Egyptian Stone Vessels in Canaan during the Late Bronze Age

their Nile Valley counterparts not only in shape, but also in all physical Egyptian presence (“direct rule”), but may partly also be technological aspects – fabric properties (e.g., the admixture of the result of a desire of the Canaanite elites for things Egyptian large amounts of chopped straw as temper), manufacturing (“elite emulation”). This may account for the appearance of certain techniques, and decorative styles. prestige goods, such as scarabs, amulets, jewelry, and stone vessels, For the reconstruction of a cultural scenario at the various or provide an explanation for sites at which the signs of Egyptian Egyptian garrisons and bases, it is signiicant that local, south- involvement are less pronounced. However, it simply beggars the Levantine and Egyptian-style pottery was always found together in imagination that mass-produced Egyptian-style household pottery the same contexts. Therefore, it seems evident that such sites were was manufactured in a purely Canaanite ambience. Associated with inhabited both by Egyptian and Canaanite population components. a low social prestige, such wares were simply not likely to be desirable That both Canaanite and Egyptian-style pottery was found in the items for local Canaanite elites. Moreover, as mentioned above, the same houses may underline the daily cultural interaction of the production of locally made Egyptian forms ended abruptly with the two cultures at these sites. The virtual absence of Egyptian-style end of the Egyptian hegemony over Canaan. If Canaanite potters had cooking vessels vis-à-vis an ubiquity of the generic Canaanite indeed been emulating Egyptian pottery for their elites, they would cooking pots might then suggest that the cooking was done not have stopped doing so suddenly after the Egyptians retreated. by Canaanite women; food preparation was primarily the domain of women in the ancient world, while the Egyptians stationed at the Egyptian References: Higginbotham 2000; Killebrew 2005; Martin 2011; Mullins 2006. strongholds must have been mainly male administrators and soldiers. Could the contextual association of Egyptian Stone Vessels in Canaan during the Late Bronze Age ⁄ Andrea Squitieri Canaanite and Egyptian pottery forms in the same When Canaan came under Egyptian dominion in the Late Bronze house in general and Age, a large quantity of stone vessels produced in Egyptian the evidence related to workshops reached the region. The vessels were made of calcite, a cooking in particular form of calcium carbonate, white to yellow in color, translucent and point to a scenario often banded, and sometimes referred to in literature as Egyptian according to which alabaster or travertine. In Egypt, the abundance of geological Egyptian personnel sources for this material along the Nile stimulated the intense lived under the same production of calcite vessels since the time of the Old Kingdom. roof in marriage with Such vessels were used in a wide variety of contexts, such as Canaanite women? temples, private tombs, and royal burials. It has been The Egyptian origin of the calcite vessels found in Canaan is suggested by several inferred from their shapes, because these are closely paralleled by scholars that the vessels discovered in Egypt. However, it has been suggested that unprecedented Canaanite workshops may have produced some of the calcite vessels quantities of Egyptian found in Canaan. In support of this hypothesis, it is worth mentioning and Egyptian-style artifacts appearing in Canaan during the the recent discovery of a calcite deposit near Jerusalem. It is not clear, however, whether this deposit was exploited during the Late Bronze Age. Moreover, it should be noted that, although it is possible that Ramesside Period does not Canaanite workshops replicated some Egyptian calcite vessels, this necessarily attest to a sizable production does not seem to have left direct archaeological evidence, [Fig. 17] Group of Egyptian-style pottery from Deir el-Balah. IMJ, Gift of Laurence and Wilma Tisch, New York, purchasers of the Dayan Collection Egyptian Empire | 71 72 | such as production waste or uninished items. Therefore, based on The stone vessels could have reached Canaan in various current evidence, it seems reasonable that the bulk of the calcite ways. Some vessels may have been the personal possessions of vessels found in Canaan did indeed arrive from Egypt. Egyptian soldiers, emissaries, and oicials who had been sent The calcite vessels found in Canaan in Late Bronze Age I to Canaan at this time, and who retained their cultural habits contexts include forms already present during the Middle Bronze Age, concerning the use of these items. However, the wide distribution such