LATE BRONZE (1570 - 1200 B.C.E.)
LATE BRONZE AGE
dominated the political life of
Palestine during the Late Bronze
Age, a period contemporary with the Egyptian New Kingdom (see,
ANEP, 313-315, 320-331).
The first king of the Eighteenth
Dynasty defeated the Hyksos at Avaris and continued the battle to Sharuhen
(<a href="ANET.html#MB2"ANET, pp. 233-234) in
southern Palestine.
Thothmosis I and Thothmosis III extended Egyptian
influence over the entire region from the borders of Egypt to the
Euphrates, the great river that flows backwards.
Under the descendants
Thothmosis III, Egypt exercised full hegemony over Palestine(<a
href="ANET.html#Thothmosis"ANET, pp. 234-252) by
establishing systems of control over vital trade routes and local
principalities.
Towards the end of the
Eighteenth Dynasty(),
Egyptian control may have declined somewhat due to the
general lack of attention to political and military matters during the
Amarna period.
kings quickly .
By the middle of the thirteenth century (ANET, pp. 252-
260), Egypt lost control of much of northern Syria to the Hittite kings (ANET, pp. 255-258). The two
major kings of this dynasty, Seti I and his son Ramesis II, carried out
campaigns near Beth Shan. Later in the thirteenth century, Merneptah may
have campaigned in Palestine if there is any historical
credulity to his hymn of victory, sometimes called the Israelite stela.
an excellent spot to
understand Egypt's power and influence over the Asiatics.
Amon-Ra's domain and the spoils of conquest/tribute supported the
building of the world's largest religious structure.
official in the court and in the Temple at Karnak, also provide a wealth
of information about Egyptian control and influence. (See:
ANEP, 4-9, 45-56.) In sites in Palestine, excavations show a
slow but steady egyptianization of the culture as more egyptian or
egyptianized artifacts appear in the latter half of the Late Bronze Age, and
as egyptian practices (e.g. burial practices) become more the fashion.
Remains from sites such as Beth Shan,Tell el-Farah (S), Hesi, Jemmeh,
Masos, esh-Sharia and Aphek attest to their extensive control of this region.
The copper mines at Timna seem to have been operated under Egyptian
direction throughout the Nineteenth and part of the Twentieth Dynasties.
All this evidence collectively indicates how thoroughly Egypt controlled
this region.
On Egyptian temple
walls and tombs, the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine are depicted as
vassals of their Egyptian overlords. Asiatics, usually dressed in long robes
and wearing decorative headbands, bring tribute and produce
into E are bound captive slaves or fierc and
work as corvee laborers assisting Egyptians in obtaining raw materials
(timber and copper) and exotic produce (wine, oils and perhaps even
Of particular interest to archaeologists are the types of goods
offered to the officials, for many of these items are known from
excavations.
The Egyptians did not hold Asiatics in high esteem and often
depicted them as a pack of yelping dogs doing the bidding of their
Egyptian masters.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Who are the Canaanites?
And where is Canaan precisely?
questions prove to be more difficult to answer than one might first suspect.
The land of Canaan seems an imprecise geographical term that is applied
sometimes to the entire region of the Egyptian empire and at other times to
Lower Retenu or Djahi, that is, southern Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and the
The Canaanites were one of many groups that inhabited the area
and in Hebrew Bible the word became the designated term for all the
inhabitants of the region before the Israelites.
There is still some debate on
the words etymology.
Does it mean lowlanders?
Or does Canaan mean the
Land of Purple, a probable reference to the dye used to color cloth?
Scholars who opt for this second interpretation note that the Greeks
referred to the coastal region of Phoenicia as the purple land.
or Bronze Age
inhabitants, made a number of lasting
contributions to ancient and modern society, such as specialized storage jars for the transportation of oil and
wine, and musical instruments like the castenet.
Their high art in
working ivory as well as their skills in viticulture were prized in antiquity.
Perhaps their most lasting contribution was the development of the
alphabet from the proto-alphabetic script of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
William Foxwell Albright and others have shown how a simplified
syllabary of the Middle Bronze Age eventually was exported to the Greek
and Roman worlds by the Phoenicians, northern coastal mariners of the
Iron Age (ANEP, 271 - MB dagger (Lachish), 286 - alphabet, 287 -
pseudohieroglyphic script (Byblos)).
[add other references here]
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
Pl 42:2. Example of proto-sinaitic scribe on MB II dagger.
IN THE SECOND
MILLENNIUM
Where are the Israelites in the Bronze Age?
Many scholarly attempts
have tried to find the Israelite forbearers, the Patriarchs
of Genesis, in the second millennium.
An elaborate hypothesis that
attempts to date the Patriarchal narratives (Genesis 12-36) to the early
Middle Bronze II is based on three factors: personal names, mode
of life, and customs.
In the last twenty years, this hypothesis has been
severely criticized and abandoned by many biblical scholars.
hapiru of the Amarna letters and other
literature were once linked to the Hebrews, though more recently such an
ethnic term seem less plausible.
The term may just mean social outcasts.
The only definitive evidence for the Israelites in the second
millennium remains the reference to Israel in the hymn of praise of
Pharaoh Merneptah dated towards the end of the thirteenth century
The text may indicate first that Israelites tribes were in the land of Canaan
by this time, and second that the exodus occurs earlier in the same century
when the first Rameside kings built their new capital, PerRamesis, in the
James, T.G.H. "Egypt: From the Expulsion of the Hyksos to Amenophis
I," Cambridge Ancient History.
OVERVIEW OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS
Archaeological Periods
MAJOR SITES
Late Bronze I
(1570 - 1400 B.C.E.)
Late Bronze IIA
(1400 - 1300 B.C.E.)
