ABSTRACT
The origin of ancient Israel, their settlement in the land of Canaan and transformation into an organised kingdom is one of the most stimulating and, at the same time, most controversial chapters in the history of early Israel. The Irene Levi-Sala Seminar usually takes place at Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel, with the active participation of students and scholars from universities and foreign institutions of archaeology in Israel. The 1997 seminar was organised instead at the University of London, in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology and the Institute of Jewish Studies and focused on the subject: The Origin of Early Israel - Current Debate: Biblical Historical and Archaeological Perspectives. The emergence of Israel in Palestine has been described by the eminent scholar Roland de Vaux, in his Early History of Israel as the most difficult problem in the whole history of Israel.
