Bronze Age Interconnections (Egyptology)

This chapter links extant archaeological objects with items in gift lists exchanged between Egypt, Babylonia, Mitanni, the kingdom of Ugarit, and Hatti in the Late Bronze Age, as transliterated and translated by Z. Cochavi-Rainey from cuneiform texts.  Indexes to commodities are given, and a number of archaeological items discussed are illustrated.

"Ex oriente nigri: "Captain of the Blacks" and the Fabrication of the Minoan Culture

The fabrication of the Minoan culture is the specifically modern phenomenon, closely linked to the imperial and colonial conquest and appropriation of Ancient Greece. The Greek war of independence created an arena in which Europe could take part in the fight for its cradle. In the postcolonial key, the paper situates the fresco "Captain of the Blacks" into the context of the fabrication of the Minoan culture and the colonial narratives inscribed into it. In the beginning of the 20th century, this colonial past of the notion, known today as the Minoan culture, played a major role in the definition of the European past, present and future. The Minoan culture, as a colonial discursive formation in archaeology, has remained in the framework of the culture-histori-cal paradigm, but beyond it as well. The paper argues that the reconstructionof the fresco "Captain of the Blacks" in the works of Arthur Evans is the consequence of the colonial racism, putting the emphasis on the colour of the skin as a racial/ ethnic category. The interpretation that the dark-skinned figures are of the African origin has rarely been questioned, but rather perpetuated as a given.

Key words: Minoan culture, racism, "Captain of the Blacks", Egypt,colonialism, post-colonial perspective"

The Viceroy of Kush (King's son of Kush) was a high official in the structure of the Egyptian imperial administration during the New Kingdom. The textual and archaeological evidence of the Ramesside Period indicate that some Ramesside viceroys had played a significant military role during the reigns of Sety I, Ramesses II and Merenptah, to support the political, economic and military authority of the Ramesside Empire in its southern territories. They had participated in the major Ramesside military campaigns against Nubia under the command of their warrior kings that aimed to crush any Nubian revolts in the regions of Irem or Wawat. They had also led other campaigns by themselves for the same purpose and for any other political or economic purposes. This paper surveys and discusses this point, in order to shed some light on a new aspect of the Egyptian imperialism in Ramesside Nubia.

Charioteers were very significant in the Ramesside Period, evidenced for example by the frequent mention of them in texts dated to the reign of king Ramesses II. Charioteers also played an important role in diplomacy as many Ramesside charioteers held the title ’’the royal envoy to every foreign country’’. This paper will focus on the diplomatic role of the charioteers in the Ramesside Period and their status in Egyptian society.

Until very recently, there were only the most indirect iconographical hints that the Egyptian demon Bes had ever come to Bronze Age Crete. Now, Bes-like images have appeared on two engraved gems from eastern Crete, at least one of which can be dated to MM IIB (contemp. early 13th Dynasty). Perhaps surprisingly, the Minoans imported the rarer female demon, so-called Beset, rather than male Bes. In this paper, I examine the contemporary Egyptian iconography of Beset, consider how the original imported image might have looked, and how it was adapted by the Minoans.

The Egyptian military activity in Canaan and Nubia was very significant during the reign of Merenptah (1213–1203 BC) and was an important part of the historical developments during the New Kingdom of Egypt as well as in the contemporary Late Bronze Age of the Ancient Near East. The Canaanite and Nubian wars of Merenptah reestablished Egypt’s influence in the Levant and Nubia after the massive rebellions that occurred in the territories of the Egyptian empire. This paper surveys and discusses some significant historical notes and perspectives on the Canaanite and Nubian wars of Merenptah, in order to shed some light on new military and political aspects of the Ramesside Empire.

This article considers formal diplomatic relations between the Mycenaeans and Hittites through analysis of the Hittite Tawagalawa Letter. Consensus attributes that tablet's authorship to Ḫattušili III (ca. 1267–1237 B.C.), who complained to the king of Ahhiyawa about a Hittite renegade named Piyamaradu. The historical context of Ḫattušili's foreign policy, particularly his Treaty of Kadesh with the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II, supports a revised understanding of his correspondence with Ahhiyawa. The Tawagalawa Letter alludes to an existing nonaggression pact between Hatti and Ahhiyawa modeled after the well-known Hittite-Egyptian contract. This new idea reconciles the discrepancy between a unified Ahhiyawa and a politically fragmented Mycenaean world. Such diplomacy can also account for technological similarities that exist between Mycenae and Hattuša.

