Consumption Preferences at the Collapse of Empire: The Case of New Kingdom Jaffa

Summary

The site of Tel Yafo (modern Jaffa, Israel) provides unique insight into the tenure of the Egyptian New Kingdom empire in the Levant (ca. 16th - 11th centuries BCE). As attested to in both ancient documents and by the presence of Egyptian monumental architecture, Jaffa functioned as an important imperial center. As the empire waned, Jaffa persisted as one of the last Egyptian holdings in the region. Recent excavations by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project (JCHP) have opened this final period to scrutiny by uncovering a series of narrowly dated occupation and destruction levels within the city's gateway. Through close examination of the ceramic data generated by these excavations, it is possible to detect both gradual and punctuated shifts in the character of the assemblage wherein there is a diachronic decrease in the consumption of imported and locally produced Egyptian ceramics. When considered contextually, these shifts correlate with violent episodes at the site, culminating in the complete disappearance of Egyptian-style forms from the material record. Indeed, the C14-derived absolute chronology of each phase allows for the assessment of consumption preferences in both functional and symbolic ceramic categories at an almost generational level as individuals negotiated the end of Egyptian imperial control.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Wheel of Fortune: Ceramic Analysis and the Study of Technology, Exchange, and Sociopolitical Change in the Mediterranean and Greater Near East   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17327