Space Ordering Theory in Humanistic Geography: A New Reading of the Biblical Exodus Route and Har Karkom Archaeological Ruins (Negev Desert)

Abstract

The paper proposes a new procedure based on the Space ordering theory in Humanistic Geography [H. Lefebvre (1991), E.W. Soja (1996)], for reading the Biblical Exodus route and Mount Sinai location.

The Sinai Desert is characterized by hard crossing and critical survival conditions where, nowadays, it is still possible to find archeological rests of nomadic settlements dating back to the Paleolithic Period until the Period of the Islamic conquest. The largest part of the settlements facing the locations of Har Karkom have been deeply studied by the team of prof. Emmanuel Anati during fourty years of activity and identified as one of the possible locations of Mount Sinai e.g. (Anati 2018). According to Humanistic Geography, the desertic landscape and the archeological ruins of the Sinai Peninsula can be studied and interpreted through the so called First Space Theory.

The Second Space aims to investigate the origin and classify the age and purpose of such rests and of the relative settlements which guarantee the survival to the populations and the flocks in tow during their seasonal herding migrations or during the frequent transfers between the two bordering lands of the Sinai Peninsula: Egypt and Canaan.

According to the historical reconstruction of the archeological ruins, Third Space can be considered as the space of the “cultural layering and of the individual and society memory foundation” (Lando and Voltolina 2005). By the way, this can be related to the composition of a “holy story” during the Hellenistic Period (Barbaglia 2017), the so called Biblical Exodus of elder populations from the delta of Nile to the land of Canaan.

After a brief introduction on the Biblical Exodus proposal by S. Barbaglia (2017), the paper investigates the Space Ordering Theory characteristics introduced by H. Lefebvre (1991) and E.W. Soja (1996) in Humanistic Geography. Finally, the applications of such theory for the reconstruction proposal of the Biblical Exodus route are analysed.