<P> Recent excavations in the Timna Valley by Lidar Sapir - Hen and Erez Ben - Yosef discovered what may be the earliest domestic camel bones found in Israel or even outside the Arabian Peninsula, dating to around 930 BC . This garnered considerable media coverage as it was described as evidence that the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph were written after this time . </P> <P> The existence of camels in Mesopotamia but not in Israel is not a new idea . The historian Richard Bulliet did not think that the occasional mention of camels meant that the domestic camels were common in the Holy Land at that time . The archaeologist William F. Albright writing even earlier saw camels in the Bible as an anachronism . </P> <P> The official report by Sapir - Hen and Ben - Joseph notes that "The introduction of the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) as a pack animal to the southern Levant...substantially facilitated trade across the vast deserts of Arabia, promoting both economic and social change (e.g., Kohler 1984; Borowski 1998: 112--116; Jasmin 2005). This...has generated extensive discussion regarding the date of the earliest domestic camel in the southern Levant (and beyond) (e.g., Albright 1949: 207; Epstein 1971: 558--584; Bulliet 1975; Zarins 1989; Köhler - Rollefson 1993; Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2002; Jasmin 2005; 2006; Heide 2010; Rosen and Saidel 2010; Grigson 2012). Most scholars today agree that the dromedary was exploited as a pack animal sometime in the early Iron Age (not before the 12th century (BC))" and concludes that "Current data from copper smelting sites of the Aravah Valley enable us to pinpoint the introduction of domestic camels to the southern Levant more precisely based on stratigraphic contexts associated with an extensive suite of radiocarbon dates . The data indicate that this event occurred not earlier than the last third of the 10th century (BC) and most probably during this time . The coincidence of this event with a major reorganization of the copper industry of the region--attributed to the results of the campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I--raises the possibility that the two were connected, and that camels were introduced as part of the efforts to improve efficiency by facilitating trade ." </P> <P> Desert tribes and Mongolian nomads use camel hair for tents, yurts, clothing, bedding and accessories . Camels have outer guard hairs and soft inner down, and the fibers are sorted by color and age of the animal . The guard hairs can be felted for use as waterproof coats for the herdsmen, while the softer hair is used for premium goods . The fiber can be spun for use in weaving or made into yarns for hand knitting or crochet . Pure camel hair is recorded as being used for western garments from the 17th century onwards, and from the 19th century a mixture of wool and camel hair was used . </P>

When were camels introduced into the middle east