Canaan under Siege

The History and Archaeology of Egypts War in Canaan

during the Early Eighteenth Dynasty

Aaron A. Burke

Despite the considerable attention that has been devoted to the study of the end of
the Middle Bronze Age, to Late Bronze Age Canaan, and to the development of the
New Kingdom Egyptian Empire in the Levant, a nuanced historical-archaeological
reconstruction of the opening days of Egyptian imperialism remains lacking. In part,
this deficiency is owed to the prerequisites of familiarity with, on the one hand, the
history, material culture, and settlement patterns of the Levant during both the Middle and Late Bronze Ages and, on the other, with the history of Egypts New Kingdom campaigns. The dearth of syntheses is also owed to the adherence to entrenched
and outdated models for Canaans political organization, which are central to understanding the changes brought about during this transition period, and the limited
attention devoted to, until recently, the archaeological evidence for Egypts intervention in and policies toward Canaan. The continued employment of dated constructs limits our ability to nuance the development of Egypts military policy toward Canaan over the course of the Late Bronze Age, particularly within the LB IA
(ca. 15301460 BC). As is argued in this article, these constructs obscure the identification of the material and ideological effects of Egypts dominance and the recognition of Egypts very gradual subjugation and effective balkanization of Middle
Bronze Age territorial kingdoms in the southern Levant which began during the LB
IA. What follows, therefore, is the result of an attempt to formulate a nuanced historical-archaeological reconstruction of Egypts early conquests in Canaan by relying not only upon archaeological data from sites and settlement patterns during the
transition between the Middle and Late Bronze Ages (MB IIILB IA), but also to
use evidence relating to the nature of Bronze Age warfare and a new perspective on
the evolution of polities in the Levant during this period.
The Close of the Middle Bronze Age
It is widely agreed that during the MB III (ca. 16001530 BC) the southern Levant
continued the settlement trend begun during the MB II and that it was characterized
by a process known as settlement infilling, which resulted in the presence of a
greater number of smaller settlements scattered across the landscape between larger

44

Aaron A. Burke

fortified centers that existed during the MB II.1 The presence of a large number of
cemeteries dated to the MB IIIII that presumably belonged to the inhabitants of
nearby, although often unidentified settlements,2 suggests that many of these settlements were unfortified and short-lived, perhaps lasting as little as a few decades
during the MB IIIII. Although it is not an easy process to distinguish settlements
founded in the late MB II from those founded during the MB III, the prevailing political and socioeconomic conditions, which I identify as Pax Amoritica, suggest the
continuation of the MB II settlement trend and associated political organization.3
Political Organization and Strategic Defenses
The settlement pattern at the close of the Middle Bronze Age was intrinsically related to the nature of the political organization of the southern Levant. Canaans
political organization at the close of the Middle Bronze Age permits a clearer articulation of Egypts approach to the conquest of Canaan at the start of the New
Kingdom and its subsequent approach to the administration of the region. The prevailing interpretation of Canaans political organization during the MB IIIII, which
has been characterized as that of dozens of independent city-states,4 has relied nearly
entirely on the retrojection of the political organization characteristic of Late Bronze
Age Canaan as identified from the Amarna letters.5 As I have argued, however, the
defensive strategy of the late Middle Bronze Age was inherently dictated by the
largest urban, fortified settlements (i.e., political capitals), which can be identified as
the dominant polities (preferably referred to as kingdoms) during the second half of
the Middle Bronze Age. This can be inferred from the spatial relationship between
first-tier centers and settlements around them, namely the strategic location of certain
settlement types (discussed below), as well as the considerable labor required in the
construction of monumental fortifications at small sites.
Among the most conspicuous of these political centers were Hazor and Ashkelon,6 but probably others included small centers in the highlands, such as Shechem
and Jerusalem.7 Ashkelons landscape is an excellent case study of the relationship
between secondary sites and their political centers. Indeed, it was the settlement
pattern and site types of the kingdom of Ashkelon during the MB IIIII, which con1

In this article the following terms are used to designate phases of the Middle Bronze Age, replacing the MB IIAIIC terminology: MB I (ca. 19001700 BC), MB II (ca. 17001600), and
MB III (ca. 16001530 BC). Dates for the reigns of Egyptian pharaohs and their campaigns
are based on Kitchen 2000. The LB IA (ca. 15301460).
2
I do not accept the supposition that cemeteries lacking association with conspicuous settlements must have belonged to pastoral nomads (contra Gonen 1981, for the Late Bronze Age).
The suggestion is problematic given the dense settlement pattern of the urban Middle Bronze
Age, which would have required that such cemeteries fell within the territory of one or another
polity, and in light of the realization that pastoral nomads were most likely the social relations
(i.e., kith and kin) of the inhabitants of MB urban settlements. Indeed, to the extent that any
burials would be identified as those of pastoral nomads they are indistinguishable from those
of their urban counterparts.
3
Burke 2008, 100101.
4
Dever 1987.
5
For discussion, see Burke 2008, 119121; also Sugerman 2009.
6
Burke 2008, 117, 125135.
7
Burke 2008, 117119.

Canaan under Siege

45

stituted a well defined defensive strategy,8 that became one of the foci of Egypts
early efforts to subdue the region as argued below. Although in no single territory
are all of these settlement types in evidence, owing to the exigencies of archaeological exploration, the defensive strategy employed appears to have focused on a settlement network comprised of sites of varying sizes and functions. Settlements
ranged from large fortified centers like Hazor and Ashkelon (> 50 ha) to smaller
fortified settlements, unfortified villages including those of less than 0.2 ha in size,
fortresses, watchtowers, and rural agricultural estates or farmsteads.9 Along major
road networks, for example, a series of towers (magdalma), were erected to provide
advanced warning of approaching threats and to protect caravans that plied the
overland road and its tributaries between Aleppo and Avaris.10 These towers are
today identified by means of toponyms deriving from the Arabic term mjdal, and
no fewer than sixty such sites can be identified in the Levant that are predominantly
of late Middle and Late Bronze Age date (ca. 17001200 BC).
In addition to the evidence for settlement hierarchy and a variety of settlement
types, other lines of evidence support the identification of a period of political organization in Canaan that was dominated by large territorial kingdoms like Hazor
and Ashkelon. Around Ashkelon, the spatial relationship of second-tier fortified
centers reveals their location at one-days travel by foot throughout the coastal plain
(Figure 1). Not only is this relationship meaningful because it is reflective of the
potential sphere of Ashkelons immediate political control, but the location of its
secondary and tertiary fortified settlements, which fall along an average distance of
30 km (between 25 and 33 km) from Ashkelon, reveals the employment of a consistent defensive strategy, which is characterized by the construction of rectilinear defensive layouts known during the MB II throughout the Levant.11 The considerable
effort required to defend these smaller sites ranging from 1.5 to 22 ha in size also
supports the recognition of a political hierarchy that was able to muster the resources
needed to construct defenses at even the smallest of these sites, such as Timnah and
Tel Sera. Within this context, the Middle Bronze Age palaces identified at Ajjul
and Lachish are recognized to be most likely the residences of provincial governors
(e.g., OB apitum). Thus, these second-tier centers, which were obviously oriented
with a focus outward from Ashkelon, served Ashkelons effort to administer its hinterland and the routes leading from its territory through the coastal plain and into the
highlands to the east.

Burke 2008, 81.

