Ramesside Scarabs Simulating Middle Bronze Age Canaanite Prototypes: Canaanite or Egyptian?

Abstract

Scarabs found in Ramesside contexts in the Levant are generally considered as Egyptian imports. Yet, the possibility of local scarab production in the southern Levant during the early Ramesside period was considered in the case of scarabs displaying an archaization of Canaanite Middle Bronze Age designs. Considering the large number of locally-made scarabs in Palestine during the Middle Bronze Age, the Ramesside imitations could have been inspired by early prototypes discovered in this region. However, these scarabs could just as well have originated in the region of Tell el-Dabca-Qantir, the location of Avaris and Piramesses – the respective capitals of the Hyksos and the 19th and 20th Dynasties, where Middle Bronze Age Canaanite scarabs were imported on a large scale during the Second Intermediate Period. The aim of this paper is to try to establish the origin of production of archaizing Ramesside scarabs, whether they were produced in the Ramesside capital or in the southern Levant.