McGovern (2000)
The Foreign Relations of the "Hyksos": A Neutron Activation Study of Middle Bronze Age Pottery from the Eastern Mediterranean
Abstract
This volume sheds important, new light on the economy, society, technology, and probable ethnic origins of the enigmatic Hyksos (Egyptian, "rulers of foreign lands"), a Semitic people who ruled Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1650-1550 B.C.) from their capital at Tell el-Dab`a (ancient Avaris) in the northeastern Nile Delta. Results of instrumental neutron activation analysis and multivariate statistics indicate that the vast majority of foreign pottery types from the site—Canaanite Jars, Tell el-Yahudiyeh juglets, Levantine Painted Ware and highly polished vessels--were produced at city-states in the Gaza region of southern Palestine. Over a period of 250 years (beginning ca. 1900 B.C.), thousands, possibly millions, of Canaanite Jars, together with the other types, were shipped the 200 km distance to Avaris. According to organic analyses, resinated wine was a principal import. The massive trade with the Gaza region is concomitant with a dramatic increase in the size of Avaris, which is most parsimoniously explained by infusions of new groups from southern Palestine. The higher socio-political status of this immigrant population is demonstrated by the use of Palestinian-type cooking pots, the concentration of foreign pottery types in upper-class burials and residences, and the wholesale transplantation of a Palestinian pottery-making industry to the site, which was segregated from the native industry. Less intense contacts with Middle Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Crete, and Cyprus are also documented in this investigation.
Note: INAA data were generated at both Brookhaven National Lab and at MURR, and MURR data were calibrated for compatibility with BNL standards. In addition, the data are expressed as ppm oxide rather than ppm element. Conversion factors to back-calibrate the data to MURR standards and to calculate ppm element concentrations are shown at the top of each column.
Number of samples in dataset: 1224
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