Late Bronze IIB
(1300 - 1200 B.C.E.)
U-Museum's
Excavations &
Collections
Baq'ah Valley
Tombs 27, 29,
Tombs 60,241,
42, 59,303
90, 107, 219,
Beth Shemesh
(Ain Shems)
Tell es-Sa'idiyeh
Tombs 101, 102,
103, 104, 105L. 107, 109S,
110, 117, 119,
137, 139, 141
Two points need to be made concerning the archaeological
remains from this period.
First, there is strong cultural continuity between
the Middle and Late Bronze Age.
The assigned break between the two
periods is more a function of Egyptian chronological history than a change
in material culture.
No excavator or historian familiar with the remains
has suggested otherwise.
Also, it is important to note that there are scant
archaeological remains in the first part of the Late Bronze Age.
sites in the hill country and Negev were abandoned.
Other sites,
especially in the southern coastal region, are destroyed and only
marginally reoccupied in Late Bronze I.
A second important point about the Late Bronze Age concerns the
egyptianization of this indigenous culture.
Artifacts and building
structures become more egyptian-like as one moves from Late Bronze I
into Late Bronze II.
Cultural practices also change to Egyptian fashion
(e.g. burial practices).
Such egyptianization may be due to the proximity
of Egypt to Palestine as well as the ways in which Egypt exercised
complete control over this region. (NOTE: Egyptianization of Nubia
occurred during the same period and may speak to how Egypt influence
native culture to adopt an egyptian life style.) As Albright and others may
have rightly noted, Palestine proper remained generally loyal to Egypt
throughout the Late Bronze Age, while Upper Retenu, modern Syria, did
Images and related material are drawn from the excavations at Beth
Shan, Beth Shemesh and Tell es-Sa'idiyeh.
Complete ceramic forms and
some of the fine objects were taken from specific tomb contexts: Beth Shan
Tomb 42 (LB I), Gibeon Tomb 10 (LB IIA), Beth Shan Tombs 219 and 90
(LBIIB-Ir I), and Tell es-Sa'idiyeh cemetery (LBIIB-Ir I).
together constitute less than half of the cited material below.
Almost all the
remaining artifacts, with the exception of one or two outstanding pieces
from Beth Shemesh StatumIV, are from strata IX-VII Beth Shan, dated to
fourteenth-thirteenth centuries.
In particular, we focused on the
material from the important Egyptian/Canaanite temple.
Be aware that
Beth Shan is a highly egyptianize site so that it better reflects the cultural
mix of many large sites in the lowlands of southern Palestine (Tell el-Farah
S, Tell el-Ajjul, Lachish and Megiddo) and the greater Jordan valley (Tell
es-Sa'idiyeh and Deir Alla) than other inland or more northern sites
Aharoni, Yohanan. The Archaeology of the Land of Israel.
Philadelphia, 1978. pp. 112-152.
Mazar, Amhai. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible.
New York, 1985. pp. 232-294.
Franken, H.J. "Palestine in the time of the 19th Dynasty,"
Cambridge Ancient History.
Kenyon, Kathleen, "Palestine in the time of the 18th Dynasty,"
Cambridge Ancient History.
SETTLEMENT PATTERNS
There is a definite decrease in occupied settlements in the
Late Bronze Age from the previous Middle Bronze period.
and excavations appear to confirm that the hill country region
lacked a sedentary population except at a few major sites (e.g.
Shechem or Tell Beit Mirsim). For example, Tell es-Sultan is abandoned by
Late Bronze II; Gibeon show no sedentary occupation in the Late Bronze
period though a single tomb was used in Late Bronze IIA.
Many small and minor sites in the coastal region appear also to be
abandoned, and very few new sites (e.g. Tell Abu Hawam) are founded.
Baumgarten, Jacob J. "Urbanization in the Late Bronze Age,"
The Architecture of Ancient Israel. (Jerusalem, 1992),
pp. 143-150.
Kempinski, Aharon. "Middle and Late Bronze Age Fortifications,"
The Architecture of Ancient Israel. (Jerusalem, 1992),
pp. 127-142.
Middle Bronze fortifications systems were reused in the Late Bronze Age
(Hazor, Shechem and Megiddo) without significant changes. New
fortification systems were constructed at Ashdod, Tell Abu Hawam, Tell
Beit Mirsim and Beth Shan.
Some important sites (e.g.
Lachish), however,
show no significant fortifications and may even be unfortified.
this lack of fortifications may be a direct consequence of the way Egypt
disarmed the local population. Other evidence for Egyptian control of the
population can be found in the Amarna tablets (Amunhotep III and IV) and
inscriptions dating to the reign of Thothmosis III.
A migdol fortress may have been uncovered in Beth Shan VIII-VII.
Although damaged by later Roman and Byzantine remains, the structure
parallels contemporary fortresses along the "Way of Horus," the coastal
road in the Sinai and at Tell Mor, Deir el-Balah.
A building next to this
migdol may, in fact, be a residency.
It also varies from other
contemporary buildings in that it lacks a courtyard.
Gate systems follow the same
general plan as those from the Middle Bronze Age.
The gate systems at
Megiddo, Hazor and Shechem continue to be used throughout the period and
undergo little significant modifications.
Parts of a three pier gate may
have been construction at Beth Shan (Stratum IX).
The roadway leading to
the gate followed the all system.
A basalt orthostat, depicting a dog
attacking a lion, may be part of the decoration in the gate area.
Large houses, or palaces, followed the same Middle Bronze design of
rooms built around a central courtyard (e.g. Megiddo Strata VIII-VII).
Some minor changes in style do
For example, more rooms seem to
surround the
central courtyard (Taanach, Megiddo and Bethel) in the Late Bronze Age
than in the Middle Bronze period.
house has a
well-constructed "French drain system" which discharges
rain-water
outside the city.