Burke 2008, 122125.
10
Burke 2007.
11
Burke 2008, 81.
9

46

Aaron A. Burke

Fig 1. The kingdom of Ashkelon at the end of the Middle Bronze Age

Canaan under Siege

47

The precise character of the defenses of Middle Bronze Age settlements are well
understood.12 At the close of the Middle Bronze Age, the average fortified settlement, such as those in the kingdom of Ashkelon, possessed substantial earthen ramparts, crowned by thick and solid mudbrick walls, studded with towers, and surrounded by a dry ditch or fosse. They were constructed with amazing regularity from
their brick sizes to gate plans. Indeed, they were sufficiently well constructed to
continue to function into the LB IA, which often complicates distinguishing precisely when the fortifications were no longer in service, despite our ability to more
accurately date their construction. This is in part the result of the fact that the continued use, modification, and rebuilding of fortification systems was not a uniform
process across each site, but was undertaken as needed, and would most often have
involved either the reapplication of mud plaster, or the reconstruction or modification of the uppermost portions of walls, which were also the first portions to be destroyed. None of these efforts to maintain the fortifications provide any real potential
for accurate dating as they are the most ephemeral elements of fortification systems
whatever the period, and essentially escape archaeological detection.
The vast majority of Canaans population, probably as much as 70% as in the
kingdom of Ashkelon,13 inhabited fortified towns during the Middle Bronze Age.
The remainder inhabited farming villages and rural agricultural estates within 15 km
from these centers, and were thus at the most a few hours away from the safety of a
fortified town (or conversely, the assistance of these towns), when circumstances
dictated. Nevertheless, during the MB III (ca. 16001530 BC), there is evidence to
suggest that the prevailing Pax Amoritica meant that newly founded settlements,
such at Tel Michal, were inadequately prepared for sustaining a siege, having abandoned the traditional approach to wall construction.14 Similarly, while the employment of so-called casemate fortification walls afforded a greater flexibility in the use
of space within ever-growing urban centers (i.e., as storage rooms), this wall type
left sites, like Shechem in the highlands, with less than the ideal defenses since they
were not battle ready.15 Indeed, these walls are hardly casemates at all, since there
is no evidence to indicate that they were ever intended to be filled in as was, for
example, the fortification wall around the Hittite capital of Hattua. As a defensive
strategy, therefore, it appears to have contributed to compromising the defensibility
of many settlements, as there is little doubt that these walls were less effective than
well-built and well-maintained, solid fortification walls of equal breadth. With the
political and military context of the late Middle Bronze Age defined, it is possible to
address the effects of Egypts expansion into Canaan during the LB IA.
Egypts Early Empire
It is generally agreed that it was Egypts early Eighteenth Dynasty that was ultimately responsible for the demise of Canaans defenses at the close of the Middle
Bronze Age. Still, a variety of opinions have been voiced concerning the duration
12

Burke 2008, 4784.

Burke 2008, 134.
14
Burke 2008, 8283.
15
Burke 2008, 6163.
13

48

Aaron A. Burke

and nature of Egyptian conquests in Canaan during the LB IA (ca. 1530 to 1460
BC), which spanned from the expulsion of the Hyksos16 by Ahmose through the
Battle of Megiddo during the reign of Thutmose III.17 Having ruled out Hurrian
invasions as a culprit,18 as previously held by a number of scholars,19 and having
eliminated notions that Egyptians were incapable of the effort required or were inept
in siege warfare,20 the Egyptian army remains the only viable culprit for the destructions attested across Canaan and especially, as will be discussed in detail here, in the
southern coastal plain.21 Although it has also been suggested that internecine feuding
between Canaanite city-states in the wake of the expulsion of the Hyksos from
Egypt, as attested during the Amarna period, may have been responsible for these
destructions, the suggestion requires accepting that Thutmose IIIs rhetorical comments concerning chaos in Canaan at the start of his campaigns portray Canaanite
infighting rather than simply a state of open rebellion by Canaanites against Egypt.
Similarly incongruous is Redfords suggestion that the site-wide destruction of MB
III settlements (i.e., representing more than the destruction of the fortifications of
these settlements) represented a methodical demolition of fortifications by the
Egyptians after their conquests and were not the result of the destruction of the sites
themselves.22 While it is clear that not all of the Late Bronze Age destructions evidenced in the archaeological record can be correlated with specific Egyptian references, whether textual or iconographic sources of the late Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Dynasties, the absence of historical or archaeological evidence to permit the association of these destructions with either Canaanite or Hurrian culprits is significant.
Thus, with no reasonable option left but to assign Egyptian agency to these destructions, attention can be focused on the unfolding nature of Egypts early imperial
policies during the early Eighteenth Dynasty.
Ellen Morris has provided the most up-to-date and thorough synthesis addressing
in particular Egyptian historical sources and archaeological data of relevance for
reconstructing the developmental phases of Egyptian domination from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Dynasties.23 Of interest to the LB IA is her discussion of the
16

The term Hyksos has been widely applied in earlier scholarship to include not only the
rulers of the Fifteenth Dynasty in Egypt (once thought to be of Hurrian extraction, but now recognized to be of Asiatic or, more precisely, of Amorite origin) but also the Amorite inhabitants of Canaan during the MB III. Translated as foreign rulers this Egyptian ascription
should not be applied to groups beyond the Asiatic pharaohs and their followers who resided
in the eastern Delta during the Second Intermediate Period. As was clearly the intent in previous scholarship, reference to the inhabitants of the southern Levant as Hyksos suggested an
overt political and military relationship between the Fifteenth Dynasty rulers at Avaris and the
Amorite rulers in Canaan. Nevertheless, to date neither historical nor archaeological data
suggest more than a shared Amorite koin in both regions, despite the distinct possibility that
relationships between the Hyksos in Egypt and Amorite polities in Canaan may have been
more formally arranged.
17
For a summary, see Morris 2005, 35, nn. 4045; also Weinstein 1981, 12.
18
Dever 1998; Weinstein 1991.
19
Hoffmeier 1990, 1991; Naaman 1994; Redford 1992, 137140.
20
Burke 2009; Morris 2005, 36.
21
See also Burke 2008, 101, for summary; Weinstein 1981, 25.
22
Redford 2003, 50f.
23
Morris 2005.

Canaan under Siege

49

early and middle Eighteenth Dynasty up through the reign of Thutmose III.24
Particularly striking, of course, is the limited imprint left by Egyptian campaigns
over the course of the six-decades between Ahmoses and Thutmoses campaigns,
which will be discussed further below. Seemingly absent to date is evidence for
Egyptian garrisons and fortresses that would typify Egyptian imperial presence from
the LB IB onward. Indeed, Morris has characterized this nascent empire as in a
period of crisis prior to the campaign of Thutmose III,25 although to do so is to
embrace the mistaken assumption that the later character of the Egyptian empire was
the shape intended but never realized by early Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs. Therefore, references to the campaigns of Ahmose through Thutmose III and archaeological evidence from the LB IA serve as the starting point for consideration of the intersections of these historical events and the archaeological record.
Some fundamental observations must be articulated in order to properly constrain
our efforts to characterize Egyptian grand strategy and the specific tactics that were
employed during the early Eighteenth Dynasty. As is evident from almost any historical survey of these early campaigns, it is impossible to speak of a tradition of
annual campaigning by New Kingdom pharaohs until the first campaign of Thutmose III (ca. 1460 BC), which for the first time targeted a coalition of kings gathered
at Megiddo (see discussion below). Similarly, there is no evidence that there existed
from the outset of the Eighteenth Dynasty a clear Egyptian plan to systematically
and mechanically subjugate Canaan via the overland route from the northern end of
the Ways of Horus in the wake of Egypts initial victories at Avaris and Sharuhen
(Tell el-Ajjul) by Ahmose, which is all too often assumed and would seem superficially to be most logical. This notion is a clear attempt to retroject the policy and
conduct of the later New Kingdom pharaohs to the days of Ahmose.
To the extent that it may be discerned, Egypts approach appears to have most
often exploited inland marches from the coast following a markedly dendritic penetration along drainage systems (where established routes already existed), avoiding
as much as possible the long slog that would have been necessary along the coastal
highway, which was intensively overshadowed by well-fortified sites. Unexpected as
Egyptian incursions from the coast seem to have been, these assaults met with nearly
no opposition, and permitted, therefore, inland campaigns of considerable distance as
undertaken by Amenhotep I and Thutmose I. Such efforts would have been effectively impossible along the land route during the early Eighteenth Dynasty owing to
Egypts limited control of most of this region prior to Thutmose III, as revealed by
the opposition that eventually coalesced and was mustered against the same pharaoh
at Megiddo following the death of Hatshepsut. Since it is likely, however, that most
of the destructions assigned to the LB IA in Canaan were the result of a number of
different campaigns, which may not have been conducted by the pharaoh himself, as
suggested by Morris,26 and thus some military efforts are historically unattested, an
attempt can be made to address these early campaigns using the relevant archaeological data from Canaan.
In what follows the archaeological evidence has been examined based on the
24

