Subjects of this interview include: Egyptian Inscription mentioning Israel, the ABR Dig at Khirbet el-Maqatir, Child Sacrifice and Abortion, and the influence of worldview on interpreting evidence.
Notes:
1. The drawing of the section of the Berlin Pedestal Relief that reads "Israel"/"Ishrael" was provided by Peter van der Veen of the University of Mainz and is used with permission.
2. The picture of the relief comes courtesy of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, and appears in the article: Israel in Canaan (Long) Before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687, authored by Peter van der Veen, Christoffer Theis, and Manfred Görg.
3. In this interview, Mr. Smith mentions that this inscription is the oldest inscription that has been discovered mentioning "Israel". The inscription itself dates to the reign of Ramesses II (ca. 1279–1212 BC) in the Nineteenth Dynasty, based on a similarity of names to those on the Merenptah Stela (ca. 1210 BC). The three authors above also concluded, based on the spellings of the names, that they were copied from an earlier inscription from around the time of Amenhotep II (ca. 1453–1419). Israeli Egyptologist Raphael Giveon (1916–1985) previously dated the inscription to the reign of Amenhotep III (ca. 1386–1349 BC). Strictly speaking, the relief itself is not dated to ca. 1400 B.C., but the inscription has been copied from another inscription that is older, based on a detailed analysis of the writing. For more, see: New Evidence Supporting the Early (Biblical) Date of the Exodus and Conquest.