The so-called patrician house at Tell Batash
(Timnah., pp. 53-67, Fig. 4:18)
appears to
have two stories and a storage area on the first floor with wooden pillars
and stone bases, a design that seems to foreshadow
architectural design of
the Iron Age. (See house structures in the Iron Age.)
Probably the most significant palace discovered to date is at Megiddo.
Located in the area near the gate, the palace has small rectangular rooms
surround courtyards.
Like the Ajjul palace it is equipped with in-door
plumbing and staircases.
The structure underwent several renovations and
additions, and although massive in design for this region it is dwarfed in
size and intricacy by other palaces in Syria (e.g. Ras Shamra or ancient
Oren, Eliezer. "Palaces and Patrician Houses in the Middle and Late
Bronze Ages," The Architecture of Ancient Israel. (Jerusalem,
1992), pp.105-120.
In the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, a number of
well-built square-shaped houses can be cited: Tell Sera', Tell Masos,
Beth Shan, Tell Hesi, Gerar, Tell Aphek and Tell el-Farah (S).
Built on a
mud-brick foundation with walls also constructed of mud-brick these
structures parallel house designs from Tell el-Amarna and suggest at the
very least, Egyptian origin.
More likely, they are remains of the
Egyptian garrisons that occupied the region.
The Beth Shan 1500 and 1700
houses are particularly helpful in noting Egyptian ownership since the
door jambs written in hieroglyphics name the Egyptian governor of the
Several large temple complexes from Lachish, Hazor and Beth Shan
are constructed in the Late Bronze Period.
The three fosse temples at Lachish provide an instructive view of
cultic aspects.
The last and best preserved temple consisted of a long
room with benches around the sides, niches in the walls, and a mud-brick
altar built on a step platform.
Numerous animal, bird and fish bones were
found in the complex and pits just outside. Almost all animals (sheep or
goat, ox and only two wild beasts) were young and represented by only the
metacarpal of right foreleg (see, Leviticus 3:1-17, 7:15-18, 29-34).
Astragali were also found in only the first phase of the complex
(Structure 1).
The temples had a rich assortment cylinder seals and
scarabs, faience and paste beads, faience and stone vessels, statuary,
figurines and pottery.
(For comparison purposes, see Tell Mevorakh shrine
(Late Bronze Age), Tell Qasile (Iron I), and Sarepta shrine (the late Iron
II - Persian shrine at Sarepta).)
The Beth Shan complex has both Egyptian and Palestinian elements.
overall structure of the temple has been thought to parallel contemporary
temples in Egypt, although one can note many features (e.g. benches,
raised altars, storage bins, piazza around the structure, and deposit
pits) that occur in local temples at Lachish and elsewhere in the region.
The types of artifacts in the Beth Shan VII and later VI temple, built on
the same design, suggest rituals of Palestine and Egypt.
Votive offerings
found around the inner and outer altars seem akin to egyptian practices.
The presence of animal bones near the outer altar is suggestive of animal
sacrifice known at other contemporary and later sites in Palestine.
Depiction of Egyptian and Palestinian deities further suggest the mix
practices in this structure during the thirteenth-twelfth centuries.
Stern, Ephraim.
Excavations at Tel Mevorakh: The Bronze Age.
Qedem 18 (Jerusalem, 1984),
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish II, The Fosse Temple. London, 1940.
earliest and complete temples provide a rich assortment of supposed cultic
Votive stele as well as metal and pottery statuary may represent
deities and their worshippers.
Kernoi, fragments of house models and
large cylindrical pottery stand, some of which are decorated with birds,
snakes and figurines, may be utensils used in the cultic practices.
objects found in the complexes parallel the repertoire found at Lachish
Fosse Temple, Tell Mekovrakh, Tell Qasile and other structures with
similar architectural features as that of these two so-designated temples
at Beth Shan.
Proposed Cultic Objects from Temple complexes (Beth Shan
of this Stela, Student Paper
See, also: pendants/amulets, cylinder seals, faience and alabaster
Proposed Cultice Objects from other locations in same strata
(Courtesy: The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
One temple at Hazor proves particularly instructive and
on a somewhat superficial evidence been compared to the Temple of
Solomon (1 Kings 6-7).
The temple has three rooms.
An entrance portico
is flanked by two pillars.
In many ways, this interesting structure is
similar to one at Tell Atchana (Alalakh) dated also to the thirteenth
The following artifacts found in the structure at Hazor are: basalt
basin, basalt bowl, basalt statue of seated man on chair, bronze figurines,
cylinder seals and faience beads. (See also, ANEP, 869-871.)
Large cemeteries and major tombs have been uncovered at a number of
sites: Deir el-Balah, Tell el-Farah (S), Tell el-Ajjul, Tell Abu Hawam,
Megiddo, Beth Shan and Tell es-Sa'idiyeh. In this period, burials are less
commonly found inside the city, as was characteristic in the Middle Bronze
and are generally deposited outside the towns on the tell slopes (Tell
es-Sa'idiyeh) or gentle rises in the land near the ancient city (Tell
el-Farah S). (Note: A few examples of burials inside city walls still can
be cited from this period (See, Tel Dan Tomb 387).)
The 900 cemetery at Farah (S) is particularly informative about changes
in burial practices.
Primary burials lying in a supine fully extended
position becomes the more common burial fashion rather than secondary
burial characteristic of Middle Bronze II.
(Compare Middle Bronze II Gibeon Tomb 15 with Late Bronze
This change in fashion continues into Iron I although secondary burial
does not completely disappear (see, Baq'ah, Lachish 40004, Megiddo 1100,
1145, Gezer 10A, Tomb 1 Pella, Tomb 387 Dan).
