The Egyptian Community in Avaris During the Hyksos Period

Abstract

Papyrus Rhind and other papyri which were kept and even written or copied in Avaris suggest strongly that the Hyksos employed Egyptian scribes and perhaps even schools of scribes. It is possible that these scribes were employed during the Hyksos Period from the former centres of Egyptian administration, but it is also possible that they were recruited from the Egyptian community in Avaris, which implies that these people were able to keep their Egyptian identity and Egyptian standards of language, culture and writing. This article investigates to what extent the Egyptian community living in Avaris before the settlement of Western Asiatic immigrants was able to keep its identity and under which conditions they were able to survive in Avaris, especially after the takeover by the 15th Dynasty, the Hyksos. The answer to this question is a challenge for archaeology and a test for recognising ethnic markers. Without the possibility of finding papyri because of poor preservation conditions of organic matters, it was still possible to identify the survival of the Egyptian community within the limits of the old walled settlement of the Middle Kingdom at cEzbet Rushdi. It is a quarter where no intramural inhumations – a typical ethnic marker of Near Eastern settlements of the Middle Bronze Age – could be found. On top of this evidence, the area without inhumations was extended to the south beyond the original borders of the town during the Hyksos Period. The neighbouring living quarters have, however, intramural inhumations and at the same time provided finds of the toggle pin – a part of Canaanite dress. The toggle pin was entirely missing in the quarter thought to be inhabited by the Egyptian community.