Empire and Rebellion: Egyptian Imperialism and Insurgency in the Late Bronze Age Levant

Summary

The wide-ranging research focused on the turbulence of the Late Bronze Age in the Mediterranean and the Levant has not yet yielded a unified narrative of how this period was experienced across the region. While some sites exhibit no sign of the infamous collapse or ‘crisis,’ many others exhibit rapid abandonment or destruction layers. The narrative surrounding these destructions tends to be viewed as relating to either the imperial Egyptian invasion, Israel’s rising kingdom, or all manner of so-named ‘Sea Peoples.’ This macro-causal approach leaves fewer considerations of micro-scale incidents of local resistance/agency. Recent evidence from a New Kingdom outpost in Jaffa (Tel Yafo), excavated by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project (JCHP), sheds light on just such a possibility. Specifically, evidence suggests a local Canaanite resistance against Egyptian domination. In this poster, I reconsider a number of Late Bronze Age New Kingdom outposts (e.g. Beit She’an) to better gauge the intensity of Egyptian influence in the Levant and to posit the probability of local efforts to collectively resist.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

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