ABSTRACT
In this paper I look at two ‘applications’ of ethnohistory, or historic anthropology, both rooted in the Arab world in subrecent periods. The first is the concept of tribal state formation, using the formation of the emirate of Ibn Rashid in the 19th century ce as a model to hypothesize on the history of Iron Age II Tel Masos (Khirbet Msas) in the Negev. The second study looks at the formation and transformation of oral traditions in a tribal society, and tries to trace the origins of the story cycle of David, and of the United Kingdom.