as the so-called kohl pot. These forms appear in Egypt during the of Egyptian vessels throughout the region and their attestation Middle Kingdom and continue up until the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty; in several types of contexts, including temples, settlements, and the same chronological trend occurs in the Levant, with the latest tombs, leads to the conclusion that the local population may have example attested at Tell el-Ajjul in the Late Bronze Age I. The Late used these objects, too, perhaps acquiring them via a commercial Bronze Age II witnessed a dramatic increase in the quantity of calcite trade network. It is notable that only one calcite vessel fragment vessels in Canaan in comparison with the previous periods, as well as bearing a royal inscription (from Gezer) is known from southern the appearance of new shapes. This phenomenon parallels Thutmosis Canaan at this time, as opposed to many attested in the northern III’s conquests in the Levant and can be explained by the inclusion of Levant (for example, at Byblos and Ugarit), which may indicate Canaan in the Egyptian administrative system and the intensiication that Egyptian vessels circulated in Canaan mainly outside the of relations between the two regions. Virtually all the calcite vessel more formal and oicial network. Therefore, the consumption forms from Egyptian Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasty contexts of Egyptian vessels in Canaan should not be conined only to the are also attested in Canaan. The most common forms are presence here of Egyptian personnel, but seems to be part of the tazzas, pilgrim lasks, ovoid jars, footed jars, amphorae, and broader phenomenon regarding the difusion of Egyptian practices juglets imitating Cypriot base-ring ware (ig. 18). Overall, these among the local population and the adoption of Egyptian or vessels range in size from small portable items, perhaps used for Egyptianizing motifs in the material culture, such as architecture cosmetics, perfumes, or dry goods, to large-size vases, possibly and crafts. Indeed, Egyptian stone vessels also had a large impact used as ordinary liquid containers but with particularly aesthetic appearances. Decorated forms corresponding to the Egyptian types are also attested in Canaan. Examples include vessels with duck-head handles or with painted upper bodies and necks, such as one featuring painted petals that came to light in Megiddo. Egyptian vessels can be found throughout on the gypsum vessel workshops located in the Jordan Valley, which adopted many Egyptian shapes (e.g., tazzas), adapting them to local tastes. The Late Bronze Age II was a peak period for the presence of Egyptian calcite vessels in Canaan, but with the rise of the Egyptian Twentieth Dynasty in the early twelfth century BCE, the number of these vessels drops dramatically. The few that were discovered in contexts of this period at Lachish, Megiddo, and Beth Shean belong Canaan, especially in the Coastal Plain and to types already present in the country beforehand and may be Judean Hills. The sites that have yielded the heirlooms from the previous century. The progressive weakening majority of them are Tell el-Ajjul, Lachish, and inal termination of the Egyptian dominion in Canaan by Megiddo, and Beth Shean. Tell el-Ajjul yielded the end of the twelfth century BCE evidently disrupted the trade the largest number during the Late Bronze Age network by which Canaan was supplied of stone vessels. It was only I, indicating that at that time it played in important in the Late Iron Age and the Persian Period that another large inlux role in the Egyptian stone-vessel trade; however, it seems to have of stone vessels from Egypt penetrated the southern Levant, but progressively lost this role during the Late Bronze Age II in favor of this time within a very diferent political framework. Lachish, which is indicative of the profound Egyptian inluence on the latter by this time. Another large concentration of vessels can be seen at Megiddo, strategically located on the trade route connecting the Mediterranean to the interior through the Jezreel Valley; and at Beth Shean, an Egyptian military outpost after Thutmosis III’s conquests. [Fig. 18] Group of Egyptian calcite vessels from southern Canaan. IMJ, The Louis and Carmen Warschaw Collection, Gift of Susan Warschaw Robertson and Hope Warschaw, Los Angeles, to American Friends of the Israel Museum References: Aston 1994, types 107, 140; Ben-Dor 1945; Bevan 2007, 144; Frumkin et al. 2014; Klemm and Klemm 2008, 147; Lilyquist 1996; Loud 1948, igs. 261.29, 31; Macalister 1912, pl. 24.1; Nicholson and Shaw 2009, 5–77; Petrie 1931, pls. 25.31, 26.11; Sparks 1996; Sparks 2003; Sparks 2007, 270 and ig. 96. Egyptian Empire | 73