Connections between Egypt and the Mycenaean world have often been understood in terms of indirect exchange, via middlemen on Cyprus and in the Levant. This view is mainly informed by the relative paucity of Mycenaean pottery found in Egypt, especially when compared to the large amounts of Mycenaean pottery found on Cyprus and the Levant. It will be argued in this article that connections between Egypt and Mycenae were of direct, diplomatic nature and that various different missions can be identified over the course of the 15th to 13th centuries BC. Moreoever, it is argued that, as a result of these connections, Mycenaeans may well have settled in the land of the Nile -serving the Pharaoh in different capacities. To that purpose, the article presents a range of archaeological, iconographical and textual evidence coming both from Egypt and the Mycenaean world.

This contribution reassesses the date and origin of a particular group of cornelian and red jasper scarabs, displaying line designs such as crosses and stars on their bases. The numbers that surfaced in the southern Levant and the Aegean have led scholars to attribute them to Ramesside Egyptian, Late Bronze Age IIB/III Palestinian, or even Middle Minoan II workshops. An assessment of the Egyptian finds, however, remained wanting. This article presents an overview of all provenanced artifacts and argues that the recorded quantities and, more importantly, their archaeological context and distribution pattern throughout Egypt, the Levant and the Aegean indicate an Egyptian origin and 18th Dynasty date for these scarabs with geometric designs.

Six earliest 18th Dynasty high chronology (18DHC) Sothic-dated royal accessions from Amenhotep I through Amenhotep II fall on exact full moon days when their summer solstice Sothic New Year's Days are set to Sirius' day 2 (rarely 3) cosmical rising, for the dead-reckoned 18DHCs of David Aston (2014), E. F. Wente (1975), and D. B. Redford (1973), confirming them and my pre-1320 BC Synchronous Sothic Calendar. The signature full moons include Amenhotep I's 11 May 1559 coregency with dynasty founder Ahmose (nomen The Moon Is Born), and his 14 May 1551 sole reign. This Final Edition brings a few corrections and improvements, but nothing which alert Edition 1.0 readers could not cope with.

In this paper we treat changes in weaponry and armament, which occurred in the Aegean and Levantine regions between the late 14th and the early 12th century BC. We aim at reconstructing these changes in a sequence as fine-phased as possible and try to identify the regions in which they originated. As a case study we use a sword of Naue II type found at Ugarit. As it has no clearly stratified context, we try to fix its chronology on one hand by reference to the overall stratigraphy of the site, and on the other by discussing better datable archaeological evidence from the Aegean and Cyprus. Swords of the Naue II group belong to new weapon types introduced to the eastern Mediterranean a few decades before the breakdown of many palace states around 1200 BC. There are different reasons that lead us to believe that these new weapon types arrived together with their users and producers from the central Mediterranean and cannot be seen as a result of goods exchange.

SUMMARY
This thesis shall identify the date origin of the composite bow within Mesopotamia and Elam. and both identify and quantify the design factors which lead to increased performance possible with composite construction. To accomplish this, the thesis begins by summarizing the problems and flaws that currently exist in the field of history as it applies specifically to archery and bow use. With problems identified, the thesis will then introduce the reader to the basics of bow mechanics, thereby laying the basis for physical testing. This in turn will empirically demonstrate flaws in the current iconographical method of bow identification. The thesis will then devise a new method for iconographic identification of composite construction that has greater proven accuracy, based upon proportional length, which will link extant artifacts with both physical test results and iconographic evidence.

The reader shall then be led through a complete reevaluation of iconographical evidence for Mesopotamia and Elam starting at the beginning of the second millennium BCE and working backwards using this new method of iconographic evaluation to determine the point at which composite bow technology first appears in the ancient Near East. The thesis will finish with an overview of the above accomplishments and their potential impact on the study of ancient and military history.

KEY TERMS
Ancient History, Military History, Archery, Bow, Composite, Experimental Archaeology, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Elam, Arrow

The various Ramesside war scenes and texts of the Karnak temple are main historical sources for all the scholars who are interested in the study of imperial policy of Egypt in its territories in Syria and Canaan during the New Kingdom, in the ancient Egyptian military, the political situation in the ancient Near East during the Late Bronze Age, and Biblical archaeology as well. The Canaanite town of Yenoam features prominently in the war scenes and texts of the Ramesside Period, where it is depicted and mentioned in some of the most important Ramesside military historical sources, such as the northern war scenes of Sety I at Karnak, the First Beth-Shan stela of Sety I and the triumph hymn of Merenptah. This paper surveys and discusses the depiction and registration of the town of Yenoam in the Ramesside war scenes and texts of the Karnak temple, and aims to shed light on new historical aspects of this significant strategic town during this period.

