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Har Karkom: Archaeological Discoveries in a Holy Mountain in the Desert of Exodus

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Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective

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Abstract

The archaeological survey of Mount Karkom and surrounding valleys brought to the discovery of 1,300 archaeological sites where not a single site was known before. The findings define a mountain in the middle of nowhere, where altars, small sanctuaries, and numerous other worship places reveal its identity as Holy Mountain, located in the Desert of Exodus. In the Bronze Age Har Karkom was a paramount cult high place surrounded by living sites where multitudes were camping at its foot. If indeed a Mount Sinai existed what would one expect to find as archaeological testimony in the site of Mount Sinai? This chapter just describes the archaeological findings of this holy mountain. They indicate its unique and specific character. The considerations that led to its identification as the biblical Mount Sinai are defined in another text (Anati, Emmanuel. Is Har Karkom the Mount Sinai? Capo di Ponte: Atelier, 2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, Capo di Ponte, Italy

    Emmanuel Anati

  2. University of Lecce, Lecce, Italy

    Emmanuel Anati

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  1. Emmanuel Anati
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Anati .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, San Diego, California, USA

    Thomas E. Levy

  2. The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Thomas Schneider

  3. University of California, San Diego, California, USA

    William H.C. Propp

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Anati, E. (2015). Har Karkom: Archaeological Discoveries in a Holy Mountain in the Desert of Exodus. In: Levy, T., Schneider, T., Propp, W. (eds) Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective. Quantitative Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04768-3_35

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