> > I think it was in _Guns, Germs and Steel_ by Jared Diamond where i read
> > that it makes sense for the Semitic-speakers to have come from the
> > South, since the vast majority (and greatest variety) of Afro-Asiatic
> > languages are in Northern Africa.
>
> That's part of the reason I'm surprised at the notion they entered Sumeria
from
> the south - if I were going to Sumeria from the Red Sea region without
camels
> or trucks, my first idea would be trekking up thru Syria, and then
following
> the Euphrates to enter Sumeria from the northwest, rather than cross the
> Arabian desert.
*looks at a map* I myself'd go along this route:
Red Sea ->
Cole-Syria (that spit of land linking Egypt to Arabia & Palestine) ->
Mediterranean (sailboat or at least a raft) ->
home of the Sumerians.
would that work?