ABSTRACT
A discussion of the question of ‘Early Israel’ in mid-1990s Old Testament historiography in the light of an assessment of the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age in Palestine during the 12th century BCE. The paper reviews archaeological and historical explanations of the appearance of Early Israel in order to find out whether an identity of such a historical phenomenon can be distinguished at all in the archaeological record, especially in regards of the possibility of detecting ethnic features and particularities in the material culture.