Coffin burials first appear in the Late Bronze Age.
The earliest
examples from Akko and Gezer are clay boxes.
The Gezer coffin with it
handles reminds most excavators of coffins from the Aegean world, yet in
general ways it bears similarities to the unusual and perhaps minature
clay boxes from the Beth Shan temples.
In the thirteenth century
anthropoid coffin can be cited from a number of sites: Beth Shan, Lachish
and Deir el-Balah.
Anthropoid coffin burials continue to be employed in
the Iron Age: Beth Shan, Dhibah, Sahab and Amman.
Perhaps the use of coffins to preserve the dead reflects Egyptian
influence on the culture.
Certainly this influence of Egypt on Palestine
is quite evident in two unique bitumen burials from Tell es-Sa'idiyeh.
Burial of infants, children and sometimes adults are found in storage
jars and pithoi.
This practice of jar burials especially for infants and
small children can be cited from the Middle Bronze and Iron Age as well.
Dothan, T. The Excavations at the Cemetery of Deir el-Balah.
(Jerusalem, 1979).
Oren, Eliezer. The Northern Cemetery Beth Shan.
(Leiden, 1973).
Pritchard, James B. The Cemetery at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, Jordan.
(Philadelphia, 1980).
Seger, J.D. & Lance, H.D. Gezer V. (Jerusalem, 1988).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
pp. 131-132 (non-sensical hieroglyphic inscription on coffin),
248-249, Pls 45-46.
Painted pottery and imports vessels are the characteristics of
the Late Bronze ceramic repertoire.
Painted pottery first appears at the
very end of the Middle Bronze IIC (Bichrome ware) and continues to be
the preferred treatment on vessels throughout the period.
In fact, the
amount of applied paint seems to increase as one moves from the beginning
Late Bronze I to the end of Late Bronze II. The use of applied paint to
decorate vessels decreases by the latter half of Iron I.
continue into
the Late Bronze Age, but do
change in shape slowly.
The heavy carination on bowls and chalices
changes in favor of softer, rounder lines.
Other characteristic shapes (e.g.
barrel juglets) disappear by Late Bronze II.
New forms enter
the repertoire, in particular imitations of imported vessels. Imports from
Syria and the Aegean world are together a definable trait of the Late
Bronze Age ceramics.
Cypriote bilbils and Syrian flasks become common
by the end of Late Bronze I and are imitated by Late Bronze II.
Mycenean imports (pyxides, stirrup jars and amphoriskoi) become
common place by Late Bronze II and are imitated by local potters from
that point on.
The presence of such imports, along with other evidence
(e.g. Canaanite storage jar and several shipwrecks off the southern coast of
Turkey), indicate evidence of trade with the greater Aegean world. It
appears that commodities such as scented and blended wines and various
grades of oils were exported from the Levant.
The nature of imported
goods in Aegean vessels is still open to some discussion, and some
scholars have speculated that diluted opium was imported particularly in
Amiran, Ruth. Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land. (Rutgers, 1970),
pp. 124-190.
Epstein, C. Palestinian Bichrome Ware. (Leiden, 1966).
Furumark, A. Mycenaean Pottery. (Stockholm, 1972).
Prag, Kay. "The Imitation of Cypriote Wares in Late Bronze Age Palestine,"
Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages. ed. by Jonathan Tubb.
(London, 1985), pp. 154-165.
and Aegean imports, one finds
Egyptian forms especially at the very end of the Bronze Age.
The types of weapons used in the Middle Bronze period continue into the
Late Bronze.
A major innovation in the Late Bronze Age is that the entire
blade and handle are cast together.
Ivory or bone inlays are inset into
the handle.
Other unusual knives can be cited exclusively from the Late
Bronze Age.
A bronze knife with handle ending in a cloven hoof occur both
to Egypt and Palestine (Tell Jemmeh St. J, Lachish Tomb 216, Tell Abu
Hawam St. V, Megiddo St. VIII, VIIB). A bronze knife with a cut-out, again
probably Egyptian in origin and common in burials of women in ancient
Egypt, occur at a few sites (Deir el-Balah Tombs 114 and 118, Tell Jemmeh
and Lachish).
Maxwell-Hyslop, R. "Daggers and Swords in Western Asia:
Maxwell-Hyslop, R. "Western Asiatic Shaft-Hold Axes,"
Iraq 11 (.
Maxwell-Hyslop, R. " Bronze Lugged Axe- and Adze Blades
from Asia," Iraq 15 (.
Tubb, Jonathan N. "Some observations on Spearheads in Palestine
in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages," Palestine in the
Bronze and Iron Ages. London, 1985.
Yadin, Yigael. The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands. Jerusalem,
805 - inscribed javelin heads)
this period: long, slender
arrowheads (most of the Late Bronze Age) and small blunt ones (generally
thirteenth century).
Arrowheads with a pronounced midrib or with a
swelling at the base may date to the end of the thirteenth century.
*Cross, F.M. Jr & Milik, J.T. "A Typological Study of the el
Khadr Javelin- and Arrow-Heads," ADAJ 3:15-23.
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
Pl. 25:1-6,17-22, 26,30,35,36,43, 47, 48, 52, 54-62, 66, 67.
following objects are
not knobs for lids or daggers (see Middle Bronze weapons) or furniture,
the design and style of these knobs are almost identical to connectors on
chariot fittings from the Tomb of Tutankhamun and as depicted on New
Kingdom reliefs. A sizable collection of such knobs occur in Beth Shan
Strata X through VII.
Plough points, lithic sickles and other agricultural tools occur
in domestic areas on tells.
Grinding stones and bowls are common implements uncovered mostly
but not exclusively in domestic areas on tells.
(Note: grinding stones did
occur in the Temple VII and suggest preparation of ritual meals perhaps.)
