Tell el-Dab'a

Tell el-Dab’a experienced an increase in immigration during the period 1610–1590 BCE.[2] Between 1590 and 1570 BCE, the population of Tell el-Dab’a faced overcrowding.[2] Due to space restrictions, small houses were built in cemeteries, and children were buried in the doorways of larger houses.[2] Tombs became incorporated into the structure of the houses.[2]

During the early Hyksos period, members of lower social classes built their houses around their master’s house.[2] This is not as evident during the later Hyksos Period due to the overcrowding and damage caused by agriculture.[2] The size of the houses of Tell el-Dab’a indicates the affluence of the inhabitants.[2] In the north-east periphery area, the houses were very small, reflecting poorer classes.[2] In contrast, in the eastern area of Tell el-Dab’a, the remains of large houses with stairs leading to upper floors were discovered, indicating that the more wealthy members of the society lived there.[2]

Towards the end of the Hyksos period, between 1600 and 1570 BCE, the rulers of Tell el-Dab’a felt threatened by the possibility of attack.[2] They therefore built a thick enclosure wall around the city for defense.[2]

The tomb styles and methods used to bury the dead in Tell el-Dab’a were Canaanite.[2][4] The tombs consist of vaulted mud-brick chambers.[4] They reflect the belief in the afterlife of the inhabitants of Tell el-Dab’a, similar to that of the Egyptians. Grave goods were often buried with the bodies.[2] Servant and donkey burials are recognized as remarkable burial practices of Tell el-Dab’a.[2] The servant and donkey burials were practiced between 1680 and 1660 BCE. They were most popular during the period of Asiatic immigration at the beginning of the Hyksos reign.[2]

The servants were not buried in the same manner as the tomb owners: the servants were buried at a different orientation in the tomb in order to show their position in the hierarchy of Tell el-Dab’a.[2] They were buried across the tomb entrance, facing the door.[2] This is interpreted as the servants waiting for the instructions of the tomb masters, which would be a component of the ideal life in the afterlife.[2] Three servant burials have been found at Tell el-Dab’a. The servants appear to have been buried at the same time as the tomb owners during a servant sacrifice.[2]

The donkey burials took place throughout the history of Tell el Dab’a. The donkeys were generally found in pairs in front of the tombs at the site.[2] The donkeys may have been sacrificed when the tomb owner died as they were both buried at the same time.[2] The donkeys emphasize the society’s belief in the afterlife: donkeys were closely associated with expeditions and could thus be connected with the journey between life and death.[2]

Excavations at Tell el-Dab’a have uncovered temples that date to the Hyksos period. The temples exhibit Egyptian and Canaanite styles.[2] By convention, the entrances of the temples are in the north wall and the temples are orientated NNW-SSE.[2] Items such as bronze daggers, ax heads, and jugs have been found at these complexes.[4]

The most noteworthy temple is Temple I.[2] It is in the Egyptian style and dates to between 1680 and 1660 BCE.[2] It contains three sanctuaries and in its courtyard, there is evidence of an altar upon which sacrifices may have been made.[2] The outside walls were made of mud-brick that was whitewashed. Traces of blue paint have been found on the walls.[2]

In 1987, thousands of fragments of Minoan wall paintings were discovered in the ancient gardens that adjoin the palace complex of Tell el-Dab’a, on the site of a fortress of the early New Kingdom.[5] The fragments show techniques, subjects, and styles that are characteristic of Minoan frescos.[5] The frescos were applied as buon fresco, a defining aspect of Minoan works.[6] They include scenes of maze-like patterns, bulls and bull-leapers, the flying gallop, griffins, and leopard and lion hunts, images associated with the Minoan artistic culture. The Minoan wall paintings from Tell el-Dab’a therefore show that the early [7]18th dynasty rulers were open to works and themes from the eastern Mediterranean.[8] The Hyksos and Minoan societies were in contact, potentially through itinerant artists who transferred Minoan technology to Tell el-Dab’a. The population of Tell el-Dab’a may have also included Aegean families, resulting in direct connections between Aegean and Egyptian art.[3]

The bull-leaping scenes depicted on the fresco fragments are considered to be indistinguishable from those found in Minoan palaces.[8] The theme of bull leaping is identified in particular with Knossos, Crete.[5] The fresco was painted in the Minoan bull-leaping fresco style: a dark-skinned individual with dark, wavy hair wearing Minoan-style clothing, namely the kilt, boots, and armbands, is depicted performing a flip over a bull’s back.

Nanno Marinatos tentatively formed a two-fold scene of the lion and leopard hunting fragments in 1994.[3] Leopards are depicted hunting deer against a red background in the upper scene of the fresco while lions chasing an ibex is illustrated in the lower region. Other fragments show boots. It was thus deduced that a hunting scene was depicted. In addition, Bietak included a photograph of a leopard in his work that shows its rear parts.[3] The animal’s legs and tail are fully extended in the flying gallop pose in order to show motion, a common representational technique of Minoan art.

Approximately 500 pieces of Cypriot pottery, containing oil and perfume, were discovered at Tell el-Dab’a. Pendent Line, Cross Line, and White Painted V styles of White Painted Cypriot pottery compose the largest component of exported pottery to Tell el-Dab’a, indicating that Tell el-Dab’a had trade relations with Cyprus.[9] The majority of the exported pieces were of the “broad band” tradition.[9] A single rim fragment from a jar of the White Painted V Fine Line Style was found at the site.[9]

The Hyksos citadel must have been constructed towards the end of the Hyksos Period (ph. D/2), as fragments of Cypriot Bichrome Ware have been found in sand dumps deposited in order to raise the land for the construction.[10]

In the Second Intermediate Period graves were uncovered sets of sphendonoid weighing stones, confirming the use of shekel weighing system, both "Syrian" (c. 9-9.5 g) and "Mesopotamian" (c. 8.1-8.5 g).[11] Here presumably stems the changed weighing system of the New Kingdom, with a completely different deben unit than in previous periods.