Morris 2005, 2767, 115164, 177180.

Morris 2005, 51, n. 85.
26
Morris 2005, 36.
25

50

Aaron A. Burke

generally accepted dates assigned to the destruction of sites by their excavators.

Attention is paid to clusters of settlements within regions that, I argue, are most
likely to have been subject to attack during the same campaign based on the recognition of a discernible pattern of strategic defenses that were in place at the end of
the Middle Bronze Age27 and which were necessarily faced by Egypt during this
period.28
Ahmose: Sharuhen and Its Hinterland
Following the siege of Avaris, Egypts coastally focused program of assaults began
at Sharuhen, widely identified with Tell el-Ajjul following predominantly Kempinskis criteria.29 Within the framework defined for the Middle Bronze Age, this campaign began what might be considered the gradual whittling away of the holdings of
the kingdom of Ashkelon at the close of the MB III. Within the context of this Middle Bronze Age polity, Sharuhen served as its southern vanguard on the overland
route leading to Egypt. The archaeology of the destruction of Ajjul City II is well
known, despite its early excavation by W. M. F. Petrie who was bound by the limits
of his nascent methodology. Of particular interest are the destroyed remains of City
II and Palace 2,30 which were at the time defended by a rampart (probably crowned
by a wall since eradicated)31 and a fosse, which was 18 m wide, 6 m deep, and encircled the site on the north, east, and south sides.32 The siege of Sharuhen is said
according to Egyptian historical records to have lasted three years, and it might be
expected that some archaeological evidence remains of the considerable effort that
such a lengthy siege required, particularly of the defenders. It is interesting therefore
to consider the possibility that the so-called Upper and Lower Tunnels, which could
never have functioned as a water system33 and was not employed for burialsas it
ran directly underneath the in-use Middle Bronze Age (so-called Hyksos) cemeterywere undertaken to provide a secret means of access to and from the site by
Sharuhens besieged as they sought to bring in supplies and send and receive messengers.34 Thus archaeological evidence at Tell el-Ajjul may substantiate a lengthy
siege, and as suggested below provides a revealing glimpse into Egyptian siege tactics, namely the effectiveness of the employment of the protracted siege by the early
Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian army.
The siege against Sharuhen is not likely to have been an isolated military operation and, in fact, the archaeological evidence inland from Sharuhen is sufficiently
consistent in character to suggest a shared fate by its hinterland communities. A
cluster of sites east of Sharuhen including Jemmeh,35 Haror,36 Sera,37 and Tell
27

Burke 2008, 124.

See Keegan 1993, 142 for a discussion of the concept of strategic defenses.
29
Kempinski 1974.
30
Tufnell / Kempinski 1993, 53.
31
On the absence of evidence of mudbrick walls, see Burke 2008, 61.
32
Burke 2008, 231.
33
Contra Tufnell / Kempinski 1993, 50.
34
Burke 2008, 232f.; 2009, 64.
35
Van Beek 1993, 668.
36
Oren 1993a, 582.
37
Oren 1993b, 1330.
28

Canaan under Siege

51

Farah South38 appear, strangely enough, to have escaped the destruction meted out
by Egyptian troops during Ahmoses multi-year siege of Sharuhen, or any subsequent early Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh. Surprisingly these sites offer no evidence
of destruction layers dated to the LB IA (thus through the reign of Thutmose III,
despite reference in his list to Yurza; see no. 60). It is necessary, therefore, to consider if an absence of evidence for destruction is correctly interpreted as a peaceful
period among these sites, particularly with the nearly continual presence of Egyptian
troops at Gaza and Sharuhen during the LB IA. While it is difficult to be sure what
the nature of Egypts actions against these settlements may have been, such settlements may have been blockaded by or may have capitulated to Egyptian troops, or
their populations fled northward in the face of the Egypts determined effort against
Sharuhen until it was considered safe to return. Such scenarios, all plausible, are
impossible to tease out of the archaeological evidence in the absence of historical
sources. Nevertheless, it is evident that, for whatever reasons, the siege of these
settlements appears to have been unnecessary, located as they were to the rear of
Sharuhen (Tell el-Ajjul) up the Nahals Besor and Gerar, and the absence of destruction levels dated to this period at these sites is conspicuous. Unclear is the relationship of Malhatas destruction located further inland, which has been dated by Kochavi to the mid-sixteenth century BC.39
Before Thutmose III: The Southern Coastal Plain
Following the limited evidence for campaigning beyond Avaris and Sharuhen during
Ahmoses reign, very limited historical evidence is available for campaigns by Ahmoses successors. Still, several lines of evidence suggest that the southern coastal
plain north of the Wadi Gaza (Nahal Besor), the territory largely under the sway of
the Middle Bronze Age kingdom of Ashkelon, had been pacified before the arrival
of Thutmose III.40 The strongest evidence for this is the conspicuous absence of the
names of Canaanite towns on Thutmose IIIs list located between Sharuhen, which
was already held by an Egyptian garrison, and Jaffa (Yapu, no. 62). Settlements
mentioned in the list within this region include only Yurza (no. 60) and Muhazzu
(no. 61).41 Among the sites (at least those identified with historical toponyms) that
are conspicuously absent in this list and that possess archaeological evidence of
destruction levels dated to the LB IA are Ashkelon(?), Tell Nagila, Lachish, Timnah,
Gezer, and Beth-Shemesh.42

38

Yisraeli 1993.
Kochavi 1967; 1992, 487.
40
Weinstein 1981.
41
The fact that both Tell Jemmeh and Tel Haror lack evidence for destruction layers dated to
this period is interesting with respect to the question of identifying either of these sites with
Yurza of this inscription, which was at least claimed to be conquered by Thutmose III, if not
destroyed. The reference to Yurza in this list may be instructive, therefore, concerning the nature of what can be concluded from the sites listed.
42
Although Weinstein listed Hesi among these destructions (Weinstein 1981, 2), its stratigraphy has not permitted a clear identification of an MB III/LB IA destruction level (Fargo
1993).
39

