Rich beyond the dreams of avaris: Tell el-dabca and the aegean world – a guide for the perplexed

The Annual of the British School at Athens

Volumn 93, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 199-219

  Cline, Eric H ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85009555956     PISSN: 00682454     EISSN: 20452403     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0068245400003439     Document Type: Article

References (150)

1. Kamose Stele II, lines 13-5; translation following J. B. Pritchard (ed), Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton, 1969), 554-5; L. Habachi, The Second Stele of Kamose (Glückstadt, 1972), 37, 49 D. B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton, 1992), 120 id., ‘Textual sources for the Hyksos period’, in Oren 1997, 14.
2. Cf. Hayes (n. 3), 11-39; Redford (n. 2), 115-16; M. Bernal, Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilisation, ii: The Archaeological and Documentary Evidence (New Brunswick, NJ, 1991). 352-5.
3. Cf. translations and discussions in Pritchard (n. 2), 233-4; Redford (n. 2), 128-9; Grimal (n. 3), 193-4; P. A. Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs (London, 1994), 97.
4. David O'Connor has recently published a user-friendly map and concise accompanying description of the remains visible and/or excavated by Bietak at the site: ‘Tell el-Dabca and its environs actually consists of three tells, or occupation mounds. The northeastern (and its possible outliers in the northwestern quadrant of the general region) is New Kingdom in date. a centrally located mound represents a substantial Twelfth Dynasty town, which expanded in size in the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Dynasties. Immediately to the southwest, another tell had some Twelfth Dynasty occupation, but expanded greatly during the Thirteenth and the Fifteenth. This tell, on present evidence, housed the palace and associated structures of the Fifteenth Dynasty pharaohs (i.e., the Hyksos of the Fifteenth Dynasty)’; O'Connor (n. 3), 53 with figure 2.6.
5. Bietak 1997. The underlying data and accompanying illustrations contained in these two most recent publications by Bietak are substantially the same, but the text and discussions are somewhat different, apparently due in part to extensive editing of Bietak's contribution to Oren's volume by Stephen Harvey; cf. Bietak 1997, 129 n. 1. Observant readers of German will also note a similarity between these two publications and much of Bietak's contribution to the catalogue accompanying the Tell el-Dabca exhibition in Vienna (Bietak 1994). Cf. now also, in French, M. Bietak, ‘Avaris: Tell-el Dabca’, Les Dossiers d'archéologie 213 (1996), 16-23.
6. Bietak 1996, 67-70, 72, figures 3, 55; id. 1997, 87, 115-17, 124, figures 4.3, 4.28; id. 1995, 20-1, figures 1-2.
7. Bietak 1996, 81.
8. Bietak. 82; id. 1997, 125.
9. Bietak 1996, 82-3; id., Avaris and Pi-Ramesse (Oxford, 1981), passim.
10. Habachi (n. 2), 16, 20.
11. Cf. J. S. Holladay, Jr., ‘The eastern Nile Delta during the Hyksos and pre-Hyksos periods: toward a systemic/socioeconomic understanding’, in Oren 1997, 201, 209.
12. Cf. R. Giveon, ‘Hyksos scarabs with names of kings and officials from Canaan’, Chronique d'Égypte, 49 (1974), 222-33; J. M. Weinstein, ‘The Egyptian empire in Palestine: a reassessment’, BASOR 241 (1981), 8-10, fig. 2; Redford (n. 2), 113, 119; O'Connor (n. 3), 45, 62-3. Note, however, Redford 1997 (n. 2), 21: ‘The Hyksos artifacts in Nubia attest to nothing more than trade via the oasis route.’
13. Kamose Stele II, 19-24; cf. Pritchard (n. 2), 555; Habachi (n. 2), 39, 49; Grimal (n. 3), 191-2; Redford 1997 (n. 2), 14-15.