There is little variations in style of such stones from third millennium to
the common era.
The chalice, found in the Temple of VII, is
dated to just the Late Bronze and early Iron Age.
Jewelry styles increase prodigiously in the Late Bronze Age.
Paste and Lotus-seed carnelian beads, more intricate toggle pins, royal
scarabs, and
theophoric and other types pendants/amulets occur throughout
the lands that Egyptians called Djahi, or Palestine. Some pieces were
obviously manufactured in Egypt, though many more appear to be local
imitations of Egyptian prototypes.
By the late thirteenth
century, egyptian amulets appear in the richer burials and are commonly
found in altar areas in temples.
Archaeologists hypothesize that these
artifacts were either votive objects offered to the gods and/or decorated
statuary of particular deities.
Some of the more common types of
amulets/pendants include depictions of deities (Ptah Sokar, Bes, Aegis of
Bast, Sacred eye of Horus), animals (fish, hippopotamus), flora,
hieroglyphs and geometric forms.
Most amulets and pendants are faience,
although the few locally made examples are gold, bone, shell and metal.
Plaque amulets become more common place towards the end of the period and
continue into the Iron I period.
James, Frances & McGovern, Patrick, The Late Bronze
Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan (Philadelphia, 1993),
pp. 125-135.
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
Pl. 29: 52-68.
Beads, which are
extremely rare in the Middle Bronze II, increase in number and types as
one moves from the Late Bronze I to Late Bronze II.
The dramatic increase
in beads, both number and type, perhaps is a direct result of the
invention of glass around 1600. Spherical, cylindrical, barrel and
disc-shaped beads are made of paste or faience, though stone and metal
beads continue to be produced throughout the period and into the Iron Age.
Generally bead shapes prove an unreliable indicator of date. A few bead
forms, however, are distinctive and can be placed into specific
chronological periods.
The gold palmette bead is well known from Egyptian
sites, but rare in Palestine (Deir el-Balah Tomb 118).
A derivative form,
the lily shaped pendant, is common in the Late Bronze II.
The lotus-seed carnelian bead appears in Late Bronze II (Deir el-Balah
Tomb 116, Tell el-Farah S Tomb 934, Beth Shemesh St. IV Pit 1005) and
continues into Iron I (Beth Shan Tombs 7, 66).
As the number of bead strands increases towards the end
of the Bronze Age, bead spacers are employed to separate
anywhere from two to almost a dozen strands of beads.
Dothan, T. Excavations at the Cemetery of Deir el-Balah.
Qedem 10. (Jerusalem, 1979), pp. 42-43 (lotus-seed bead),
77-80 (palmette bead).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. London, 1958.
87 Pls. 27:3, 28:5,6 (bead spacers); pp. 74-76, Pls. 35:8, 36:91,
103 (lily-shaped pendant).
Strings of beads were worn by some adult females and children
either around the neck or on the wrist.
The earliest type of earrings,
the mulberry earring (see, Western Asiatic Jewelry.,
Pl.77a), has
one or three cluster ball it appears at the
end of Middle Bronze IIC or the beginning
of the Late Bronze and may continue to the end of the period. Later
open and smaller circular earrings dominate the first part of Late Bronze
Towards the end of Late Bronze II, the lunate earring with its
swelling base becomes the most common form:
Deir el-Balah Tomb 118, Tell
el-Farah S Tombs 922, 934, Beth Shan Tomb ?, Megiddo Tombs 912B (Late
Bronze) and 39 (Iron I). It continues to be the more common type of
earring in Iron I.
A fruit-shaped (pomegrante?)
earring is much rarer
and restricted, it appears, the the Late Bronze Age: Deir el-Balah Tombs
116,118, Tell el-Farah S Tomb 934, and Beth Shemesh St. IV.
*Wilkinson, A. Ancient Egyptian Jewellery. (London, 1971).
Dothan, T. Excavations at the Cemetery of Deir el-Balah.
Qedem 20. (Jerusalem, 1979), pp. 73-74 (lunate earrings),
73-77 (fruit-shaped earring).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
Pl. 25:15 (mulberry earring), 25:44 (tab earring).
Thin gold, occasionally
silver and rarely bronze sheets with looped ends either function as
earrings or are sown into clothing.
Fine collections of these delicate
appliques with their floral designs or etched female heads were uncovered
at Tell el-Ajjul (ancient Gaza), Lachish, Megiddo and Beth Shan. Most
examples from Beth Shan date to Late Bronze IIB and are rosettes, a common
floral design common on other artifacts, ivory lids, pottery, and
Foil sheets also were sown into headdresses or worn as bands around the
head (see Egyptian depictions of Asiatics).
Some excavators identify
these frontlets as mouthpieces which were occasionally employed in an
Aegean practices for sealing the lips.
No known examples in Palestine
proper have been found over the however, several
skeletons (Megiddo II., p.?.) have foil strips on the forehead.
K.R. Maxwell-Hyslop, Western Asiatic Jewellery c.
(London, 1971), pp. 132-157.
Guy, P.L.O. Megiddo Tombs. (Chicago, 1938), Pls 120:6,
128:9-11, 165:12, 16-18 (with sow holes).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958), p.82,
Pl.25:13 (with looped band).
Continuity to the Middle
Bronze Age can be seen in scarabs in Late Bronze I, for unlike Egypt,
scarab design in Palestine does not change significantly at the beginning of
the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Hyksos-like scarabs continue to be produced
locally in Late Bronze I and even into Late Bronze II.
By the end of Late
Bronze I, a more typical style of scarab appears and usually has the
royal cartouche of an Egyptian pharaoh, more likely Thothmosis III (Mn-
In addition to royal scarabs, many other scarabs of the Late Bronze
have expression of luck and goodwill for the bearer, thus suggesting that
scarabs were becoming more amuletic in this period than in the previous
Middle Bronze Age.
