The name "Israel" first appears in the stele of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah c. 1209 BCE: "Israel is laid waste and his seed is no more."[REF]
In the Late Bronze Age there were no more than about 25 villages in the highlands, but this increased to over 300 by the end of Iron Age I, while the settled population doubled from 20,000 to 40,000 [REF].