Har Karkom

Much has been said and written about the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the mountain where God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Several possible routes for the Exodus have been identified and argued over; over forty mountains have been referred to as the potential Mountain of God. Nowadays, archaeologists and historians seem to have settled on Jabal Musa on the Sinai Peninsula as the biblical Mountain of God. Mount Sinai is a significant tourist attraction in Egypt and little do travellers know that there is no archaeological evidence that could support it being the biblical Mountain of God; the structures in and around St Catherine’s mountain and monastery can be traced back to not earlier than to the 4th - 6th century AD.

In the 1980’s an Italian professor sparked another wide debate over a new possibility for the Mountain of Moses – Har Karkom. And since at Biblical Productions we like investigating different locations and their archaeological findings, we set out to see what this particular theory is all about, joining an Italian researcher team on location.

Har Karkom (har in Hebrew = mountain/hill) is situated on the border of Sinai and Israel in a military training zone, just on the edge of the Southern Negev and the Sinai mountain ranges. It is quite a landmark - the mountain is visible from the Edom Mountains in Jordan, over 70 km away, and from Jabal Arif el-Naqa, some 30 km beyond the Egyptian border. When looking at Har Karkom from the Paran desert, the mountain has a rectangular outline that dominates the horizon. It is an obvious point of reference for travellers crossing the desert, today as well as several thousand years ago. Har Karkom has a high plateau with two prominent hills at the centre and is surrounded by several wadis.

The archaeological license for Har Karkom is held by Professor Emmanuel Anati who first came across a major concentration of rock art in 1954 which sparked his interest. Systematic research started only in 1980 – one must not forget that for many years the Negev with its large crater (Mitzpe Ramon) was barely accessible for archaeological crews due to lack of infrastructure. Back in 1954 the mountain was still referred to as Jabal Ideid, which means Mountain of Celebration or Holy Mountain in Arabic. Until one or two decades ago, it was frequently visited by local Bedouin tribes.

	Cult side on the Eastern side of the mountain

In 1983, after a few years of intense studies around the mountain, Professor Anati proposed Har Karkom as the biblical Mountain of God. The proposal was met with mixed emotions ranging from enthusiasm to complete denial and mockery. However, there is an immense wealth of archaeological findings on the mountain plateau and in the surrounding area which parallel biblical accounts and provide evidence for the migration (the exodus) and the birth of a new nation (Moses receiving the law for the Israelites).

To understand Professor Anati’s point of argument, one must first look at the rich history of the mountain as a cult site, a site that through oral tradition and visual signs was identified and known as a holy mountain to many tribes.

In the Palaeolithic times the mountain was an extremely important source of prime quality flint. Over 70 ancient flint workshops have been recorded on the mountain plateau. In the Chalcolithic times and Early Bronze Age the mountain must have been occupied by hunting clans, which collected and worked fine-quality flint. The archaeological evidence supports the theory that Har Karkom became a holy place at the end of the Stone Age, almost like a prehistoric Mecca in the 3rd and 4th millennia BC where large groups of people came and built their camps at the foothills. Then smaller groups must have climbed the mountain to perform worship activities - pillars, stone circles, tumuli and altar-like structures peculiar round platforms are all clear indicators of religious activities.

Secondary burial sites were also found which are reported in the Bible in the time of the Patriarchs and Moses: "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him… and you shall carry up my bones away from here with you". One refers to secondary burials when human bones are not stretched out in anatomical position, but the long bones of the body are usually packed together.

Interestingly, there is no proof for human presence in the area between 1950 – 1100 BC. The conventional theory dates the Exodus to 1300 BC, one of the reasons why Anati himself at first did not make the connection between Karkom and the Exodus. A new period of human presence starts in the Iron Age and in the Hellenistic times.

	Stone for animal sacrifice on the stone altar

And yet, next to topographic considerations, there is a wealth of archaeological evidence that supports Har Karkom being the biblical Mountain of God. Most importantly, there are the analogies between the discoveries in the field and the biblical descriptions. At the edge of a living site a group of 12 pillars or standing stones facing a platform / stone altar can be found. It is reminiscent of the passage in Exodus: “And Moses built an altar under the hill and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of Israel.” As suggested in the Bible, the altar is built close to the ground with a stone for animal sacrifice.

	The 12 pillars at the foot of the mountain opposite the stone altar

In the book of Exodus there are several references to a temple which is said to have been seen by Moses. Again this is a clear topographic feature and on the plateau there are remains of the shrine with a stone platform or altar oriented east.

Furthermore, amongst the many thousand rock art paintings found all along the plateau, there is one particular one that seems to be more than just mere coincidence: a rock painting of ten stone tablets.

Har Karkom is indeed a mountain which should spark our interest. It is a mountain known as a sacred mountain for thousands of years. It is a landmark clearly visible from many kilometres away. It sits on the route of the Exodus and was most likely known by Moses. It is a mountain, yet it is an accessible mountain. The remains of the altar with the pillars as well as the temple on the plateau can be clearly linked to descriptions in the scripture. An ancient well – the most important source for survival in the desert – is located in one of the nearby wadis.

Italian researchers from Anati’s centre have spent years researching the Exodus as a historical event and came to the conclusion that the book of Exodus and Numbers are a day to day chronicle with accurate and precise accounts. Flavio Barbiero, member of Anati’s research institute since the 70’s and retired a navy admiral, has gathered the conclusions in his book “The Bible Without Secrets”. During the years of research at Har Karkom he has even come to find the remaining structures of the Tabernacle near the well, which was identified when surveying the area from a nearby hilltop. He went on to reconstruct the Tabernacle step by step through the descriptions in Exodus before measuring and comparing them with the print on the ground.

And there is more. Some Christians will be familiar with the travel itinerary of a Spanish woman called Aegeria, probably a relative of the emperor Theodosius. She set out in 4th century AD to join Constantinople, but on the way visited the holy places as a pilgrim. Her travel accounts are astoundingly accurate and detailed, describing times, distances and places and especially her visit to Mount Sinai. Nothing of what she says finds a match to the contemporary Mount Sinai / St Catherine. Yet the Italian researchers, Aegeria’s travel account in hand, faithfully followed her route and discovered that Har Karkom corresponded with her descriptions down to the smallest detail.

One must admit that when diving into research of Har Karkom astonishing facts and evidence come to light. Neglecting it as sheer coincidence would be short sighted and would mean disregarding the Exodus as a historical event, the rite of passage of the Israelites. But what to do with the conventional assumption of the Exodus taking place 1300 BC when Har Karkom was obviously not occupied?

	Flavio Barbiero at the site

Anati argues: "If the epic described in the books of Exodus and Numbers relies on even a minimal historical matrix and if indeed there was an Exodus with a stop of at the foot of Mount Sinai and Kadesh Barnea, then its chronological context can only refer to the BAC period. During this period Mount Karkom was exceptionally important and its topography reflects the location and the character of the biblical Mount Sinai. […] Thus the age of Joshua beginning at Gilgal is likely to have marked the twilight of the Early Bronze Age. This is when the epoch of Moses ends, an epoch which both culturally and historically belongs to the Early Bronze Age. This epoch is about one millennium before the dates given to such episode by what had so far been the conventional chronology."