14. A. W. Persson, New Tombs at Dendra near Medea (Lund, 1942), 178-96.
15. F. H. Stubbings, ‘The rise of Mycenaean civilisation’, in CAH ii/I. 633-7.
16. Bernal (n. 4), 320-408, with earlier bibliography.
17. Bietak 1992, 26-8.
18. Published in Davies and Schofield 1995.
19. Published in Laffineur and Niemeier 1995.
20. R. Laffineur and P. P. Betancourt (eds), Techne. Craftsmen Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age (Liège, 1997).
21. E. H. Cline and D. Harris-Cline, The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium: Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Symposium, University of Cincinnati, 18-20 April 1997 (Liège, 1998).
22. e.g. O. Negbi, ‘The Libyan landscape from Thera: a review of Aegean enterprises in the Late Minoan I A Period’, JMA 7/1 (1994), 73-112 S. W. Manning, S. J. Monks, G. Nakou, and F. A. De Mita Jr, ‘The fatal shore, the long years and the geographical unconscious: considerations of iconography, chronology, and trade in response to Negbi's ‘The Libyan landscape from Thera: a review of Aegean enterprises overseas in the Late Minoan IA period―’, JMA 7/2 (1994), 219-35.
23. e.g. Foster and Ritner (n. 3).
24. e.g. J. Aruz, ‘Syrian seals and the evidence for cultural interaction between the Levant and Crete’, in CMS Beiheft 5 (Mainz, 1995), 1-21.
25. e.g. M. C. Shaw, ‘Bull and maze: a Minoan fresco from Egypt’, AJA 98 (1994), 331 (abstract only); ead., ‘A bull leaping scene in a fresco from Mycenae: a new reconstruction’, AJA 99 (1995), 343 (abstract only); cf. now ead., ‘The bull-leaping fresco from below the Ramp House at Mycenae: a study in iconography and artistic transmission’, BSA 91 (1996), 167-90.
26. Bietak 1996.
27. Bietak. 55-89.
28. Bietak. 76.
29. M. Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, translated by M. Friedländer (New York, 1956), 2, 5.
30. Bietak 1992, 26-8.
31. Bietak.
32. Anon., ‘Digging diary 1993-1994’, Egyptian Archaeology, 5 (1994), 10.
33. Bietak 1995, 23, 26; cf. now id. 1996, fig. 55.
34. e.g. Bietak 1992, 26-8.
35. Cf. Bietak 1992, 26-8; id. 1995, 23-6; Hankey, Egyptian Archaeology (n. 42), 29; ead., Minerva (n. 42), 13-14; Negbi (n. 29), 80-1, 87-8; Cline (n. 42), 265-70; Warren (n. 3), 4-5; and various articles by Marinatos (n. 42).
36. Bietak and Marinatos 1995, 49.
37. Bietak and Marinatos. 62.
38. Bietak 1996, 68.
39. Bietak. Cf. now also id. 1997, 117.
40. Bietak 1996, 72.
41. Bietak. 73-4, fig. 57, pl. 33 a-b.
42. Bietak. 73, colour pls. 3 a-b, 4, 5, 6 a-b.
43. Bietak. 74.
44. Bietak. 73; Cline (n. 17), 32, 34; id. (n. 42), 268-9.
45. Bietak 1996, 75, colour pl. 6 c.
46. Bietak. 75, colour pl. 6 d; cf. N. Marinatos, ‘The “African” of Thera reconsidered’, OpAth 17 (1988), 137-41.
47. Bietak 1996, 75, colour pls. 7 a-d, 8 a-b; cf. previously Bietak et al. (n. 40), 49-51, pls. 17 a, 19 a; Bietak in Bietak et al. 1994, 195 (no. 219); Marinatos in Bietak et al. 1994, 202 (no. 126), 203 (no. 227), 205 (no. 230), with colour plate.
48. Bietak 1996, 74-5, fig. 57.
49. Bietak. 75.
50. Anon. (n. 39), 10.
51. Bietak 1996, fig. 55.
52. Bietak 1996, 70.
53. Bietak.
54. Bietak. 72.
55. Bietak. 75.
56. Bietak and Marinatos 1995, 49.
57. Bietak 1996, 76.
58. Bietak., fig. 55.
59. Bietak and Marinatos 1995, 49.
60. Bietak and Marinatos.
61. Bietak and Marinatos.
62. Bietak 1996, 75. S. W. Manning, ‘From process to people: longue durée to history’, in Cline and Harris-Cline (n. 28), 318-19, believes that the best Aegean comparisons for the ivy decoration are from the LM I B period onwards, rather than the LM I A period, as per Bietak.
