Tell el-Dabʿa XIX

This volume presents the data used for the synchronisation of the stratigraphic levels of two Egyptian settlement sites, one of the late Middle Kingdom and the other, the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1770 – 1550/40 BC). The analysis is based on the ceramic finds from the settlement layers of the ancient capitals of Tell el-Dab´a (Avaris) in the eastern Delta and of Kom Rabica (Memphis) just south of modern Cairo. Whilst the main focus of the research project was synchronising the relative chronologies of these two sites, another activity was an investigation of the possibility of archaeologically tracing the physical presence of the Hyksos, who allegedly conquered and ruled all of Egypt, in Memphis. The methods applied include random sampling, presence/absence analysis and quantitative analysis, the levels in question being phases G/4 to D/2 at Tell el-Dab´a and levels VIII to V at Kom Rabica. Whereas the material from the beginning of these sequences is quite comparable, in the course of analysis it emerged that the development of the material cultures of these two sites took different routes, particularly from level VId and phase E/1 onwards. Under the rule of the Hyksos, in the delta area a hybrid material culture developed that contained traits of Levantine Middle Bronze Age culture as well as the native Egyptian culture, as is most clearly expressed in the ceramic corpus. In contrast, the ceramic corpus at Kom Rabica developed out of the later Middle Kingdom corpus. This suggests that Memphis was not subjected to colonisation by the Hyksos.