Late Bronze II Ivory Work in Palestine: Evidence of a Cultural Highpoint

Abstract

The Palestinian Late Bronze II period has long been considered a period of decline. A fresh examination of the level of Palestinian material culture from the second half of the Late Bronze Age, however, suggests that the period was not one of decline but perhaps was the zenith of the Late Bronze Age. While the emphasis of this paper is on ivory work, the high level of achievement reflected by the ivories is not an isolated phenomenon, but correlates with achievements in other aspects of LB II material culture. Methodologically, the conclusions are based on three premises: 1) the vast majority of ivories found in Palestinian Late Bronze Age sites date to the second half of that period; 2) many of the Egyptianizing ivories were indeed Levantine products rather than Egyptian imports; and 3) in all likelihood many of the Levantine ivories are Palestinian and not Syrian.