63. Bietak 1996, 72.
64. But cf. Bietak in Bietak et at. 1994, 52, fig. 39.
65. Bietak 1996, 76.
66. Bietak 1996.
67. Cline (n. 17), 34; id. (n. 42), 269.
68. Bietak 1996, 21-36.
69. MacGillivray (n. 81), 81-4.
70. Cf. now Bietak 1996, 29, colour pl. I a.
71. Walberg, ‘Middle Minoan chronology’ (n. 79), 115-18.
72. MacGillivray (n. 81), 81-12.
73. Aruz (n. 81), 44-6.
74. Cf. now Bietak 1996, 29, colour pl. I b and cover photograph.
75. Walberg, ‘A gold pendant.’ (n. 79), 111-12.
76. Aruz (n. 81), 46.
77. e.g. P. Rehak, pers. comm., 15 January 1997; see now comments by S. P. Morris, ‘Daidalos and Kothar: the future of their relationship’, in Cline and Harris-Cline (n. 28), 282-4.
78. Bietak 1996, 29.
79. Bietak 1997, 104 and n. 35 (although Aruz is misspelt).
80. Bietak 1995, 20, pl. 14. 2.
81. Bietak 1996, 82; cf. Schwab in Bietak et al. 1994, 256 (no. 347). Bietak 1997, 117 states: ‘In H/III, bags of arrowheads, most likely of Late Helladic typology of bronze or copper were found lying beside a large palace wall’.
82. Bietak 1996, 70.
83. Bietak and Marinatos. 70, 72; cf. also Hein in Bietak et al. 1994, 261 (no. 358); R-L. N. Barber, The Cyclades in the Bronze Age (London, 1987), 153, fig. 111.
84. Bietak 1996, 72; id. 1997, 117.
85. Bietak and Marinatos. 87 n. 104.
86. Bietak 1992, 26-8.
87. Bietak et al. (n. 44), 44-5; Bietak 1995, 20-3; Bietak and Marinatos 1995, 49, 62.
88. Bietak 1996, 76.
89. Bietak and Marinatos.
90. Bietak 1996, 75.
91. W.-D. Niemeier, ‘New archaeological evidence for a 17th century date of the ‘Minoan eruption’ from Palestine (Tel Kabri, Western Galilee)’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 120-6; id., ‘Minoan artisans travelling overseas’, in R. Laffineur and L. Basch (eds), Thalassa: L'Égée préhistorique et la mer (Liège, 1991), 189-210; id., ‘Tel Kabri: Aegean fresco paintings in a Canaanite palace’, in S. Gitin (ed.), Recent Excavations in Israel: A View to the West (Dubuque, Iowa, 1995), 1-15; Cline (n. 42); Bietak 1996, 78-9; W.-D. and B. Niemeier, ‘Minoan frescoes in the Eastern Mediterranean’, in Cline and Harris-Cline (n. 28), 69-98.
92. Knapp, in Cline and Harris-Cline (n. 28), 206, pleads for the abandonment of the term ‘Minoan’ in connection with these paintings at Avaris.
93. Bietak and Marinatos 1995, 60.
94. Shaw (n. 104), 94.
95. Bietak and Marinatos. 110.
96. See now Rehak (n. 107), 401.
97. Cf. H. J. Kantor, The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium BC (Bloomington, IN, 1947), 29-30, 78 M. C. Shaw, ‘Ceiling patterns from the tomb of Hepzefa’, AJA 74 (1970), 28 E. T. Vermeule, ‘Mycenaean drawing, Amarna, and Egyptian ostraka’, in W. K. Simpson and W. M. Davis (eds), Studies in Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Sudan (Boston, 1981), 194-5, 197-8; E.J. W. Barber, Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages (Princeton, 1991), 311-83; S. Nishimoto, ‘The ceiling paintings of the harem rooms at the palace of Malqata’, GM 127 (1992), 69-80 Cline (n. 42), 270.