52

Aaron A. Burke

Gaza was in place as an Egyptian garrison no later than Thutmose IIIs first campaign,43 although it remains uncertain if it was already in Egyptian hands before this.
The extent to which Gaza was settled during the Middle or Late Bronze Ages remains, of course, unknown. Regardless, to the north of Gaza, the next parcel of territory that faced Egyptian conquest prior to Thutmose III lay along the Nahal Shiqma
at a point nearly directly inland from Ashkelon. The LB I destruction of Ashkelon
identified by Phythian-Adams44 has not been corroborated as a city-wide destruction
by the most recent excavations,45 despite the limited evidence of any sort for occupational remains of the LB I within the main excavation areas of the Leon Levy Expedition. If Ashkelon was subdued during this period, this action is likely to have been
contemporary with the Nahal Shiqma operation along which Nagila lay. Nearby
Nagila had been fortified during the MB IIIII,46 but Level VII was evidently
brought to an end by a conflagration.47 To Nagilas northeast, the well-fortified Lachish48 was burned before the end of the MB III.49 At this site, another enigmatic
tunnel was identified by Tufnell as the work of sappers,50 although this identification is considered unlikely.51
A cluster of contemporary destructions can also be identified further to the northeast of Ashkelon, again at sites that are not identified in Thutmose IIIs lists. These
include Timnah, Gezer, and Beth-Shemesh. Timnah X revealed thick destruction
debris dated by its excavator to the late sixteenth century BC.52 The destruction of
Gezer XVIII (Qasru, no. 104) has been dated by William Dever to this period.53
Although the extent of construction, or more properly maintenance, undertaken for
these fortifications during the LB IA is unclear, the fortifications appear to have been
in place during the transition with some additional glacis construction thereafter.54
Beth-Shemeshs destruction, as argued by Weinstein, is likely to represent a LB IA
destruction.55 Absent among references from Thutmose IIIs toponyms is any name
to be identified with Yavneh-Yam, which was abandoned during this period.
If the destruction of the above mentioned sites during the LB IA was not the result of Thutmose IIIs campaign, since there are no references to these places among
Ahmoses early campaigns, it is reasonable to suggest that to the extent that this area
was pacified, as suggested by LB IA destruction layers at the above sites, this process occurred after the reign of Ahmose and before that of Thumose III, being ascribed to either Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, or Hatshepsut. Unfortunately, in none of the extant sources for these rulers is mention made of specific
43

Morris 2005, 39.

Phythian-Adams 1923, 65.
45
Stager 2008, 1580.
46
Burke 2008, 298299.
47
Amiran / Eitan 1993, 10801081.
48
Burke 2008, 287288.
49
Ussishkin 1993b, 898899; Level P-4, see Ussishkin 2004, 154160.
50
Tufnell 1958, pl. 6.
51
Burke 2008, 288.
52
Mazar 1997, 4145.
53
Dever 1993, 501.
54
Burke 2008, 262263.
55
Also Burke 2008; Weinstein 1981, 3.
44

Canaan under Siege

53

campaigns in Canaan and little evidence is available to suggest a most likely candidate among them. Thutmose I, and perhaps his predecessor Amenhotep I, made
excursions into the northern Levant, but make no reference to the south.56 More
tantalizing, however, is a reference to a punitive campaign by Thutmose II against
the Shasu after which he also moved on to action in the northern Levant.57 The
association of the Shasu with the Negev and regions east may make Thutmose II a
potential candidate for the destruction of Malhata, mentioned above, that has been
dated to the mid-sixteenth century. Hatshepsuts claims concerning campaigning, as
noted by Redford, were probably plucked from the traditional jargon and permit to
isolate but a few, and rather innocuous, excursions including mining in Sinai and a
trip to Byblos.58 Therefore, despite a relative degree of confidence that Thutmose III
was not actively engaged in the subjugation of the southern coastal plain, which
apparently took place before his reign, it remains impossible to associate the regions
subjugation after Ahmoses defeat of Sharuhen with the activity of the four pharaohs preceding Thutmose III.
Canaan under Thutmose III
In his study of the Egyptian New Kingdom Empire, James Weinstein noted that
none of the westernmost sites north of Ashkelon need necessarily have been destroyed or abandoned as early as the mid-16th century B.C. making them quite
different from most of those in the southern and inland parts of Palestine.59 More
plainly stated, there is no basis for dating the destructions of sites north of Ashkelon
before the reign of Thutmose III, and it is only with the reign of Thutmose III that
the destruction of sites in Canaan can plausibly be associated with specific Egyptian
campaigns. The toponym list of Thutmose has been extensively discussed by Donald
Redford,60 but questions nevertheless remain regarding the nature of the lists. Can
they, for example, be identified as more than an itinerary? Who was the intended
audience and what purpose did they serve? Answering such questions is complicated
by the nature of our efforts to use them as historical sources, as discussed by Redford. It would be unreasonable, for example, to expect destructions of a singular
character at all of the sites listed, which were of varying size and strategic importance, in order to identify them as conquered by Thutmose III, which seems at a
minimum suggested by their inclusion in this list. Thus in this context, as underscored in the preceding section, the destroyed MB IIILB IA settlements that are not
included among these toponyms are more significant. The inference being that they
were destroyed by one of Thutmose IIIs predecessors. As Weinstein has observed,
the areas where Thutmose III claims no activity were in south-central Palestine, in
the eastern Shephelah, in the hill country, or in the southern half of the Jordan Valley.61

56

Morris 2005, 3033.

Morris 2005, 33f.
58
Redford 1992, 152.
59
Weinstein 1981, 5.
60
Redford 2003, 4356.
61
Weinstein 1981, 11.
57

54

Aaron A. Burke

While the prologue to this list refers generally to lawlessness and chaos in Retenu
and the ensuing rebellion against His Majesty the pharaoh as the basis for Thutmose IIIs campaign,62 the context for this statement is none other than the coalition
formed by the king of Qadesh to meet the pharaoh in battle. Thutmose III, while
fortunate to have caught the Canaanite armies (or at least most of them, allowing for
considerable exaggeration by the pharaoh) at Megiddo, was as prepared for open
battle as he was for siege warfare against Canaanite towns. The destruction of Megiddo IX is traditionally identified as the result of the Egyptian siege,63 although
Weinstein has noted that there is no clear evidence of a destruction associated with
this Egyptian action.64 It is fair, therefore, to characterize the defeat of the coalition
and, by extension, the armies of its individual participants as the defeat or conquest
of the individual towns from which these armies were levied. There simply would
have been no substantive defense left for these communities to muster during any
effort by Thutmose III to force the capitulation of these towns, and certainly no hope
of their defense by neighboring allies, most of whom we may conclude were also
routed at Megiddo. In this respect, the circumstances surrounding Thutmose IIIs
campaign in year 23, which was of considerable luck for the pharaoh, are entirely
unique when compared to the campaigns of his predecessors and the usual circumstances encountered in Canaan by his successors. In this fashion the aftermath of his
campaign must be regarded as similarly unique, and in every respect far more extensive than the conquests of nearly any other Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh.
The central fact for rectifying the historical context of MB IIILB IA destructions north of Ashkelon given their identification with Egyptian campaigns is that by
a process of elimination these destructions can be assigned to no later a pharaoh than
Thutmose III, if they are not to be downdated to the LB IB or later. LB IA destructions and abandonments, which are not accounted for by the campaigns of earlier
pharaohs include sites in the central coastal plain, the hill country, the Upper Galilee,
the north coast, and the Jordan Valley. Whether in cases relating to the aftermath of
Megiddo, these destruction levels were either fits of orgiastic plundering by Egyptian soldiers or systematic, although undocumented, sieges is not likely to be demonstrated. Nevertheless, all of these sites were destroyed at some point prior to the start
of the LB IB, and for the reasons cited above unlikely to have been the work of
Thutmose IIIs predecessors.
In the central coastal plain, destructions that may be the work of Thutmose III
during this period are attested at Jaffa, Gerisa, Aphek, Michal, and Mevorakh. Jacob
Kaplan identified a destruction layer that he attributed to the conquest of Canaan at
Jaffa dated to this transition.65 Gerisas fortified MB III settlement was destroyed,66
while Apheks Palace III of the MB III (Apuqn?, no. 66) was destroyed in the midsixteenth century BC according to Beck and Kochavi.67 Zeev Herzog has attributed
the late Middle Bronze Age destruction of Tel Michal to tectonic activity, down-

