Har KarkomMount Sinai rediscovered The Mountain of G_d http://www.harkarkom.com/

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 10. The profile of Har Karkom covered by a cloud of sand, a frequent phenomenon that sometimes completely obscures the landscape. (Site HK 2; ISR-EA95: XVIII-34; WARA W05873).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 12. A view of the Paran Desert east of Har Karkom. Mount Haroz dominates the landscape. (EA99: XXIX-6; WARA W06077).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 14. Islamic-period structure protected by an overhanging rock. The Bedouins built such shelters to store and guard the objects they did not carry on their migrations. Some of the structures are of Roman/Byzantine origin, but most were built in the Islamic period. (Site HK 317; RR90: XXIX-28; WARA W05875).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 15. A pool on the plateau of Har Karkom. Such pools are filled by rainwater and hold water for periods of several months. (Site HK 92; photo EA94: ISR XII-29; WARA W05876).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 16. Remains of an encampment of the Middle Palaeolithic. The three hut bases visible are linked by passages. Numerous lithictools and remains of a flint workshop were found on this site. (Site HK 105; photo ISR 83: XXXII-21 E.A. 1984, fig. 99; WARA W05877; WARA W05877).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 20. On the left, large enclosures of the BAC period are probably remains of courtyard sites. On the right, rectangular foundations of Roman/Byzantine habitations are seen on a terrace next to the wadi. The same ground surface shows traces of older, round structures from the BAC period. Above, in the centre of the illustration, are the remains of a spiral shaped structure, typical of a BAC-period sanctuary. (Site HK 113; photo ISR 85: C/IV-32; WARA W05881).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 30. A view of the mountain from one of the access trails. (Site HK 3; photo ISR 80: CXII-4; E.A. 1984, fig. 71; WARA

W05891).

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Har Karkom• Fig. 31. Along the

access trail, a stone is engraved with two worshipping figures beneath an abstract sign. (Site HK 3b; photo ISR 82 C-16; WARA W05892).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 38. Tracing of a worshipping figure from the Early BAC period. The figure is near an ideogram and is probably dressed as a priest, with a prominent collar and two horns or other protrusions on the head. On his right, an antelope was later added in a less refined technique. (Site HK 36; ref. 95-XXVI-5: HK Archive; WARA W01837).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 44. A view of Jebel Arif el-Naqe at dawn. The profile of the mountain is visible from Har Karkom through a sea of clouds. (Site HK 155; photo ISR 83 XXXI-28; WARA W05903).

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Har Karkom• Fig. 46. 'Eleven days from

Horeb to Kadesh-barneaby the way of Mount Seir' (Deuteronomy 1:2). The map shows two trails from Har Karkom to Kadesh-barnea. The dark line passes by Jebel Arifel-Naqe, which can be identified as Mount Seir. The trail passes at the base of this mountain and has ten wells along its route. For a group of people on foot, the journey would take exactly eleven days. The other trail crosses the territory of Amalek, first climbing and then descending from the mountainous area of the central Negev. It is shorter, but more difficult. (HK Archive; WARA W05904).

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Har Karkom• Fig. 47. The tribal

territories at the time of the Exodus according to the biblical narrative, in light of recent discoveries. (HK Archive; WARA W05905).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 48. The site of the twelve standing stones at the foot of the mountain. (Site HK 52; photo ISR 84: XXXIII-22; WARA W05906).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 49. A close up of the stone in the middle of the paved altar. It is deeply buried into the soil. Its upper part has a crescent-shaped indentation culminating on both sides with sharp vertices, on which flake marks are scored. The stone is about 40 centimetres large. (Site HK 52; photo ISI 84: XXXVII-30; WARA W05907).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 50. Twelve standing stones are aligned in two sets of six, with a small platform of stones in the foreground, probably a paved altar. A courtyard separates the altar from the standing stones. (Site HK 52; photo EA 90: XII-5; WARA W05908).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 52. The two summits of Har Karkom. On one, an orthostat has been erected near the centre of its summit. In the central part of the other is a small cave to which the trail, visible in the photograph, leads. Because of their shapes, the summit with the orthostat has been named the 'Male Summit' and the one with the small cave, the 'Female Summit'. (Site HK 41-42; photo EA95: CVI-21; WARA W05910).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 53. Detail of the summit with the small cave. (Site HK 42; photo EA93: XX-28; WARA W05911).

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Har Karkom

• Figs. 54 a/b. Plan and aerial photograph of the so called 'Midianite Temple' at the centre of the plateau. (Site HK 24; photo EA93: XXXI-12; drawing: HK Archive; WARA W05912, W05913).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 75. Small alabaster vase of the Sixth Egyptian Dynasty or the First Intermediate Period, uncovered at Beer Karkom. (Site BK 407. Drawing by Ida Mailland. HK Archive; WARA W05934).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 104. Altar stone with a cuphole, and rock engraving of a worshiper and ibex. (Plaza site HK 234; photo ISR 86: LI-17 cfrE.A. 1987, fig. 95; WARA W05959).

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Har Karkom• Fig. 147. Rock engraving

representing a group of poisonous creatures: scorpions, serpents, and a venomous lizard. (Site HK 39; photo EA96: XXII-01: ISR 85 XIII-27; EA96: XXII-3 E.A. 1994, fig. 73-74; drawing: HK Archive; WARA W06001).

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Har Karkom

• Figs. 149a/b. Rock engraving representing a group of poisonous creatures: scorpions, serpents, and a venomous lizard. It may be a graphic reproduction of a concept similar to that of water-giving in the desert in Deuteronomy, 8: 14-15. (Site HK 39; photo EA96: XXII-01: ISR 85 XIII-27; EA96: XXII-3 E.A. 1994, fig. 73-74; drawing: HK Archive; WARA W06003, W06004).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 152a/b. Standing stone with a rock engraving called 'the staff and the serpent.' The staff has horns which indicate energy or power, and the ideograms on the left include a 'u' sign and a parallel line with dots above and below. The 'u' sign in the ideographic conceptuality may signify transformation or change, while the dots indicate an action, or 'to do.' This standing stone probably commemorates the story of a powerful staff which became a serpent. (Site HK 32; photo ISR84: XLVII-27, drawing: HK Archive; WARA W06008, W00077).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 153a/b. Rock engraving called the 'Tablets of the Law.' Theform has a dual rounded top and ten partitions: two at the top, two at the base, and six at the centre. (Site HK 126b; photo EA98: LVI-3; drawing: HK Archive; WARA W06009, W06011).

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Har Karkom• Fig. 154. Flint knife of the early

Bronze Age found next to the rock engraving called the 'Tablets of the Law.' (Site HK 126b, drawing by Ida Mailland: HK Archive; WARA W06010).

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Har Karkom

• Fig. 158a/b. Rock engraving called 'the eye that watches from the rock.' A large eye has seven lines arrayed from the bottom and seven from the top. (Site HK 36b; photo EA98: LVIII-5; drawing: HK Archive; WARA W06016, W06017).

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Har Karkom• Fig. 199. The great trail from

Africa to Asia, showing the flow of Palaeolithic migrations as they traversed the Sinai Peninsula. HarKarkom is along this primordial route of Homo sapiens. (HK Archive; WARA W06058).

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Har Karkom• Emmanuel Anati is founder and

Executive Director of the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici in Capo di Ponte, Italy, and Professor Ordinarius (ret.) of Palaeo-ethnology at the University of Lecce, Italy.