98. Bietak and Marinatos 1995, 57, 60.
99. Bietak 1996, 75; cf. also id. 1995, 23-4, 26; Warren (n. 3), 4; and the detailed discussion by L. Morgan, ‘Minoan painting and Egypt: the case of Tell el-Dabca’, in Davies and Schofield 1995, 29-53.
100. Bietak 1996, 76.
101. Shaw (n. 104), 112.
102. Cf. Niemeier 1991 (n. 108); Cline (n. 42), 265-87.
103. Bietak 1996, 79-80. id. 1997, 124.
104. Cf. Bietak 1996, 36, 48 9, 55; id. 1997. 98, 113; id., ‘Canaanites in the eastern Nile delta’, in A. S. Rainey (ed.), Egypt, Israel, Sinai: Archaeological and Historical Relationships in the Biblical Period (Tel Aviv, 1987), 52; Bernal (n. 4), 321, 336-52; Redford (n. 2), 100-1; C. A. Redmount, ‘Pots and peoples in the Egyptian Delta: Tell el-Maskhuta and the Hyksos’, JMA 8/2 (1995), 64-5, 82-3; E. D. Oren, ‘Introduction and Overview: Structure and Goals’ in Oren 1997, xxi-xxii; O'Connor (n. 3), 63-4 n. 8; Holladay (n. 14). 198.
105. E. Porada, ‘The cylinder seal from Tell el-Dabca’, AJA 88 (1984), 487 10.2307/504736.
106. Shaw (n. 104), 104; see now ead. 1996 (n. 32).
107. For a full compilation of such scenes in the Bronze Age Aegean, see Shaw (n. 104), 113-9 and J. G. Younger, ‘Bronze age representations of Aegean bull-games, III’, in Laffineur and Niemeier 1995, 507-45; cf. previously J. G. Younger, ‘Bronze age representations of Aegean bull-leaping’, AJA 80 (1976), 125-3710.2307/503408 id., ‘A new look at Aegean bull-leaping’, Muse, 17 (1983), 72-80; N. Marinatos, ‘The bull as an adversary: some observations on bull-hunting and bull-leaping’, Ariadne, 5 (1989), 23-32 Negbi (n. 29), 80; Shaw 1995 (n. 32), 343; P. Rehak, ‘The use and destruction of Minoan stone bull's head rhyta’, in Laffineur and Niemeier 1995, 449-50; B. P. Hallager and E. Hallager, ‘The Knossian bull-political propaganda in neo-palatial Crete?’, in Laffineur and Niemeier 1995, 547-56; also Morgan (n. 116), 40-4. Cf. now also Shaw 1996 (n. 32).
108. Mellink (n. 17); Oren (n. 122) xxii; cf. previously Kantor (n. 114), 74, and even earlier scholars such as E. Meyer. Geschichte des Altertums, v/2.1, 2nd edn (Stuttgart, 1928), 41-58.
109. Cf. Cline (n. 17), cat. nos. 8, gg, 105, 122, 126, 135, 140, 148, 152, 680, and 1100-2, with full references.
110. Cf. various discussions by P. P. Betancourt, ‘Dating the Aegean late bronze age with radiocarbon’, Archaeometry, 29 (1987), 47 id., ‘High chronology or low chronology: the archaeological evidence’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 19-23; P. M. Warren, ‘Absolute dating of the Aegean late bronze age’, Archaeometry, 29 (1987), 205-610.1111/j.1475-4754.1987.tb00412.x M. J. Aitken, H. N. Michael, P. M. Warren, and P. P. Betancourt, ‘The Thera eruption: continuing discussion of the dating’, Archaeometry 30 (1988), 170, 176 10.1111/j.1475-4754.1988.tb00444.x S. W. Manning, ‘The bronze age eruption of Thera: absolute dating, Aegean chronology and Mediterranean cultural interrelations’, JMA 1/1 (1988), 17-82 id., The Absolute Chronology of the Aegean Early Bronze Age: Archaeology, Radiocarbon and History (Sheffield, 1995), 217 n. 1.
