The Relations between Egypt and the Land of Canaan during the Third Millennium B.C.

Abstract

Archaeological investigation in Israel and the Sinai during the last decade has produced new data relevant to the problem of relations between Egypt and Canaan during the third millennium B.C. It is therefore an appropriate time to sum up the available evidence on the very existence of such relations, and to assess its significance for the determination of the nature of those relations. This is not the place to enumerate all the findings which have a bearing on our problem, and a general survey of these should suffice. The extensive excavations at Tel Arad, directed by Ruth Amiran, undoubtedly furnished the most significant and relevant information. The fortified city of Arad flourished during a period from the middle of the first Egyptian Dynasty through the end of Dynasty II (EB II in Palestinian terminology). The ceramic assemblage is mainly Canaanite; however, it also includes a small number of Egyptian sherds indicating relations between Egypt and this south Palestinian site. The most important find, a fragment of an Egyptian vessel bearing an incised serekh of King Narmer, is attributed to the pre-urban level at Arad. The artifact was found in a clearly dated EB I context, and beyond its importance for the subject at hand, it is significant in establishing an absolute chronology for EB I. A similar find was unearthed some 20 years ago at another important site in southern Canaan-Tel Gath. There, as at Arad, the context is EB I, but, unlike Arad, the ceramic repertoire is predominantly Egyptian. In recent years several small sites in southern Canaan, in which the pottery assemblage is predominantly Archaic Egyptian, were investigated. Noticeable among those are Tel Maahaz and 'En Besor. From the latter site are some 30 clay bullae, bearing impressions of Egyptian cylinder seals and probably dating to the reign of Den. There are also an Egyptian cylinder seal, probably of the Archaic Period, from the Sharon Plain, and a clay cylinder seal from Gezer, probably of local workmanship, which bears Egyptian motifs, the most noteworthy of which is a depiction of the early Egyptian shrine, the pr-wr. Several Egyptian stone vessels form part of the equipment of the temple at 'Ay. The group dates to the Archaic Period. One of these vessels, a copy in alabaster of a waterskin, is undoubtedly of cultic