Actualización sobre estas investigaciones:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1012474955462345.1073741868.663817383661439&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/notes/georgeos-d%C3%ADaz-montexano/pir%C3%A1mides-en-la-pen%C3%ADnsula-ib%C3%A9rica/510808659085924

Early research about pyramids in Spain, or Iberia, I have been making and publishing, since 2000. I recently finished a book summarizing the most important potential pyramids (circular, quadrangular, and polygonal) I've been reporting since the late nineties of the last century in many parts of Iberia.

Before my research on pyramids in the Iberian peninsula, nobody did anything, then, not to nobody interested him so far that Mr. Osmanagić has come to Spain and has been interested in a possible pyramids of Palencia, which are not, therefore, the first potential discovered pyramids, reported and studied in Spain. The first are those that I discovered and reported it in late mid-nineties and the first decade of the XXI century.

I leave you two links: one with several free pages and pictures of my book, and another, an article that summarizes the issue as I was the first researcher pyramids in Spain. So I hope that is of interest.

Best regards,
Georgeos Díaz-Montexano
Links:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1012474955462345.1073741868.663817383661439&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/notes/georgeos-d%C3%ADaz-montexano/pir%C3%A1mides-en-la-pen%C3%ADnsula-ib%C3%A9rica/510808659085924

The excavations at the site of Sidon College Site in southern Lebanon have yielded a large funerary and cultic complex dated to the Middle (MBA) and Late Bronze Ages (LBA). As of 2019, more than 172 tombs were found associated with a feasting area as well as a temple in use throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. During the MBA, dozens of Cypriot
ceramics were unearthed either in tombs or in rooms associated with cultic or feasting rituals. A LBA underground cella also yielded dozens of Cypriot pottery vases. These imported vessels belong to nearly all Cypriot styles commonly exported to the Levant, attesting to vigorous trade interactions between the coastal Levantine city of Sidon and Cyprus.
This paper presents the latest account of these imports, categorises, using the available data, the first occurrences of Cypriot wares at Sidon and compares the representativeness of this assemblage with other sites regionally (Lebanon) and interregionally, leading to an initial attempt at understanding the network patterns that governed the trade of these vases to southern Lebanon.

Revealing the possible re discovery of a geometrical, spherical measuring instrument in the Pyramid of Khufu known as the Dixon Relics, held in the British Museum and Aberdeen By Crichton E M Miller FCILT This advanced protractor, similar to the cross and plumb line, is an advanced mathematical device, capable of astronomy, navigation and surveying. It is proposed, that the ancient Egyptian architects and astronomers used this hybrid Celtic cross, for the purposes of stellar alignment and timekeeping.

In the early 2nd millennium BCE, Near Eastern groups of diverse origin penetrated the Nile Delta, via sea and land. The Wadi Tumilat was one of the two principal overland routes in and out of Egypt for Asiatics arriving from the East. Unlike the Western Asiatics from the harbour town of Tell el-Dab‘a who predominantly migrated from the northern Levantine coast, Asiatics who arrived overland into the Wadi Tumilat (from the desert areas beyond Egypt’s eastern border), belonged to a different backdrop and different socio-economic networks. The issue of identifying the geographical affiliations of these groups remains complicated. Nonetheless, micro-regional specificities in the material culture of the Wadi Tumilat, and distinctive traits in funerary practices, daily-life equipment and, more generally, lifestyle, allow the tracing (albeit preliminarily) of connections to specific sub-regions and socio-economic networks in the Levant. At least one or more substantial elements amongst the Asiatic components which entered the wadi from the East, and contributed to the establishment of Asiatic communities during the 15th Dynasty (following the Hyksos takeover and renewed commercial interests in caravan operations to the Southern Levant), may denote cultural and social ties with the southernmost part of Canaan. This adds more evidence to the multifaceted picture being created of the Asiatic groups and subgroups which infiltrated the Egyptian Delta in the early 2nd Millennium BCE and eventually led to the rise of Hyksos rule.

