Joe_S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think most of the lost tribes ended up in
> Africa, SUdan and South Yemen area. So far nobody
> has placed Atlantis in Africa, but I'm holding out
> hope.
>

I think that the 'lost tribes' thing is like the 'lost continent' thing -- mainly myth. I found this written by "Zimri" <zimr...@earthlink.net> -- now I don't know how accurate it is, but I'm pretty sure about 3, and the rest is fascinating.

"1. The idea of "twelve tribes" does not exist in any records prior to
the Exile. Yes, they're in the Bible; no, we haven't the faintest idea
when those parts of the Bible were written; Suzanne, your input is
killfiled as usual.
2. The accounts don't agree on what the twelve were. Was Levi a tribe?
Should Manasseh and Ephraim be merged into Joseph? Is Manasseh the
same as Machir? and so on...
3. The Ten Tribes, even if they did exist, did not all go into exile.
Many had been absorbed / conquered by their neighbours before this.
Others may not have been Israelite - ever.
a. Simeon was south of Judah. I doubt the Assyrians transported them;
Judah owned them.
b. Gad *is* attested prior to the Exile - in the Moabite Stone;
unfortunately Mesha seems to think Gad are a Moabite tribe.
c. Reuben was "granted" territory in the middle of Moab, including
Mesha's capital of Dibon (also granted to Gad). Not a real tribe.
d. Levi wasn't exiled -obviously- but for the purposes of "Ten Tribes"
propaganda they were not considered a tribe, and Ephraim and Manasseh
were.
e. Dan had given up "tarrying with his ships" and fled to Laish, only
to get squashed by the Hafez Assad of the day (the Damascene usurper
Hazael), apparently during Jehoram's tenure in Israel. Remember that
Aramaic stele they found in Tel Dan back in 1993? Jeroboam II
eventually took back Tel Dan, but by that time the Danites were gone.

The Twelve Tribes are a national myth of Second Temple Judaism. They
cannot be usefully discussed as historical ethnic groups. "




Doug Weller

Director The Hall of Ma'at
Doug's Skeptical Archaeology site::
[www.ramtops.co.uk]