Animal scarabs also become quite common in Late
Bronze II.
Giveon, Raphael. Egyptian Scarabs from Western Asia.
Switzerland, 1985.
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
pp. 92-111; Pls. 30-41.
A special type of scarab, the large commemorative scarab reporting
special events during the pharaoh's reign (e.g.
Amunhotep III), are
occasionally discovered.
finger rings are occasionally
uncovered.
Several faience rings from Beth Shan had a molded wadjet, or
sacred eye symbol.
Small and generally non-descript looped
copper rings complete the corpus.
Cylinder seals in Syrian
style continue to be found in Late Bronze levels, though many
archaeologists feel that they may be heirlooms from the Middle Bronze II.
A new type of cylinder seal, of which there are hundreds of examples, is
called Mitanni style.
This seal has friezes of animals and men or gods.
common motif, the sacred tree surrounded usually by antelopes or goats,
occurs on these seals as well as other artifacts (e.g. pottery).
motif varies greatly in detail from just simple rendering of a tree or just a
branch to a complete scene of tree, processional characters, animals and
mythic griffins.
Towards the end of the Bronze Age, designs on cylinder seals become
more and more influenced by the nature of other signet items like the
scarab. These later cylinder seals become more like a stamp plaque and are
divided into panels with short phrases in hieroglyphic or designs in one
panel and animal(s) or figure(s) in the other.
*Parker, B. "Cylinder Seals from Palestine," IRAQ 11 (.
McGovern, Patrick E. The Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages
of Central Transjordan: The Baq'ah Valley Project,
(Philadelphia, 1986), pp. 291-294.
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
pp. 111-112. Pl. 34.
Towards the
end of the Bronze Age, stamp seals and plaques begin to appear. Such
plaques and seals might be consider degenerative forms of cylinder seals
and scarabs respectively.
Seals, in particular, will become a more
preferred signet item in the Iron Age.
Late Bronze
Toggle pins are
squat in comparison to
have more elaborate heads (nail, knob
head, twisted design or incised design) as well as being made from gold,
electrum and, of course, bronze.
Towards the end of the
Bronze Age, bronze
anklets are found on some adult female skeletons.
The location of such
anklets and armlets on figurines also confirm the decorative use of these
larger bronze rings.
In fact, it might be pejorative to identify some of
these bangles as bracelets given that they are rarely found around the wrist
and more often occur on the upper arm.
Egyptian and egyptianize stone vessels become common in the Late
Bronze Age particularly as the local industry develops at sites like Beth
Forms in Late Bronze I reflect the imported bag-shaped vessels of
the Middle Bronze period.
By Late Bronze II, the pyxis and tazza become the dominant pieces.
tazza, the most identifiable form of this period, is an exquisite vessel
that is usually represented in tribute by Asiatics.
Earliest examples of
the tazza have two pieces, a foot and bowl.
The two-ribbed tazza dates
earlier than the three- ribbed example as Flinders Petrie first noted.
The last forms of tazza are one piece unlike the earlier foot and bowl
Other shapes from the end of the Bronze Age include bowls, imitation of
imported Aegean forms, lentoid flask (LB tomb at Beth Shemesh, Fosse
Temple III Lachish) or amphoriskos, and small ceramic forms including
goblets (Deir el-Balah Tombs 114, 118) or juglets.
Although most known
examples from Palestine of the swimming girl cosmetic spoon are carved in
ivory (Megiddo St. VIIA, Beth Shan Tomb 90, Tell es-Sa'idiyeh Tomb 101), a
fine alabastron example was discovered in Tomb 118 at Deir el-Balah.
*Ben-Dor, I. " Palestinian Alabaster Vases."
*Clamer, Christa.
"Alabaster Vessels." Gezer V.
(Jerusalem, 1988), pp. 108-111.
Dothan, T. Excavations at the Cemetery of Deir el-Balah.
Qedem 10. (Jerusalem, 1979), pp. 61-65 (swimming girl and goblet).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
p.86, Pl. 26:32, 39.
Imported faience vessels appear in some of the richest burials and in
large palaces and temples.
The delicate pieces often mimic imported
Aegean vessels: the lentoid flask, pyxis, Syrian flask, amphoriskoi.
forms, kohl pots and bowls with floral pattern and handles shaped in the
head of a female, are common egyptian forms.
Bronze bowls, jars and sometimes even strainers appear in the
richer primary
burials: Deir el-Balah Tomb 114, northern cemetery at Beth
Shan, Governor's tomb
at Tell el-Ajjul, Tell el-Farah (S), Baq'ah Valley B3.
James B. Pritchard in
his study of a fine collection from Tell es-Sa'idiyeh concluded that pieces
are parts of wine sets.
This conclusion fits well with some other artifacts,
large Canaanite storage jar used in
viticulture, as well as references to
Canaanite burial offerings of wine and bread.
Bronze mirrors are occasionally found in some of the richest tombs:
Deir el-Balah Tombs 114, 118, Tell el-Ajjul, Beth Shan
Tomb 90?, Tell
es-Sa'idiyeh ??. A exquisite bronze mirror with a bronze handle in the
scpae of a woman comes from Acco.
Dothan, T. Excavations at the Cemetery of Deir el-Balah.
Qedem 10. (Jerusalem, 1979), pp. 20-22, 66-71, 98
(wine sets
and bronze vessels), 23, 72 (mirrors).