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

The Sherden were a part of Sea Peoples who attacked Egypt during the Ramesside period. The Sherden raiders were enemies of Egypt at the beginning of the reign of Ramesses II, who proclaimed its victory on them. After their defeat, many of them were captured and integrated into the Egyptian army, becoming one of the best troops of foreign auxiliaries. They were used by Egyptians during all the Ramesside period. They served as units of infantry or as bodyguard of the king. The famous reliefs describing the battle of Kadesh and the battle of Dapour in the time of Ramesses II, the Libyan war of Merenptah, and the Libyan and northern wars of Ramesses III, refer to the significant presence of the Sherden units in the Egyptian army. This paper surveys and discusses the military role of Sherden warriors in the Egyptian army during the Ramesside period.

This article is re-investigating the Egyptian and Egyptianizing material found in the Royal Tombs I, II and III of Byblos. Based on these objects and the local MB pottery coming from these tombs a date change into the MB IIB period for these tombs is proposed.

The never-ending stream of new publications means that
some important ones get unnoticed. This slender and elegant
volume brings together the most complete published data
on the iron artefacts from the burial equipment of King
Tutankhamun (Tomb KV 62). It was not cited in the latest
discussion of the ancient Egyptian iron in the JEA,
therefore it is necessary to raise awareness about this book
and stress its importance for the research of Egyptian
ironwork and metallurgy.

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

An almost complete box decorated with engraved bone plaques was found in the destruction debris of the Canaanite ceremonial palace at Hazor. Twenty-two additional, similarly engraved bone plaques were found scattered in the building and its immediate surroundings. Among the box plaques and scattered plaques alike, the head of the Egyptian goddess Hathor is the most common motif. A study of the iconography shows that similar artistic portrayals are present on comparable boxes found in Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Cyprus. These boxes fall into two categories: game-boxes and container boxes. Based on the Hazor example, the latter were used for the storage of jewellery and other valuables. The motifs depicted on both types of boxes have much in common. Egyptian influence on the Hazor artist is clearly evident, however it seems that the influence was not always direct: some of the Egyptian motifs seem to have reached Hazor via Syrian intermediaries. Even though the Hazor box was discovered in a 13th century BCE context, a comparative study of similar boxes from Egypt and Cyprus clearly shows that this type of box was produced sometime in the 16th–early 15th centuries BCE. Being valuable objects, the boxes were certainly cherished by their owners and passed on from one generation to the next, which may explain the fact that some, like the Hazor box, were found in contexts two to three centuries later than the date they were produced.

"A doctoral research project pertaining to the presence, evolution and distribution of Egyptian scarabs in the northern Levant was conducted by Vanessa Boschloos at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Royal Museums of Art and History of Brussels. Present-day Lebanon and Syria yielded a large number of scarab-shaped seals, both Egyptian imports and non-Egyptian imitations and adaptations. They are mainly known from excavation reports but remain largely unstudied. For the first time, an exhaustive catalogue of provenanced finds from this region is offered and completes research that, until now, was mostly concentrated on scarabs from the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan). By studying the excavated material kept in public and private collections worldwide (Beirut, Aleppo, Damascus, Paris, London, Oxford,
Cambridge, Liverpool, Brussels, etc.) all available information on provenance (and, if possible, on the precise archaeological context), material, typological features, iconography and stylistic aspects was gathered. The aim of this research was to reconstruct local, regional and interregional distribution patterns and to confront the archaeological data with the known historical background of Egyptian-Levantine relations. The scarabs are a reflection of the intensity and periodicity of Egyptian influence in these sites and in the entire northern Levant. Imitations of imported scarabs and the identification of local seal workshops provide us with a clearer understanding of these Egyptian-Levantine contacts and of the impact of the imported material on the local production."

‘Minoans’ have been recognised as pre-Hellenic race or closed ethnic group in Egyptian representations of Aegean figures from Eighteenth Dynasty Theban tombs. Modern construct of ‘Minoans’ thus merged with an ancient Egyptian construct of Aegean foreigners. Previous approaches to Aegean figures in Theban tombs did not pay attention to decorum, context and restricted knowledge. By examining these concepts it is argued in this paper that decorum can transform restricted knowledge into available knowledge for the tomb visitors. The abducted meanings from these images materialized virtual reality different from reality based on the tomb-owner’s restricted knowledge. However, this abducted virtual reality can actually take the form of reality for those who lack specific restricted knowledge. Based on decorum analysis it can be argued that New Kingdom Egyptians perceived Keftiu and its inhabitants as quite close to their cultural concept of ‘north’ and ‘Asia’, observable both in visual and written evidence.