62

Redford 2003, 9.
Aharoni 1993, 1010.
64
Weinstein 1981, 11.
65
Kaplan 1972, 78.
66
Herzog 1993, 481.
67
Beck / Kochavi 1993, 67.
63

Canaan under Siege

55

playing the presence of considerable amounts of brick and ash from the settlement
that were present during the construction of the LB I rampart.68 Nevertheless, the
contemporaneous destruction of the site with others during this period throughout the
coastal plain, as well as the lack of unequivocal evidence for a tsunami, makes such
an ascription unlikely. The evidence from Tel Mevorakh is instructive in that it illustrates the transition of a roadside fortress, which was well-fortified throughout the
Middle Bronze Age,69 into an unfortified roadside sanctuary (Stratum XI) during the
LB I70 with no interruption in occupation, as appears to have been the case at most
settlements that were destroyed in this period. Stern attributes Mevoraks destruction
at the end of the MB III to Thutmose IIIs campaigns.71 Accompanying these
destructions is the apparent abandonment of Megadim, 2 km north of Atlit during
the MBLB transition.72
It is particularly remarkable that no hill country sites are mentioned among the
campaigns of Egyptian New Kingdom pharaohs, and Shechem and Jerusalem only
receive first mention during the Late Bronze Age in the Amarna period and are never
identified among the targets of New Kingdom campaigns. It is tempting to infer that
the hill country was not only not a central object of Egyptian campaigning because
of the difficulty it posed for military operations, but that these sites receive no mention because they were also not located on major thoroughfares and thus never a part
of regular itineraries. Nevertheless, a number of MB IIILB IA destructions are
attested in the hill country, and these suggest some level of military activity, most
likely by Egypt, but probably without the participation of the pharaoh on what were
undoubtedly considered high-risk missions. The destructions of a number of excavated sites in the hill country have been attributed to Egyptian activity in this period
without further refinement. These include Tell Beit Mirsim,73 Beth-Zur,74 Beth-El,75
Shechem XV,76 Shiloh,77 Gibeon,78 as well as Dothan, and Taanach. Dothan was
claimed to have been destroyed during this transition by Joseph Free, but this assertion was not corroborated by the recent publication of the excavations results,79 and
indeed the identification is no longer accepted between the site and any reference in
Thutmoses list.80 Thutmose IIIs campaign against Megiddo also hit nearby
Taanach (no. 42), which shows evidence of destruction during this period.81
Numerous destructions have also been identified north of Megiddo. Along the

68

Herzog 1989, 38.

Burke 2008, 295296.
70
Stern 1984, 46.
71
Stern 1984, 3739.
72
Broshi 1993, 1001.
73
Greenberg 1993, 178.
74
Sellers 1933, 9.
75
Kelso 1993, 193.
76
Campbell 2002, 137139, and passim.
77
Finkelstein 1993, 6162; Watkins 1997, 29.
78
See summary by Weinstein 1981, 3.
79
Master et al. 2005, 4955.
80
Ussishkin 1993a, 372.
81
Glock 1993, 1432.
69

56

Aaron A. Burke

north coast northwest of Megiddo, Akko,82 and Achzib,83 were destroyed in this
period. Kabri, though not evidently destroyed, was abandoned at the end of the MB
III.84 In the Upper Galilee, both Tel Dan (Laish, no. 31?), Stratum IX, and Hazor (no.
32), Stratum XVI/3,85 were destroyed. It should be noted, however, that the destruction of Hazor XVI/3 is attributed to Ahmose by Ben-Tor,86 despite an absence of
evidence for this pharaohs presence this far north.
In the Jordan Valley, Jericho, Tel Kitan, Tell Deir All, Tell Abu Kharaz, and
Pella all experienced destructions during the LB IA.87 Jericho88 and Tel Kitan Level
IV89 both produced evidence of destructions. Tell Deir Alla also appears to have
experienced a site-wide destruction at the end of the Middle Bronze Age.90 The casemate fortifications of Phase IV/2 of Tell Abu Kharaz were destroyed during this
period,91 and its subsequent fortifications, which are dated to the LB I on the presence of Base-Ring I ware, were rebuilt during Phase V and destroyed again.92 The
mudbrick fortification wall of Pella Phase VIC (possibly Pihilu, no. 33) was also part
of a fiery destruction.93
Although Redford has attempted to enfeeble the nature of Egypts efforts during
this period by characterizing its early military campaigns as incompetent and deconstructing every dimension of them from Egypts early siege tactics to the very significance of the toponyms listed at Karnak, it is worthwhile to consider the methods
and strategy of Egypts expanding empire as effectively the emulation of the ways
and means of Middle Bronze Age warfare.94 No unequivocal evidence exists to the
contrary to support the suggestion that Egypt was less accustomed to siege warfare,
wary of losses associated with sieges, or generally unprepared to build an empire.
The history of Egyptian warfare before the New Kingdom, in fact, suggests otherwise. Although Egypts military intervention in the Levant during the Middle King82

Dothan 1993, 20.

Prausnitz / Mazar 1993, 32.
84
Kempinski 2002, 451.
85
Ben-Tor 1993.
86
Ben-Tor 1993, 606.
87
Tel Hadar is also claimed by its excavator to have been both founded and destroyed during
the LB I (Kochavi 1997, 451).
88
Kenyon 1993, 680.
89
Eisenberg 1993, 881.
90
Van der Kooij 2006, 223.
91
Fischer 2006b, 342.
92
Fischer 2006b, 342345.
93
Bourke et al. 2006, 26. Bourke et al. maintain that the Phase VIC destruction, which is
designated an earthquake destruction albeit fiery, occurred during the MB III occupation at
Pella since the excavators identify two subsequent constructional phases assigned to the MB
III (Bourke et al. 2006, 2628). Nevertheless, elsewhere Bourke notes that at best Phase VIC
must be characterized as MB IIILB IA in character (Bourke 2006, 246). Given that the radiocarbon dates presented for sites in the Jordan Valley (Fischer 2006a) do not offer sufficient
resolution to permit subphasing of the MB IIII sequence, there is at this point no reason to
exclude the Pella Phase VIC destruction from inclusion with other contemporary destructions
during this transition and hence no reason not to consider Pellas destruction as most likely the
work of Thutmose III.
94
Burke 2008, 94102.
83

