Academic literature on the topic 'Egyptian-Levantine relations'

Although the contacts between the populations of the southern Levant and the Nile Valley date back to earlier times, the archaeological record indicates a significant change for the last third of the fourth millennium BC (the period of Early Bronze IB, in the Levantine chronology). This period is characterized by a remarkable expansion of the number of South Levantine sites where ceramics and other Egyptian objects are registered, whether imported directly or made locally imitating patterns previously known in the Nile Valley. These sites also show new types of evidence of Egyptian influence, including building structures, ceramics with serekhs and Egyptian-like sealings. The exact meaning of this Egyptian presence is not easy to establish. Researchers have proposed very different hypotheses, from those that suggest an Egyptian conquest of the region, to those that focus on the problem in terms of Egyptian “colonies” or exchange relations between both regions. These interpretations will be considered here taking into account the diversity that seems to emerge from the types of evidence of the Egyptian presence in different South Levantine sites. In particular, recent information from Tel Erani will be considered, a site that is being re-excavated by archaeologists from the Jaguelonian University of Krakow, the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Beersheba), and the Israel Antiquities Authority, with the collaboration of an Argentine team from the University of Buenos Aires. Such information—particularly the traces of a remarkable wall that pre-date the evidence of Egyptian influence—could contribute to the reinterpretation of the ideas currently available on the nature of the Egyptian presence in the southern Levant at the end of the Early Bronze

The societies occupying the Nile Delta in the 4th millennium BC were not cut off from the neighboring regions of Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant. The Nile River, which served as a transport route between southern and northern Egypt, and the geographical proximity of the Southern Levant to the Nile Delta were probably both factors that allowed contact to occur between the regions. Whilst a significant number of Southern Levantine and Upper Egyptian imports have been found at Lower Egyptian cultural sites, the quantity of Lower Egyptian items from the same period found in the Southern Levant and in southern Egypt is more limited. This state of affairs did not occur by chance, which suggests that the scarcity of northern Egyptian finds outside Lower Egypt can probably be attributed to the nature of trade and the position of the Nile Delta in this period.Although our knowledge of the contact of the Delta with Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant is constantly expanding, many issues still remain unclear, including that of trading patterns. Archeological research currently being conducted in northern Egypt (mainly at Tell el-Farkha, Tell el-Iswid, Sais and Buto) has provided us with new material that adds to our understanding of the field. From the most recent excavation results, it would appear that from the very beginnings of its existence, the Tell el-Farkha site in the eastern Delta was as an important exchange center where the influence of the east and the south came together.The aim of this paper is to portray the interaction occurring between the Delta, Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant in the 4th millennium BC on the basis of material found at the excavation site of Tell el-Farkha in the eastern Nile Delta and to explain the role of the Nile Delta in political and cultural relations between these regions.

AbstractThis article discusses some of the results of the fieldwork which has been carried out since 1994 by Liverpool University at the site of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham (Mersa Matruh). In particular it concentrates on how the epigraphic and archaeological evidence recovered from this Ramesside fortress-town has produced new insights into Egypto-Libyan relations, and especially how Egypt operated its short-lived imperial administration of the Marmarican coast during the Late Bronze Age. Egyptian inscriptional evidence from the fortress names the specific Libyan groups against which it was directed, while adding to the debate regarding the areas of operation of these groups by locating itself within “Tjemeh-Land”. Both inscriptional and archaeological evidence indicate that Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham was intended to be, and became, a major fortress-town like those known from Egypt's Nubian and Levantine empire. Evidence for food-processing and the production of linen cloth makes it clear that Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham was largely self-sufficient rather than being reliant on supplies from the Nile Valley. However, this self-sufficiency could only be maintained with the goodwill of local Libyan groups, suggesting some level of economic symbiosis between those groups and the fortress' garrison. On a wider level, the desire to protect Egyptian economic interests, in particular international maritime trade routes, was undoubtedly a major factor behind the construction of this (and other) fortresses on the Mediterranean coast during the reign of Ramesses II.Finds of significant quantities of foreign (Canaanite, Aegean, Cypriote) material at Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham are a clear indicator of this role, while it is suggested that the Libyan groups against whom this trade route needed to be protected were not the ‘local’ Tjehenu and Tjemeh Libyans but the newly-appeared Meshwesh and Libu.

Recent studies of the archaeozoological material from the site of Ras Shamra- Ugarit and of related textual sources have been added to the archaeological data; these studies demonstrate in an unexpected manner the importance which the wild boar held on this site during the Late Bronze Age. Is this importance characteristic of Ugarit or of the Late Bronze Age? This question encouraged us to look for traces of wild boars and wild boar hunting in the osteological, iconographic, and textual data for this period in neighbouring regions. This study represents the first stage in research which is intended to be carried out in more detail. Thus here we will only propose avenues for reflection. The site of Ras Shamra on the Syrian coast corresponds to the ancient city-state of Ugarit, the flourishing capital of a small coastal kingdom. Its key geographical situation and its port rendered it a point of contact between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world. The city prospered in the Late Bronze Age before being destroyed by the ‘sea people’ in about 1180 BC. The ‘sea people’ and the ‘people from the North’ are known exclusively from Egyptian sources (Ramsès III, Medinet Abu). They are considered to be the destroyers of almost all the Levantine cities of the coast at that period. The excavations of the port (Minetel- Beida), the royal palace, the sanctuaries, and the residential quarters have produced many objects which are evidence of relations with Egypt, Cyprus, and Anatolia, as well as exceptional archives (2nd millennium BC)—numerous economic, administrative, literary, and mythological texts on clay tablets. Ugarit was an important commercial crossroads (Yon 1997). The archaeozoological study carried out on nearly 7000 bone remains reveals a food economy based on the breeding of cattle, sheep, and goats (Vila in press c). Evidence of pig rearing was not found. Hunting was not a common activity, being concentrated mainly on deer and sometimes wild boar. Although its domestic equivalent the pig was not bred at Ugarit, the wild boar was hunted and consumed on the site: 22 remains, some with butchering marks, provide the evidence (Vila & Dalix 2004).