Archaeological investigations also give evidence of a rather sparse settlement at that time, with most of the towns located along the coast, in the Dead Sea region, in the Jordan Valley, and on the Plain of Jezreel. Concerning Palestine in the early part of the second millennium B.C.E., W. F. Albright says that the hill country was in the main still unoccupied by sedentary population, so the Biblical tradition is absolutely correct in making the patriarchs wander over the hills of central Palestine and the dry lands of the south, where there was still plenty of room for them. (Archaeology of Palestine and the Bible, 1933, pp. 131-133)

Secular history indicates that Egypt exercised suzerainty over Canaan for some two centuries prior to the Israelite conquest. During this period, messages (known as the Amarna Tablets), sent by vassal rulers in Syria and Palestine to Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhenaton, present a picture of considerable intercity strife and political intrigue in the region.