Canaan under Siege

57

dom in the southern Levant may not have constituted an empire,95 an increasing
body of evidence suggests that Middle Kingdom campaigns provided a potential
template for New Kingdom intervention in the Levant.96 This activity along with a
history of internecine feuding between Egyptian nomes during two preceding intermediate periods establishes that Egypt possessed no less capable a tradition of siege
warfare than any of its neighbors.97 The New Kingdom did, however, face a well
defended landscape at the end of the Middle Bronze Age that required the efforts of
more than a single pharaoh to subdue over the course of the early Eighteenth Dynasty and considerable effort thereafter to retain these and newly added conquests.
The Aftermath of Early Eighteenth Dynasty Campaigns
The transition from the MB III to LB I, which is maintained was the result almost
entirely of Egypts increasing imperial presence, brought about substantial changes
in settlement patterns,98 urbanization,99 and political organization during the Late
Bronze Age,100 and from the LB IB was accompanied by the presence of Egyptian
garrisons. Several observations are added here to the discussion concerning the effects of early Eighteenth Dynasty campaigns on political organization, the nature of
Thutmoses Canaanite campaigns, and Canaanite defenses during the Late Bronze
Age. In the first place, it is possible to identify the political and military process of
the balkanization of Middle Bronze Age kingdoms whereby these Canaanite kingdoms were broken into their constituent base units (i.e., provinces), which then
formed the basis of much smaller Late Bronze Age polities (often called city-states).
Insofar as we can discern, these were always vassals of Egypt and not independent as
city-states are so often identified. In light of the understanding available concerning
the status quo during the MB III for the landscape of the kingdom of Ashkelon,101
the above historical framework reveals the process by which large territorial states,
such as Ashkelon and Hazor, were gradually dismantled, being fragmented into their
districts by means of a protracted period of siege warfare waged against their hinterland settlements. The net effect was a loss of control by the capital city over its hinterland, particularly the critical second-tier settlements that formed its strategic defenses and the accompanying populations that served in its army. Divested of control
of these settlements, kingdoms such as Ashkelon did indeed experience a manpower
shortage, as suggested by Bunimovitz.102 However, rather than the product of attrition and deportation, this shortage was most likely the result of an inability to adequately organize the necessary, but existing, labor and cooperation from among
multiple settlements within their ever-diminishing former territories, which had been
inherent to the strategic framework of MB IIIII kingdoms. It was not until after the
reign of Thutmose III that substantive deportations were undertaken. With the dev95

Weinstein 1975.
E.g., Allen 2008; Burke 2008, 98100; Larkman 2007; Marcus 2007.
97
Schulman 1964, 1982.
98
Bunimovitz 1995.
99
Gonen 1984.
100
Finkelstein 1996; Jasmin 2006; Naaman 1997.
101
Burke 2008, 125135.
102
Bunimovitz 1994.
96

58

Aaron A. Burke

astation of so many settlements over such a relatively short period of time, and the
sustained presence of Egyptian forces that threatened the region on a continual basis
from the reign of Thutmose III onward, finding an adequate opportunity to reassert
Canaanite independence proved effectively impossible. Canaan was therefore kept
on its proverbial toes by the persistent activity of New Kingdom armies on nearly
annual campaigns.
Just as the first major attempt to mobilize a coalition against Egypt emerged,
Thutmose III arranged to take this force by surprise and to deny them the opportunity to meet the Egyptian army in open battle. The true genius of Thutmose was his
strategy, which was to prevent an open battle between massive Egyptian and Canaanite armies in the coastal plain or Jezreel Valley, and not the tactical employment
of the element of surprise. Unprepared for a long siege with such an enormous
population within the walls of Megiddo, Thutmose guaranteed that the coalition had
no hope of success where under normal conditions Megiddos population might have
hoped for the appearance of a relieving army. Instead, the lengthy siege would have
permitted detachments of Egyptian troops to range across northern Canaan, entering
if not besieging, sacking, and plundering to the extent that they wished numerous
defenseless settlements whose able-bodied men were ensnared at Megiddo. Such a
scenario therefore would account for the subjugation of many places on the long list
of toponyms of Thutmose III at Karnak. Furthermore, we may account for the difference between the maximalist interpretation, which asserts unequivocally that the
siege of all of the listed sites occurred, and the minimalist assertion that the list is
effectively meaningless as a historical document. Wherever the truth may lie on this
continuum, Thutmose was effectively able to eradicate a substantial source of future
resistance by the Canaanite populations north of Jaffa, who may have been enticed
by their southern neighbors in the coastal plain to assist them in liberating their
lands. What this process reveals is that annual and sustained Egyptian campaigns
beginning with the reign of Thutmose III through the end of the LB IB, at the least,
into regions that lay beyond the limits of the most recent Egyptian campaigns resulted in unconquered regions, mostly to the north, being effectively thwarted from
organizing support for regions, mostly in the south, that had already fallen under
Egyptian control.
The only hope offered to regions that were not entirely devastated by Egypts
victories under Thutmose III was, therefore, in the maintenance or, whenever possible, rapid rebuilding of their fortifications. This appears to have taken place where
rulers remained able to muster the requisite manpower and they perceived that they
could effectively oppose Egyptian siege efforts in the years to come, despite the
perception of a largely unfortified landscape throughout the Late Bronze Age.103
Although space does not permit a treatise on the continued fortification of settlements during the remainder of the Late Bronze Age, a clear pattern does exist. The
bulk of fortified Late Bronze Age settlements in Canaan were located beyond the
primary area of early Egyptian forays into Canaan, particularly in most northern
Canaan, the highlands, and Transjordan, all of which were areas on the periphery of
Thutmose IIIs conquests. Sites fortified during later stages of the Late Bronze Age

103

Gonen 1984.

Canaan under Siege

59

include Hazor, Akko,104 Shechem,105 Bethel,106 Tell el-Oreme,107 Karnei Hittin,108 in

addition to recent evidence from Beth-Shemesh, and several sites in Jordan including
Tell Safut,109 Sahab,110 Tell el-Fukhar,111 and Tell Zeraa.112 If an Egyptian policy
was in place across Canaan subverting the construction of walls, the existence of
Late Bronze Age walls at these sites will need to be explained. Furthermore, Egyptian reliefs dating to the LB II period show settlements such as Ashkelon with
walls,113 despite the lack of archaeological evidence to support this. It would seem,
therefore, that certain areas within Canaan from the LB IB onward remained beyond
Egypts real control and that Egyptian control was largely limited to the coastal
plain, Jezreel Valley and the upper Jordan Valley. By the end of the LB IA, it is not
possible to assert that Egypt had meaningful control of Transjordan or much of the
region to the north and northeast of the Jezreel Valley. This reconstruction would be
in line with the bulk of toponyms of Thutmose III that can be precisely located and
the location of the battle of Megiddo, which can be called the epicenter of Thutmoses military activity in Canaan.
It can also be argued that an additional observation regarding the shift in policy
introduced most likely by Thutmose III was the emplacement of Egyptian garrisons
and some level of administration albeit probably rudimentary, which was now necessary to facilitate the ever-increasing distance required to subdue neighboring Canaanite enclaves who threatened Egypts most recent acquisitions. Of particular
interest, for example, is the potential for identifying additional evidence for the earliest Egyptian garrisons, which are often attributed to Thutmose III.114 In addition to
Gaza discussed earlier, one such garrison may have been added at Jaffa and is also
alluded to in the Tale of the Capture of Jaffa.115 Morris has identified Gaza and Jaffa,
among others, as harbor bases (Egy. tm) that were probably founded during the
reign of Thutmose III.116 Although uncertainty has existed concerning the date that is
to be assigned to its foundation, recent efforts to process and publish Kaplans excavations by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project have yielded a fresh glimpse of a
heavily Egyptianized LB I settlement that bears the earmarks of an Egyptian garrison, possessing one of the largest collections of Egyptian and Egyptianizing vessels
yet attested in the southern Levant.117 Based on the Egyptian dates for certain ce104

Dothan 1993, 21.

