BC was able to become independent from Egypt and developed along the path of colonization of other territories. Courageous city dwellers went on sea voyages and founded cities such as Carthage, settlements in M alta and Sardinia.
World's oldest Bible found in jars
The territory of Israel, Judea, Palestine is also associated with biblical stories that gave the world a new religion - Christianity. And it was on the coast of the Dead Sea, in the vicinity of Wadi Qumran, that the ancient scrolls of the Qumran caves of Palestine were found. These documents, which are the oldest Bible manuscripts in the world, sealed in jars, were accidentally found by a shepherd. Since the skin of the scrolls proved unsuitable for making sandals, the shepherd kept them for some time in his nomadic tent, and then sold them for next to nothing in Bethlehem in 1947. Scientists have established that these manuscripts, priceless for world culture, were compiled by the religious community of the Essenes in the first century BC. They include almost all the books of the Old Testament and a number of related documents.
