earlier editor could be detected. This he believed to be a J redaction of the conquest traditions, but, as has been mentioned, links between the Pentateuchal sources (apart, of course, from D) and material in the book of Joshua are very difficult to establish. It is interesting to note that both scholars envisage this literary activity as having taken place as early as the tenth century. Although it may in fact be impossible to be so precise, it is probably appropriate to think that the Deuteronomistic