111. Cf. Shaw (n. 104), 92 n. 3, 95-6, 112-13.
112. Cf. J. M. Galán, ‘Bullfight scenes in ancient Egyptian tombs’, JEA 80 (1994), 81-96, with further bibliography; also Y. Kempen, Krieger, Boten und Athleten, Untersuchungen zum Lanlauf in der Griechischen Antike (Sankt Augustin, 1992), passim.
113. Morgan (n. 116), 40.
114. Cf. Shaw (n. 104), 95-6.
115. Bietak 1996, 76.
116. Bietak and Marinatos 1995, 62.
117. Cline (n. 17), passim; id., ‘Egyptian and Near Eastern imports at Late Bronze Age Mycenae’, in Davies and Schofield 1995, 91-115 with references.
118. Cf. most recently Cline (n. 17), 31; Warren and Hankey (n. 133), 138-46, figs. 6-7; P. M. Warren, ‘Summary of evidence for the absolute chronology of the early part of the Aegean late bronze age derived from historical Egyptian sources’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 25; id. (n. 3), 5-10, 13; Hankey 1995 (n. 133), 18-20; Manning 1995 (n. 132), 203-4, 206, 221, 224-5; idem ‘Dating the Aegean Bronze Age: without, with, and beyond, radiocarbon’, Acta Arckaeologica, 67 (1996), 15-37; previously Hankey and Warren (n. 133), 145-7; Kemp and Merrillees (n. 133), 226-45; I. Vincentelli and F. Tiradritti, ‘La presenza egea in Egitto’, in M. Marazzi, S. Tusa, and L. Vagnetti (eds), Traffici micenei nel Mediterraneo: Problemi storici e documentazione archeologica (Taranto, 1986), 327-34; Hankey 1987 (n. 133), 44-7; Manning 1988 (n. 132), 28-9, 33, 60-1.
119. Manning 1996 (n. 141); Betancourt (n. 17), 429.
120. Bietak 1996, 80; id. 1997, 124.
121. Cf. Kantor (n. 114), 63-6, 71-2, 74; W. Stevenson Smith, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt (London, 1981), 219-22, figs. 215-16; Warren (n. 3), 5, with additional references; Aruz (n. 81), 42-3.
122. Cf. R. Laffineur, ‘L'incrustation à l'epoque mycénienne’, L'Antiquité classique, 43 (1974), 5-37 id., ‘Material and craftsmanship in the Mycenaean shaft graves: imports vs. local productions’, Minos, 25-6 (1990-1), 269-76; A. Xenaki Sakellariou and C. Chatziliou, ‘Peinture en Métal’ a L'époque mycénienne: incrustation damasquinage niellure (Athens, 1989), passim.
123. Original publication in Annales du Service des Antiquités, 7 (1906), 115-20; also H. J. Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (London, 1963), 138-9; Van Seters (n. 128), 71-2; Bernal (n. 4), 354.
124. K. Branigan, ‘Byblite daggers in Cyprus and Crete’, AJA 70 (1966), 123-610.2307/502149 id., ‘Further light on prehistoric relations between Crete and Syria’, AJA 71 (1967), 117-21; id., ‘The early bronze age daggers of Crete’, BSA 62 (1967), 211-40; cf. also Bietak (n. 122), 52 and id. 1997, 98 on the possible Byblite origins of the Hyksos residents of Avaris.
