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REL 433 - Biblical Archaeology

Mazar - Chapter 6 - Mighty Canaanite City States

The MB II Period, ca. 2,000 - 1,550 BC

What was going on elsewhere :

Egypt

• Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, 1,991 - 1,786 BC, followed by decline and the
  Hyksos invasion, 1,786 - 1,567 BC
• Avaris was founded ca 1,720 - 1,700
• The story of Sinuhe - adventures of an Egyptian exile who eventually returned to Egypt after travels in Arabia/Canaan.
• The Execration texts - to put a curse on enemies, and smash the figure of the enemy, in an attempt to use magic to destroy enemy cities.
• For trade, Egypt tended to bypass Canaan, and send ships to Byblos, which was a source of timber which Egypt did not have.
• There was an Egyptian military outpost for some time at Megiddo - letters have been found, from an Egyptian commander writing back to Egypt.

Mesopotamia

• Semitic peoples - the "Amorites" establish control over most of the cities in the region, but adopt the cultures of the preceding peoples.
• Mari becomes a powerful trade center.
• Hurrians expand to cover more of northern Mesopotamia.
• Hittites moving into central Turkey, probably from the north, and establish their kingdom.

Syria

• Ebla becomes an important center, with many similarities to Canaanite cities of Israel/Palestine/Canaan

MB IIA, 2,000 - 1,800 BC

Settlement Pattern :

• Large fortified cities along the northern coastal plain and the Jezreel and Beth-Shean valleys. The cities had walls and glacis, and towers. Most were founded on new sites rather than on previous city sites.
• The city gates at Megiddo and Acre had a long corridor; there was a gate chamber at Megiddo.
• No sites have been found in the northern Negev or Trans-Jordan.
• There were distinct differences between EB IV/MB I and MB IIA, which leads to the conjecture that MB IIA was probably due to immigrants from the north - Syria, Lebanon - rather than to evolution from EB IV /MB I.
• Inside a city there were houses, palaces, cult places or shrines, and graves.

Burials :

• Inside the city; individual.

Pottery :

• The Potter's Wheel was in use.
• There were new shapes of pots - globular or piriform - which indicates a clear break with EBIV/MBI, but with similarities to EB III.
• Typical pots had painted decorations of red and black horizontal bands, and were finished with a burnished red slip.

Metallurgy :

• Bronze replaced copper as the metal for tools and weapons.
  Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.
• Trade in tin - from Afghanistan or Anatolia.
• Mari, in northern Mesopotamia, developed as a trade center.

MB II B & C : 1,800 - 1,550 BC

There was a smooth transition from MB IIA to MB IIB, indicating peaceful cultural development.
This period coincides with the loss of power by Egypt and the invasion of the "Hyksos" - who may have been Canaanites - into northern Egypt - Lower Egypt. The Hyksos leaders became the rulers of the 15th Dynasty of Egypt.

Settlement Pattern :

• Expansion of MB IIA sites, and increased settlement and urban growth.
• There is evidence of Town Planning, with massive fortifications indicating wars between city-states.
• Defensive measures included the development of the Rampart, or Glacis fortifications.
  A Rampart is an earthen slope round the outside of the city walls - similarities with Ebla and Carchemish.
• The first examples of the multi-chambered city-gate belong to this period; such a gate was also found at Ebla.
  The City Gates were made of wood - there were no hinges, but the doors turned on a spindle in a stone socket in the ground.
• Important cities of this period : Hazor, Dan, Acre, Megiddo, Beth-Shean, Gezer, Lachish, Shechem, Bethel, Gibeon, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jericho.
• Huge palace complexes indicate the unequal distribution of wealth and power.
• Temples were rectangular halls with a "Holy of Holies" opposite the entrance.

Warfare :

• The introduction of chariots and the battering ram.

Weapons :

• The Duckbill axe was no longer made, but was replaced by a narrow chisel-shaped axe.
• New shapes for daggers, spearheads, and axes.

Agriculture :

• Evidence for irrigation channels at Hazor.

Burial Practices :

• Family sites, in caves, as at Jericho, or under houses, as at Megiddo.
• Burial of infants in pottery jars.

Pottery :

• Pots had thinner walls and were fired at higher temperatures, indicating improved technology.
• Introduction of a white or cream-colored slip.
• Not much decoration, except on Tell el-Yehudiyeh Ware from Egypt and from the Phoenician coast.
• Later developments - "Chocolate on White Ware" and "Bichrome Ware".

Trade :

• with Cyprus - for copper.
• with Egypt and the Levant.

Art :

• Metal figurines of deities show Syrian influence.
• Jewelry - pins, pendants, earrings.
• Scarab Seals, related to Egyptian mythology, and
  Cylinder Seals. Motifs included Baal, Astarte, sphinxes, griffins, lions.
• Development of inlay techniques - bone inlays in wooden boxes - this technique was already practised in Ur.

Writing :

• Cuneiform Akkadian texts - using Sumerian cuneiform letters, to write in the Akkadian language.
  Akkadian was the international language of the Middle East at that time.
• At least by this time - and probably earlier - the Proto-Canaanite system of writing was being developed.
  Proto-Canaanite developed into Phoenician, then was adopted and adapted by the Greeks, and so became the basis of our Western Latin Alphabet.

End of the Middle Bronze :

• Hittite raids and the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt.
• Egyptians destroyed many cities in Canaan, but the destruction was not permanent - the cities were rebuilt again later.
• There was an influx of people fleeing from the Hittites.

Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved

Dr. Rollinson

Department of Religion
ENMU Station 19
Portales, NM 88130

Last Updated: January 31, 2008

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