What a great Thread ! Full of open-minded Scholarship. This stood out to me from your Post above Vidqun, : "Scholars were very careful not to contradict the mainstream beliefs ..."
Biblical Scholars, with a Career to protect have long been this way, even those seen as somewhat maverick at the time when they posit a new idea are VERY cautious, never stating clearly what obviously lies behind their findings, in case they upset the Old Boys in their Ivory Towers.
The big Sign that many an Establishment Scholar is troubled by a new idea is the dismissal of such ideas as "This is a very fringe view", with no supportive evidence as to why this "fringe view" is wrong. Because if this "fringe view" is in fact correct, a lot of their previous work is now redundant.
Hence Biblical Scholarship only seems to move on in small increments, and hence very slowly.
Thanks again for the Thread, and thanks to all who contributed, giving us the benefit of true open-mined Scholarship.