Re: Archaeologists examine History and the Bible.
The number "40" and term "wilderness" is often used to denote an internal spiritual journey past the ego. For instance, Jesus is alleged to have gone off into the desert for 40 days.
This story could well have started out to be an allegorical tale of the journey to the "promised land", never meant to be taken literally.
And been perverted as clearly so much else has. It takes a small God to be bound to an Earth rotation for His "day", for instance.
Arf