Campbell 2002, 169ff.
106
Kelso 1968, 11, 16.
107
Fritz 2000, 508.
108
See Gonen 1984, Table 1.
109
Wimmer 1997, 449.
110
Ibrahim 1975, 7880; 1987, 76f.; 1989, 519.
111
De Vries 1992, 717.
112
Vieweger / Hser 2005, 14, abb. 13; 2007, 151.
113
Stager 1985.
114
Redford 2003, 255257.
115
Simpson 2003, 7274.
116
Morris 2005, 138139, n. 190.
117
The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project under the direction of the author and Martin Peilstcker
are working to publish the Bronze and Iron Age remains of Jaffa excavated by Jacob Kaplan
from 19551974. The initiative has been supported since 2008 by a grant from the WhiteLevy Program for Archaeological Publications.
105

60

Aaron A. Burke

ramic forms, such as the flowerpot-shaped beer jars as well as their stratigraphic
situation, an early to mid-fifteenth century date for the assemblage appears likely.118
This is, therefore, the first archaeological evidence that has been presented that can
substantiate the garrisons existence at such an early date. While the overall dimensions of this fortress complex are unknown, the sites topography allows for a substantial fortress with dimensions quite possibly as large as those of the Egyptian
fortress constructed at Sesebi in Nubia.119 Within Canaan and excluding Ullaza, Jaffa
was therefore the most northerly of Egypts garrisons, with Gaza to the south being
the only other one known to have been founded by at least the reign of Thutmose III.
In light of our ability to confirm the existence of a garrison at Jaffa, it is unnecessary
to suggest that the notable lack of archaeological evidence for Egyptian buildings
on Canaanite soil strongly suggests that the usurpation of Canaanite structures may
have been a normative practice in the Eighteenth Dynasty.120
Conclusions
The foregoing reconstruction of the early history of New Kingdom expansion into
Canaan reveals a number of important observations concerning the historical process
and its archaeological correlates during the LB IA. Three historical phases can be
discerned in the development of Egypts early empire that included 1) campaigns by
Ahmose up to the Nahals Besor and Beersheba; 2) campaigns by Ahmoses successors to the north of this region up through and including sites just to the north of
Ashkelon; and 3) conquests by Thutmose III from Jaffa through the Galilee followed
by the establishment of early garrisons as for example at Jaffa.
The archaeology related to these events reveals that there are a variety of outcomes for MB III fortification systems during the LB IA and later. Many Canaanite
cities were walled until Egyptian (or in some instances other unidentified assailants
may have) destroyed them during the LB IA (e.g., Ajjul). Some remained fortified
or maintained their fortifications (e.g., Hazor), although most often only the rear
walls of domestic structures (e.g., Timnah) or casemate walls (e.g., Tell Abu Kharaz)
could be expected to provide any security, while other sites were abandoned for lack
of means and motivation, particularly at sites that experienced substantial decreases
in their population (e.g., Haror).
Second, Late Bronze Age fortification strategies, despite a disruption associated
with Egyptian sieges, continued MB IIIII fortification strategies, namely, a yielding
of more and more land to the construction of houses at the edge of these old mounds,
which resulted from a gradual demographic increase in the population over the
course of the second millennium, and the need to employ casemate wall construction
to facilitate the building of multi-purpose structures. Third, examples of fortified MB
cities, especially in areas away from main international routes, as in Transjordan,
reveal a degree of continuity between the fortification strategy of the Middle and
Late Bronze Ages (e.g., Tell Abu Kharaz). However, these sites are less likely to
have been of significant concern to the Egyptian empire and appear initially to be
118

Burke / Mandell, forthcoming.

Blackman 1937.
120
Morris 2005, 152f.
119

Canaan under Siege

61

located well off of the main routes secured by Egypt.

In light of the observations made here, it is difficult to imagine an Egyptian
policy, as suggested by Gonen, whereby in addition to meeting foreign armies in
occasional set-piece battles, besieging the cities of insurgents, while staving off ambushes, the Egyptians deliberately destroyed the fortifications of conquered Canaanite towns during the LB IA. Likewise, it is difficult to accept that Canaanites
were conscripted, convinced, or compelled to deliberately destroy their own fortifications by the Egyptians. It is more likely, as reconstructed above, that MB III fortifications either 1) were subject to destruction during Egyptian siege in the LB IA
(e.g., Ajjul, Shechem), 2) fell into disrepair over a lengthy period of time being
abandoned and not maintained (e.g., Tel Haror), or 3) were gradually replaced by the
modest walls of residences that later formed the perimeter wall of some settlements
(e.g., Timnah). A deliberate Egyptian policy is unnecessary to account for the outcomes attested in the archaeological record.
To these reasons it may be added that New Kingdom pharaohs, in their effort to
maintain control of the region, would have recognized that the defense of Canaans
individual settlementsas Egypts vassalswas in the best interest of the empires
ability to both maintain its holdings, particularly against would-be aggressors, and to
expand its territory during subsequent campaigns. The metaphor is that of the chain
that is only as strong as its weakest link; a weak city constituted a weak link in a
network of defended settlements. Vassals perpetually concerned with their own defense are also not well disposed to provide predictable tribute, whether annual or
otherwise, and would have been subject to the deprecations of their neighbors beyond the reach of Egypt and would have been more likely therefore to ally themselves against their Egyptian overlords. It would have been antithetical, therefore, to
the maintenance of Egypts control of Retenu to prohibit what constituted the strategic defenses of Egypts Levantine empire.121 The fortification of settlements that
were added to Egyptian control particularly on the edge of Egyptian territorial expansion would have been critical to the defense of these settlements in the face of
both Mitannian and later Hittite attempts to conquer this same territory. Walled settlements, like many types of weaponry, work both ways and thus cannot be considered, in and of themselves, counterproductive to Egyptian efforts to control Canaan.
It appears, therefore, that following the conquest of Canaan and, especially, the
southern coastal plainparticularly in the wake of Egyptian siegesfreestanding
defensive walls were not constructed, although the rear walls of domestic buildings
served to provide a modest enclosure and defense of these settlements. Rather than
an Egyptian policy, the political and socioeconomic milieu,122 with Egyptian forces
in such close proximity and often garrisoned within these towns, is likely to have
121

That walls were more important to the power wishing to maintain control of a community
or territory, than they were to the inhabitants of a settlement itself, is supported by the fact that
no other ancient Near Eastern empire, whether Assyrian, Babylonian, or Achaemenid, ever appears to have adopted a common policy of prohibiting or limiting the construction of fortifications. Indeed, the singular case where such an effort was attempted demonstrates the point.
The Samaritans wished to block Judahs efforts to rebuild the fortifications of Persian period
Jerusalem during the fifth century BC, at first by insinuating that to do so was to rebel against
the king despite the kings approval of the plan (Nehemiah 2, 19).
122
E.g., Bunimovitz 1994.

