of Israel, where apart from the Samaritans some of their descendants long preserved their identity among the Jewish population, others were assimilated, while others were presumably absorbed by the last Judean exiles who in 597–586 BCE were deported to Assyria ... Unlike the Judeans of the southern Kingdom, who survived a similar fate 135 years later, they soon assimilated ..." Search The enduring mysteries surrounding the disappearance of the tribes later became a source of numerous largely mythological narratives in recent centuries, with historian Tudor Parfitt arguing "this myth is a vital feature of colonial discourse throughout the long period of European overseas empires, from the beginning of the fifteenth century, until the later half of the twentieth". Along with Prester John, they formed an imaginary for exploration and contact with uncontacted and indigenous peoples in the Age of Discovery and colonialism. However, Parfitt's other research indicated some possible ethnic links between several older Jewish Diaspora communities in Asia and Africa and the Middle East, especially those established in pre-colonial times. For example, in his Y-DNA studies of males from the Lemba people, Parfitt found a high proportion of paternal Semitic ancestry, DNA that is common to both Arabs and Jews from the Middle East. His later genetic studies of the Bene Israel of India, the origins of whom were obscure, also concluded that they were predominantly descended from males from the Middle East, largely consistent with their oral histories of origin. These findings subsequently led other Judaising groups, including the Gogodala tribe of Papua New Guinea, to seek help in determining their own origins. Ethnology and anthropology Expanded exploration and study of groups throughout the world through archaeology and the new field of anthropology in the late 19th century led to a revival or a reworking of accounts of the Lost Tribes. For instance, because the Mississippian culture's complex earthwork mounds seemed to be beyond the skills of the Native American cultures which were known to European Americans at the time of their discovery, it was theorized that the ancient civilizations which were involved in the mounds' construction were linked to the Lost Tribes. They tried to fit new information which they acquired as the result of archaeological findings into a biblical construct. However, the earthworks across North America have been conclusively linked to various Native groups, and today, archaeologists consider the theory of non-Native origin pseudo-scientific. Groups which