Tanakh and Archaeology

All scholars working in the field of biblical archaeology recognize the existence of a significant process of settlement in the central mountainous region of Eretz Yisrael, starting from the 13^th century B.C.E., as manifest in the establishment of hundreds of small points of settlement bearing a unique character. The main controversy among archaeologists concerns the question of the identity of these new settlers. The minimalist school maintains that what became known as Am Yisrael was actually formed out of a collection of local nomadic groups who abandoned their villages on the coastal plain or in the Negev, and settled in these new areas.