125. Cf. Cline (n. 17), 7; Negbi (n. 29), 81-3; Manning 1995 (n. 132), 217.
126. Cf. Cline (n. 17), 5.
127. Bietak 1996, 76.
128. Cf. Warren and Hankey (n. 133), 215.
129. Bietak 1996, 76.
130. Cf. Betancourt 1987 (n. 132); Manning 1988 (n. 132); id. 1995 (n. 132), 200-16.
131. Bietak 1996, 76.
132. Cline. 78, pl. 34 a-b; id. 1997, 124-5.
133. Cf. Foster and Ritner (n. 3); M. Artzy, ‘Conical cups and pumice, Aegean cult at Tel Nami, Israel’, in R. Laffineur and L. Basch (eds), Thalassa: L'Égée préhistorique et la mer (Liège, 1991), 203-6; P. M. Warren and H. Puchelt, ‘Stratified pumice from bronze age Knossos’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 71-81; J. S. Soles and C. Davaras, ‘Theran ash in Minoan Crete: new excavations on Mochlos’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 89-95; P. P. Betancourt, P. Goldberg, R. Hope Simpson, and C. J. Vitaliano, ‘Excavations at Pseira: the evidence for the Theran eruption’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 96-9; T. Marketou, ‘Santorini tephra from Rhodes and Kos: some chronological remarks based on the stratigraphy’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 100-13; D. G. Sullivan, ‘Minoan tephra in lake sediments in western Turkey: dating the eruption and assessing the atmospheric dispersal of the ash’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 114-19; V. Francaviglia, ‘Sea-borne pumice deposits of archaeological interest on Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean beaches’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 127-34; D. J. Stanley and H. Sheng, ‘Volcanic shards from Santorini (upper Minoan ash) in the Nile Delta, Egypt’, Nature, 320 (1986), 733-510.1038/320733a0.
134. Cf. C. Vandersleyen, ‘Une tempête sous le règne d'Amosis’, Revue d'Égyptologie, 19 (1967), 123-59; id., ‘Deux nouveaux fragments de la stèle d'Amosis relatant une tempête’, Revue d'Égyptologie, 20 (1968), 127-34; H. Goedicke, ‘The end of the Hyksos in Egypt’, in L. Lesko (ed), Egyptological Studies in Honor of Richard A. Parker (London, 1986), 37-47 E. N. Davis, ‘A storm in Egypt during the reign of Ahmose’, in Hardy and Renfrew 1990, 232-5; Foster and Ritner (n. 3). Redford 1997 (n. 2), 16; M.H. Wiener and J. P. Allen, ‘Separate lives: the Ahmose Stela and the Theran eruption’, JNES 57 (1998), 1-28.
135. Cf. Foster and Ritner (n. 3), 10.
136. Cline (n. 17), 5-8.
137. Cline.
138. G. Kopcke, comment during discussion session, in Laffineur and Niemeier 1995, 285.
139. Morgan (n. 116), 29-53; Redmount (n. 122), 61-89; A. B. Knapp, ‘Mediterranean Bronze Age trade: distance, power and place’, in Cline and Harris-Cline (n. 28), 193-207.
140. Cline (n. 17); id. (n. 42); id. (n. 120).
141. Bietak 1996, 59.
142. Cline. 63, fig. 48 b; cf. also G. Clerc, ‘Un fragment de vase au nom d'Ahmosis (?) à Palaepaphos-Teratsoudhia’, in V. Karageorghis (ed.), Tombs at Palaepaphos 1. Temtsoudhia, 2. Eliomylia (Nicosia, 1990), 95-103 I. Jacobsson, Aegyptiaca from Late Bronze Age Cyprus (Jonsered, 1994), passim; L. C. Maguire, ‘Tell el-Dabca: the Cypriot connection’, in Davies and Schofield 1995, 54-65.
143. Arnold et al. (n. 131), 13-32.
144. Bietak 1996, 79.
145. Cline. 74, 79.
146. Cline. 80-1; cf. previously id. 1992, 26-8; id. 1995, 26.
147. Maimonides (n. 36), 2, 5.
148. Bietak 1996, 76.
149. Bietak is clearly aware of the need for full publication of all relevant data; in Bietak 1997, 127 he states: ‘Some of the criticism is based on the claim that the results of Tell el Dabcxsa have not yet been fully published in order to control the results presented by the excavator. This is true, but complicated excavations need some time for their evaluation and subsequent publication. the evaluation of the material is not in the hands of a single individual, but of an international group of at least 20 scholars based in different countries. The material is not secret, it is accessible. We always have an open door for interested colleagues.’
150. With apologies to Lord Byron, Don Juan (1818-1824), canto I, st. 216.