Guy, P.L.O. Megiddo Tombs (Chicago, 1938),
Pls. 90:5 (Tomb 217A:1 trefoil jug),
119:3-5, 120:4 (Tomb 911B: bowls and 1 Egyptian-style vase),
123:19, 124:20-22 (Tomb 912 A1: bowls),
133:19, 168:17 (Tomb 62: bowl: Iron Age).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
Pl. 25:51 (vase)
Oren [add]
Pritchard [add]
The considerable presence of bronze objects at Beth Shan, Tell es-
Sa'idiyeh (possibly ancient Zarethan) and also the nearby site of Deir Alla
Succoth) may be referenced in 1 Kings 7:46, a passage that mentions the
smelting of bronze vessels in this region.
Bone and ivory inlays for cosmetic boxes continue to be found in
contexts dating to Late Bronze I.
to review bone inlays of the Middle Bronze II.
Larger and more intricate ivory pieces
become common place in Late Bronze II (ANEP, 820 - Tell el Farah
complete ivory boxes, handles in
animal shapes (cat, bull, ibex), cosmetic bowls with birds head (in most
cases, a duck)
shape of a fish, cosmetic spoons designed in the shape of a swimming girl
(ANEP, 70) , combs with single or double set of teeth, wands some
pomegrante tops (?) but most with incised designs,
stoppers, chalices, floral pattern lids for chalices or boxes, and game
An exquisite piece from Lachish Fosse Temple (ANEP, 69), a
uniquely carved ivory tusk with spoon and woman's head, is a well-known
object of tribute in Eighteenth Dynasty tomb reliefs and, we could imagine
that it may have contained scented oil. Another ivory box from Pella with
its depiction of lions is an outstanding example of the high art of the
Bronze Age.
Guy, P.L.O. Megiddo Tombs. (Chicago, 1938), 48-50, Pls.
104 (MB example?), 142:1 (duck-shaped boxes), 156:13 (spindle),166:22
(comb), 168:13 (fish-shaped dish),168:15 (comb).
Liebowitz, H.A. "Bone and Ivory Inlay from Syria and Palestine,"
Loud, Gordon. The Megiddo Ivories. (Chicago, 1939).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. London, 1958.
88 Pls. 28:16 (comb), 48:6 (duck-shaped box).
Courtesy of The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
Perhaps the most important collection of ivories yet uncovered is from
the large palace complex at Megiddo.
The 320 pieces, dated the thirteenth
and twelfth centuries, include furniture panels and rungs, cosmetic boxes,
gameboards and pieces, combs, wands, pen cases, shallow bowls, kohl box
lids, ointment spoons, decorated unguent horns (see example from Lachish
Fosse Temple), and numerous fragments. Depictions of hunts, animal combat,
animals at rest, feasts, processions, offerings, deities, and various
palmette and rosette designs abound.
The collection is useful far beyond
documenting just the use of ivory in the Bronze Age.
At the very least,
it illustrates the cosmopolitan nature of this culture with its mixed
Egyptian and Mesopotamian motifs.
At the end of the Bronze Age, long bone spindles and wands associated
with bone whorls are found at a few sites: Lachish Fosse Temple III,
Megiddo Tombs.
Such conical whorls may have been used in spinning
though one cannot rule out that they may have had other functions (e.g.
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish II: Fosse Temple. (London, 1940),
pp. 59-62. Pls. 25-31.
FIGURINES: Although clay figurines appear first in
Middle Bronze
II, they main generally rare until towards the end of the Late Bronze Age.
Earliest examples from Late Bronze I are nudes with hands on breasts and
incised designs (Megiddo Tombs., Pl. 139:25).
In Late Bronze II,
oval-shaped plaquest Figurines are
with depiction of nude female usually
holding two lotus blossoms or stalks or snakes become quite common.
nude's coiffure may have ringlets like the Egyptian goddess Hathor or just
long flowing hair.
She may or may not be wearing anklets.
Her feet may
even be pigeon-toed.
The design on the clay plaques seem to mimic similar
depictions of a female form, often identified as Astarte, that first appears
on gold foil in the Middle Bronze Age.
Such renderings, however, are not
limited to gold foil appliques and occur also on cylinder seals as well as
statuary where this goddess stands on the back of a lion.
Guy, P.L.O. Megiddo Tombs. (Chicago, 1938), Pls. 89 (Tomb 35),
99:1,2 (Tomb 989 B1), 139:25 (Tomb 38), 155:8-9 (Tomb 26B).
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
p. 90, Pls. 47-49.
are part of
Egyptian burial rites and
serve the deceased in the next world.
Such clay figurines occur only in the
richest burials at sites where Egyptian presence is well documented.
Another, more unique figure has no clear parallels in Palestine.
Animal models prove rarer in the Bronze than in the Iron Age.
unique piece from Beth Shan, a cobra, is worth mentioning here not only
because of its rarity, but also because the snake, a symbol of immortality,
seems to be such
a predominant image on incense burners or house models at this and other
sites. Other zoomorphic fragments from Beth Shan are identified as bulls.
include cone and
dumbbell-shaped models of bread (?) for offerings (Beth Shan),
models of the liver for divination (Megiddo and Hazor) using animal
entrails, model of a human ear (Gezer and Shiloh) and miniature pottery
(Hazor and Beth Shan).
A small clay mask (ANEP, 843 - Hazor
C St. IB),
thought to be for a statue, from one of the Hazor temples as well as a
more fragmentary example from Beth Shan and Tel Dan demonstrate that this
form occurs in the Bronze Age as well as being characteristic of coastal
sites in the so-designated Phoenician spheres in the Iron Age (See,
Sarepta and Tel Dor).
In stratum VII Beth Shan a unique anthropoid jar supposedly of the
Egyptian deity Bes was uncovered.
Bes' hands are across his middle
forming a circle around a spout.
There are now a growing corpus of such
so-designated libation jars including one from Lachish (male?, Late
Bronze) and others from Tell Qasile (female?, Iron I).
