of the absence of indisputable biblical, archaeological, and historical benchmarks.3 The brief and oblique remarks about the world of prepatriarchal times (before 2000 BC) prove historically reliable when testable, but the biblical record makes no attempt to provide a sustained account of human history on even a limited scale. It is necessary, therefore, to turn to extrabiblical sources to secure the data with which to attempt a comprehensive reconstruction. Scholars commonly refer to ancient eras