The Jerusalem Post does a feature on the University of Haifa& #39;s Byzantine Negev project and, as you might expect, it doesn& #39;t go well. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/the-enigma-behind-the-1500-year-old-christian-communities-in-the-negev-629156">https://www.jpost.com/israel-ne...

First we hear that the Negev settlements suffered "decline at the end of the Byzantine period"

Then we read one of the archaeologists involved with the project (Yotam Tepper, of the IAA & U of Haifa) quoted saying that they "collapsed" at the end of the Byzantine period.
Which is it? Decline isn& #39;t the same as collapse!

This is especially weird because in the same quote Tepper goes on to say that different Negev settlements were abandoned at different times!

Then at the end we come back to the "collapse" (of Christian communities, implying Muslims at fault) -- but a combination of events.

All of these contradictions come about b/c the piece -- & the archaeologists behind the project -- are trying to take a process that took several centuries, starting in the Byzantine period(!), and somehow lay the blame at a single, traditional suspect, the Islamic conquest.

For more on this project, how it and the media both keep trying to tie complex decline to the Islamic conquest -- and how their own results confirm that some of these processes started *before* the Islamic conquest -- see this thread with links: https://twitter.com/MichaelDPress/status/1110262565265989632">https://twitter.com/MichaelDP...