"The main point is that when one takes into account what we know about ancient Egyptian mathematics (based primarily on the Rhind Papyrus) and what we know about the system of measuring lengths in terms of "cubits," "palms," and "fingers" , everything involves  the number 7 and its multiple.

There is a growing body of seal impressions from various sites on Bahrain and Failaka. The available evidence from the City IIb-c period indicates that sealing practices were not limited to a small, privileged section of Dilmun society. Moreover, in both institutional and domestic settings broken sealings have been found that were stored and kept for some time before being discarded, often in discrete batches, which suggests the existence of a widely-adopted accounting system. Stratigraphical and spatial distribution of sealings, especially in combination with the designs of the seals that are imprinted on them, are important indicators of the level of connectivity and the place of these households within Early Dilmun’s social fabric. This paper discusses some of their implications for our understanding of Dilmun’s socio-economic structure and organisation.

Keywords: Dilmun, Bronze Age, seals and seal impressions, archival practices, socio-economic complexity

The Battle of Kadesh was the most famous military clash in the ancient history and the first major conflict in the ancient world, before Alexander, to be described in detail. Ramesses II clearly regarded the Battle of Kadesh as the peak of his entire reign. The important military role of the bodyguard of Ramesses II was noticeable in the records of Ramesses II on the Battle of Kadesh. Ramesses II rescued in the battlefield, according to the valor of the royal bodyguard, which consisted mostly of the Sherden soldiers, after the escape of his officers and soldiers during the harsh moments of fighting that followed the Hittite attack on the lines of the Egyptian army at the beginning of the battle. This paper discusses the significant military role of the bodyguard of the warrior pharaoh Ramesses II in this great battle.

"The second half of the second millennium BC is a poorly understood period in the history of Mesopotamia, the Persian/Arabian Gulf and adjacent areas. Soon after unifying southern Mesopotamia, by conquering the Sealand, the Kassite rulers of Babylonia became involved in the diplomatic relations between the major courts in the Near East, including Egypt. The correspondence between the 'great kings', part of which was found at Amarna in Egypt, was primarily concerned with arranging political marriages and exchanging valuable gifts. Babylonia sent lapis lazuli, horses and chariots to Egypt in exchange for large amounts of raw gold. This gold was used by the Kassite kings to finance large-scale building programmes and revitalise the Babylonian economy. Acquisition of Egyptian gold was essential for establishing important Babylonian political goals: the close incorporation of the former Sealand and the legitimization and consolidation of Kassite rule, which was based on divine legitimation supported by a sound economic policy.

In contemporary sources, Babylonia is identified as the centre of the lapis trade. Being one of the few Babylonian exchange items it is quite likely that a steady supply of this semi-precious stone was one of the most important topics on the political agenda. The small amount of lapis items from Mitanni and Assyria mentioned in the Amarna texts implies that it is unlikely that lapis entered Babylonia via a northern land route. A southern land route, controlled by Elam, is possible but was wrought with problems for most of this period. Given its extreme importance it does not seem plausible that the Kassite kings depended on lapis lazuli brought to Babylonia via land routes, especially since they were all too well aware of the danger of long-distance overland routes, even in a favourable political situation. A sea route seems more plausible and preferable.

It is generally accepted that during the late third and early second millennium most of the lapis lazuli made its way to Mesopotamia through the Gulf, but that this trade network — dominated by Dilmun — collapsed during the Old Babylonian period. The second half of the second millennium is represented in Dilmun (Bahrain, the adjacent Saudi Arabian coast and the island of Failaka) by the City III period, during which it was governed by a high Babylonian official. Items from this period made of materials alien to Dilmun (copper, gold, alabaster, lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate, ivory, ochre) indicate that mercantile relations were still maintained with its former partners Magan (Oman Peninsula) and Meluhha (Indus Civilisation).

The fields of economy, politics and religion are intertwined in the ideological concepts involved in Babylonian kingship. Against the background of establishing interregional relationships and upholding internal Babylonian power relations, the incorporation of Dilmun may be seen as an attempt by the Kassite kings to secure the supply of lapis lazuli. A maritime route through the Gulf should be seen as a successful effort not to become dependent upon other (competing) powers for obtaining this precious stone, and also to circumvent any difficulties that might arise between Babylonia and the source area(s) east of the Zagros Mountains. The extreme importance of lapis lazuli for the Kassite kings might not only explain the incorporation of Dilmun in Kassite Babylonia but also justify the important position of Dilmun in its political constellation."