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THE BIBLE UNEARTHED: THE MAKING OF A RELIGION -- ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY & SCREENCAP GALLERY |
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[Israel Finkelstein] There are several possible reasons: (1) is that if these people came from pastoral background, OF COURSE THE PASTORAL PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE PIGS, and this COULD HAVE BEEN one of the reasons. BUT I THINK THAT THERE IS A STRONGER REASON to the fact that there are no bones of pigs in the highlands and that is at the same time exactly, you have the sites of THE PHILISTINES in the lowlands, and in general the sites in the lowlands -- Canaanites, Philistines and others -- they eat a lot of pork. So the distinction between the people of the lowlands and the people of the highlands COULD HAVE BEEN a situation of WE AND THEY: "THEY EAT PORK; WE DON'T."
[Narrator] But that's not all. The highlands, where a population that ABSTAINED from eating pork settled, were NOT A HOMOGENOUS territory. In the south, vegetation was scarce, and rainfall uncertain. The arid soil prevented any real development of agriculture.
The environment in the north was quite different.
More abundant water sources and fertile valleys meant that a cereal-based agriculture was able to develop.
Not only cereals, but olive trees and grape vines.
The many remains of presses that have been found in the area provide evidence of a developed agricultural system,
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