by Gubbins on Mon May 02, 2011 7:12 pm
I am no ancient scholar, so I can't give a definitive answer. However, from what I do know, most information from that time has been heavily weighted towards Biblical history. Before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, there was no understood record from that time in the region: the closest sources were from ancient Persia (Assyria, Babylon, etc.). Since then, other corroborative evidence from Egyptian hieroglyphs has obviously become understood, but it still suffers from a lot of fundamentalist Christian interpretation.
One such piece of corroborative evidence is for the Sack of Jerusalem in 925 BC or thereabouts. There is a relief in the Temple at Karnak that shows purported conquests in the area of Canaan around this time and it would not be surprising if slaves were taken back to Egypt. This is, I imagine, later than the time of Moses, who is likely to have lived of the order of a millennium earlier.
One compelling idea is that the translation "Red Sea" is incorrect, and that the actual translation is "Reed Sea": a tidal area on the Mediterranean near Port Said. A second, separate theory suggests that the sea was parted by the tsunami triggered by the eruption of the volcano Thera (Santorini), probably in the late 17th century BC. This second theory is highly speculative, if interesting. I hope this points you in the right direction!
...then again, that is only my opinion.