Tell el-Dab´a XII. A Corpus of Late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate period Pottery: Part II: Hyksos Period Pottery and Conclusions

Excavations over the past thirty years at the site of Tell el-Dab`a have revealed that it is by far the largest and the oldest Middle Bronze Age site in the Eastern Delta. Beginning in 1966 and resumed after a break between 1970 and 1974, some 50 excavation and study seasons have led to the accumulation of an enormous amount of material from sites dating from the Twelfth Dynasty to the Late New Kingdom. Most of the investigated strata, tombs and temples belong to the time of the Late Middle Kingdom and the Hyksos Period. The wealth of material finds which derive from this site is legendary, not least amongst these are those of a ceramic nature. This volume, the second of two which deal with the pottery from the Late Middle Kingdom to the end of the Hyksos Period, comprises a corpus of Hyksos Period pottery, drawn primarily from complete forms, contemporary with the Fifteenth Dynasty, and general conclusions which utilise the corpora of both volumes to arrange the material in chronological order. This Hyksos Period pottery is divided into 146 ceramic groups which are subdivided between those forms which probably developed in the North-Eastern Delta out of traditional Middle Kingdom shapes, and those which were clearly inspired by contemporary Middle Bronze Age developments in the Levant. To the former are attributed fifty eight Nile clay groups, sub-divided into both fine wares and coarse wares, and ten marl clay groups, the latter divisible between Marl C, already known in the earlier volume, and a completely new fabric, Marl F, which was first utilised at this time. The Middle Bronze inspired pottery is similarly partitioned between Nile clays, again divisible into fine and coarse wares, and marl clays although in this case only Marl F vessels are found. From this it is clearly seen that the ceramic corpus, whilst owing inspiration to both Egyptian and Levantine traditions is different to both, and talk of a distinct Hyksos pottery culture is therefore justified. Moreover the Hyksos pottery from Tell el-Dab`a substantially adds to the idea of a unified Eastern Delta ceramic realm, already hinted at by earlier excavations in this area. Since this pottery style is not found south of the Tell el-Yahudieh - Heliopolis area, this volume provides further evidence for the regional diversity of pottery styles within Egypt during the later Second Intermediate Period. The substantial section devoted to the conclusions draws on the entire 343 distinct ceramic groups listed in both volumes to describe the typical pottery corpora found, layer by layer, at Tell el-Dab`a from stratum H - D/2. Thus nine distinct corpora, covering around 300 years are illustrated, stratum by stratum, and although relying primarily on complete shapes it can be seen when different groups first appeared and finally disappeared from the ceramic record. Arranged thus it is immediately apparent that, at Tell el-Dab`a, there are three major chronological divisions namely an early group of pottery which occurs, or is most common up to and including stratum G/1-3 = c, another group which is most often attested between stratum G/1-3 = c and E/1 = b/1-a/2, and a third group which appears, almost out of nowhere, in stratum E/1 = b/1-a/2 and continues to, at least stratum D/2.