Originally posted by RJHinds
I believe this site Chronology of the Judges before the times of the Kings shows the 480 years is based on real time and not numerology as you suggest.
http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route-date-chronology-of-judges.htm
Here is a timeline I found that seems to give close approximate dates (just a year off) to what we have:
B.C.
1407 Moses dies; Joshua conquers Canaan
1400 Conquest of Canaan completed
1377 Akhnaton becomes pharaoh; inaugurates monotheistic reforms
1375 Othniel becomes judge
1319 Ehud becomes judge
1318 Rameses I founds the 19th dynasty in Egypt
1240 Deborah and Barak judge Israel
1194 Gideon becomes judge
1167 Eli born
1155 Abimelech usurps power in Israel
1152 Tola becomes judge
1131 Jair becomes judge
1109 Eli becomes priest
1105 Samuel born
1089 Jephthah becomes judge
1083 Ibzan becomes judge
1071 Elon becomes judge; Samson becomes judge
1069 Samuel begins to minister
1066 Abdon becomes judge
1043 Saul becomes king
1011 Saul and Jonathan slain; David becomes king of Judah
1004 David becomes king over all Israel
971 Solomon ascends the throne
966 Solomon begins to build the Temple in Jerusalem
http://www.bible-history.com/rome/RomeTimeline__Biblical_History.htm