Mazar, Amihai. Excavations at Tell Qasile. Qedem 12.
(Jerusalem, 1980), pp. 78-82 (anthropomorphic jars),
84-86 (clay masks).
Incense burners from Beth Shan are tall, slender structures with
specialized iconography: birds or people at windows, snakes crawling up
the sides, and animals. Although most of the Beth Shan examples date to
Iron I, fragments of a large incense burner from this sites as well as
parallels at other sites (e.g. Hazor) show that this form appears in the
thirteenth century as well.
A different type of incense burner, a lamp with pedestal, is found in
Bronze Age level and may be depicted in the hands of an Asiatic on the
walls of the Temple of Medinet Habu (ANEP, 346).
A few objects are identified as musical instruments: bronze cymbals,
jug-shaped clay rattles, ivory castenets. Small single-handled clay
rattles first
appear in the Late Bronze II, probably just thirteenth century.
rattles are much smaller than later Iron II rattles.
An ivory boomerang or perhaps castanet was uncovered at Beth
Egyptian depictions show two dancers holding similar objects to the
Beth Shan example and striking them together.
Professional Egyptian
musicians in Djahi are, of course, known: see, the Tale of Wenamun
(ANET, pp. 25-28) and inscriptions on three ivory pieces
form Megiddo that mention a female (?) singer, one Kerker who is
associated with the Temple of Ptah at Ashkelon.
James, Frances & McGovern, Patrick, The Late Bronze
Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan (Philadelphia, 1993),
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
p.90, Pl. 28:24-26.
Several examples of 58 hole game board, identified as Egyptian game
Hare and Hounds, as well as faience gaming pieces occur in stratigraphic
and tomb contexts.
A set of dice was discovered in Beth Shan Tomb 42.
Tufnell, Olga. Lachish IV: The Bronze Age. (London, 1958),
Pl. 54:6 (gaming pieces).
See also complete
(courtesy: The Oriental Institute,
University of Chicago)
Large stone stela of Ramesis II and Seti I from Beth Shan
commemorate their victories over local cities.
Votive stela from Beth
Shan and Balau' show worship of Canaanite and Egyptian pantheon.
Metal statuettes (ANEP
494 - Megiddo St. VB, 495 - Megiddo St.
IX-VII, 496 - Megiddo Tomb 4, 497 - Megiddo St. VII-VI, 825 - Shechem)
indicates the mixing
of Egyptian
and Canaanite
pantheons (e.g. Statue of Hathor from Beth Shan).
Bronze statues from Megiddo
of a seated individual (courtesy: The Oriental Institute, University
of Chicago) and another individual with cudgel striding forward
(Megiddo Tombs., Pl 153:8) are often identified with the two main
deities of the Canaanite pantheon, El and Baal respectively.
statuettes with dowels,
probably of the Reshef(?) wearing a conical cap, was uncovered at Lachish
(Lachish IV., pp. 82-83, Pl. 25:69).
Other evidence supporting these identification include iconography from
cylinder seals (ANEP, 468), Middle Bronze statuary from Ras Shamra
(ancient Ugarit) in northern Syria, and later Iron Age votive stela from
Syria (ANEP, 825 - bronze figurine, Shechem Field VII, 831 -
seated bronze figurine, Hazor,
Area A, Loc 230d, A
- figurine of bull with dowels, Hazor,
H58, Loc 2113, St IA, 836 - seated bronze figurine, Hazor H127, Loc
2113, St. IA).
The stone throne from Beth Shan Temple VII, other examples from
Hazor,and also the depiction of a throne on the Megiddo ivory or the
Ahiram sarcophagus form a useful corpus for describing chairs of royalty
and perhaps deities.
The Beth Shan throne, like the one etched on one of
the Megiddo ivories, has griffins, or cherubs, depicted on its sides.
back of the throne is a tree and the depictions together reminds one of
the typical motifs of animals surrounding the tree of life that occur on
cylinder seals and some pottery pieces.
The common phrase when
referring to Yahweh as king in association with the ark, he who
sits/enthrone on cherubs (add passages here), might have been visualized
by the ancient Israelites in these terms.
James, Frances & McGovern, Patrick, The Late Bronze
Egyptian Garrison at Beth Shan (Philadelphia, 1993),
To date, the largest collection of Late Bronze inscriptional material
uncovered in Palestine was unearthed at Beth Shan.
Two almost complete
stelae, one of Ramesis II and the other of Seti I, describe campaigns in
the regions east of Beth Shan.
Other fragmentary stelae were also
Votive stelae dedicated to gods by their worshippers form the
next largest group of inscriptions.
Some of these texts do date to Iron
I, yet are included here since culturally they seem to reflect to Bronze
rather than Iron Age.
A third group of inscriptions, inscribed door
lintels, were uncovered in Strata VI, now dated to very beginning of Iron
ANIMAL BONES FROM ALL ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERIODS
Although there is a wide variety of animal bones in archaeological
contexts, the vast majority are from the primary herd animals, sheep and
goats. Cattle, which require more pasture land and demand abundant water,
were a secondary herd animal throughout the period, and their bones,
though common, occur
less frequently.
One finds a wide variety of remains from other animals
in ancient
sites: pigs, horses,
donkeys, oxen, camels, dogs, fallow deer, hippopotami, birds, fish, etc.
Animal bones are found in domestic and other contexts.
astragali, surprisingly, appear in tombs in the Iron Age.
Right Forelegs
or astragali of immature goats and sheep are common in pits near sites
interpreted as bamot or temples.
At the end of Middle Bronze, complete
skeleton of donkeys appear in a few communal burials.
More common in
Middle Bronze Age tombs, though, are joints from goats, sheep and cattle.