Author Description

The Austrian excavations over the past thirty years at the Tell el-Daba site 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 fifty excavation and research seasons have led to the accumulation of an enormous amount of material dating from the Twelfth Dynasty to the Late New Kingdom. Most of the investigated strata belong to the Late Middle Kingdom and the Hyksos Period. The wealth of material finds that have been gained from this site is legendary, not least amongst these are the ceramics, which are analysed in this study. The book begins with a general introduction listing the scope of the publication and continues with clay materials, vessel terminology, the various parts of the vessels and descriptive abbreviations. Section II deals with the pottery from the Late Middle Kingdom to the beginning of the Hyksos Period and comprises a general corpus of Egyptian and imported Levantine pottery from the time of the Late Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties. The volume presents the first detailed discussion of the co-existence between the culture of Ancient Egypt during the Late Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period with the Syro-Palestinian Middle Bronze Age culture. Section III contains an analysis of the Hyksos pottery that developed in the North-Eastern Delta from a explicitly localized blending of Egyptian and Middle Bronze Age traditions. Outside of the Memphis-Fayum region, and, to a lesser extent, Elephantine, pottery of the Second Intermediate Period is but poorly known, thus the publication of this material is a distinct addition to our knowledge of the regional styles that developed during this period. In both sections all the vessels are grouped typologically, thus allowing the reader a quick overview of how certain forms develop over time, the more so since they are all clearly illustrated on a user-friendly scale.