62

Aaron A. Burke

been sufficiently repressive to have resulted in the neglect of one of the most important activities of Canaanite rulers during the preceding centuries.
Bibliography
Aharoni, Y., 1993: Megiddo: The Neolithic Period to the End of the Bronze Age. In
E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy
Land (vol. 3) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 10031012.
Allen, J. P., 2008: The Historical Inscription of Khnumhotep and Dahshur: Preliminary Report. BASOR 352, 2939.
Amiran, R. / Eitan, A., 1993: Nagila, Tel. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia
of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 3) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 10791081.
Beck, P. / Kochavi, M., 1993: Aphek. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of
Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 1). New York. Pp. 6472.
Van Beek, G. W., 1993: Jemmeh, Tell. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of
Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 2) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 667674.
Ben-Tor, A., 1993: Hazor. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 2) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp.
594606.
Blackman, A. M., 1937: Preliminary Report on the Excavations of Sesebi, Northern
Province, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 193637. JEA 23, 145151.
Bourke, S. J., 2006: Pella and the Jordanian Middle and Late Bronze Ages. In P. M.
Fischer (ed.): The Chronology of the Jordan Valley during the Middle and Late
Bronze Ages: Pella, Tell Abu al-Kharaz, and Tell Deir Alla. Vienna, Pp. 243
256.
Bourke, S. J. / Sparks, R. T. / Schroder, M., 2006: Pella in the Middle Bronze Age.
In P. M. Fischer (ed.): The Chronology of the Jordan Valley during the Middle
and Late Bronze Ages: Pella, Tell Abu al-Kharaz, and Tell Deir Alla. Vienna,
Pp. 958.
Broshi, M., 1993: Megadim, Tel. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 3) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 1011003.
Bunimovitz, S., 1994: The Problems of Human Resources in Late Bronze Age Palestine and its Socioeconomic Implications. UF 26, 120.
1995: On the Edge of EmpiresLate Bronze Age (15001200 BCE). In T. E.
Levy (ed.): The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. New York. Pp. 320
331.
Burke, A. A., 2007: Magdalma, Migdlm, Magdoloi, and Majdl: The Historical
Geography and Archaeology of the Magdalu (Migdl). BASOR 346, 2957.
2008: Walled Up to Heaven: The Evolution of Middle Bronze Age Fortification Strategies in the Levant. Winona Lake.
2009: More Light on Old Reliefs: New Kingdom Egyptian Siege Tactics and
Asiatic Resistance. In J. D. Schloen (ed.): Exploring the Longue Dure: Essays in
Honor of Lawrence E. Stager. Winona Lake. Pp. 5768.

Canaan under Siege

63

Burke, A. A. / Mandell, A. R., forthcoming: Egyptian Beer Jugs from Kaplans Excavations at Jaffa: Cultural and Historical Implications. In M. Peilstcker / A. A.
Burke (eds.): Studies on the History and Archaeology of Jaffa 1. Los Angeles.
Campbell, E. F., 2002: Shechem III, The Stratigraphy and Architecture of Shechem/Tell Balatah, Volume I: Text. Atlanta.
De Vries, B., 1992: Archaeology in Jordan. AJA 96(3), 503542.
Dever, W. G., 1987: The Middle Bronze Age: The Zenith of the Urban Canaanite
Era. BA 50(3), 148177.
1993: Gezer. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 2) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 496506.
1998: Hurrian Incursions and the End of the Middle Bronze Age in Syria-Palestine: A Rejoinder to Nadav Naaman. In L. H. Lesko (ed.): Ancient Egyptian and
Mediterranean Studies in Memory of William A. Ward. Providence. Pp. 91110.
Dothan, M., 1993: Acco (Tel Acco). In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of
Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 1) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 1624.
Eisenberg, E., 1993: Kitan, Tel. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 3) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 878881.
Fargo, V. M., 1993: Hesi, Tell el-. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 2) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 630634.
Finkelstein, I. 1996: The Territorial-Political System of Canaan in the Late Bronze
Age. UF 28, 221255.
Fischer, P. M. (editor), 2006a: The Chronology of the Jordan Valley during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages: Pella, Tell Abu al-Kharaz, and Tell Deir Alla. Vienna.
2006b: Tell Abu al-Kharaz in the Jordan Valley II: The Middle and Late Bronze
Ages. 2 vols. Vienna.
Fritz, V., 2000: Bronze Age Features in Cities of the Early Iron Age in the Southern
Levant. In P. Matthiae / A. Enea / L. Peyronel / F. Pinnock (eds.): Proceedings of
the First International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East,
Rome May 18th23rd 1998 (vol. 1). Rome. Pp. 507511.
Glock, A. E., 1993: Taanach. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 4) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem.
Pp. 14281433.
Gonen, R., 1981: Tell el-Ajjul in the Late Bronze AgeCity or Cemetery? EI 15,
6978, 80* (Hebrew with Eng. abstract).
1984: Urban Canaan in the Late Bronze Period. BASOR 253, 6173.
Greenberg, R., 1993: Beit Mirsim, Tell. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of
Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 2) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 177180.
Herzog, Z., 1989: Middle and Late Bronze Age Settlements (Strata XVIIXV). In Z.
Herzog / G. R. Rapp / O. Negbi (eds.): Excavations at Tel Michal, Israel. Minneapolis. Pp. 2942.
1993: Gerisa, Tel. In E. Stern: The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 2) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 480484.

64

Aaron A. Burke

Hoffmeier, J. K. 1990: Some Thoughts on William G. Devers Hyksos, Egyptian

Destructions, and the End of the Palestinian Middle Bronze Age. Levant 22, 83
89.
1991: James Weinsteins Egypt and the Middle Bronze IIC/Late Bronze IA
Transition in Palestine. Levant 23, 117124.
Ibrahim, M. M., 1975: Third Season of Excavations at Sahab, 1975 (Preliminary
Report). ADAJ 20, 6982.
1987: Sahab and Its Foreign Relations. ADAJ 31, 7381.
1989: Sahab. In D. Homs-Fredericq / J. B. Hennessy (eds.): Archaeology of
Jordan II. 2, Field Reports: Surveys and Sites LZ. Leuven. Pp. 516520.
Jasmin, M., 2006: The Political Organization of the City-States in Southwestern
Palestine in the Late Bronze Age IIB (13th Century BC). In A. M. Maeir / P. D.
Miroschedji (eds.): I Will Speak the Riddles of Ancient Times: Archaeological
and Historical Studies in Honor of Amihai Mazar on the Occasion of His Sixtieth
Birthday (vol. 1). Winona Lake. Pp. 161191.
Kaplan, J., 1972: The Archaeology and History of Tel-Aviv-Jaffa. BA 35(3), 6695.
Keegan, J., 1993: A History of Warfare. New York.
Kelso, J. L., 1968: The Excavation of Bethel. Cambridge, MA.
1993: Bethel. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (vol. 1) (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 192194.
Kempinski, A., 1974: Tell el-AjjlBeth-Aglayim or Sharuhen? IEJ 24(34), 145
152.
2002: Tel Kabri: The 19861993 Excavation Seasons. Tel Aviv.
Kenyon, K. M., 1993: Jericho. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp.
674681.
Kitchen, K. A., 2000: Regnal and Genealogical Data of Ancient Egypt (Absolute
Chronology I). The Historical Chronology of Ancient Egypt: A Current Assessment. In M. Bietak (ed.): The Synchronisation of Civilisa-tions in the Eastern
Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C.: Proceedings of an International
Symposium at Schloss Haindorf, 15th17th November 1996 and at the Austrian
Academy, Vienna, 11th12th of May 1998. Vienna. Pp. 3952.
Kochavi, M. 1967: Notes and News: Tel Malhata. IEJ 17, 272273.
1992: Malhata, Tel. In D. N. Freedman (ed.): The Anchor Bible Dictionary (vol.
4). New York. Pp. 487488.
1997: Hadar, Tel. In E. M. Meyers (ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (vol. 2). New York. Pp. 450452.
van der Kooij, G., 2006: Tell Deir Alla: The Middle and Late Bronze Age Chronology. In P. M. Fischer (ed.): The Chronology of the Jordan Valley during the
Middle and Late Bronze Ages: Pella, Tell Abu al-Kharaz, and Tell Deir Alla.
Vienna. Pp. 199226.
Larkman, S. J., 2007: Human Cargo: Transportation of Western Asiatic People during the 11th and 12th Dynasty. JSSEA 34, 107113.
Marcus, E. S. 2007: Amenemhet II and the Sea: Maritime Aspects of the Mit Rahina
(Memphis) Inscription. uL 17, 137190.
Master, D. M. / Monson, J. M. / Lass, E. H. E. / Pierce, G. A. (eds.), 2005: Dothan I:
Remains from the Tell (19531964). Winona Lake.

Canaan under Siege

65

Mazar, A., 1997: Timnah (Tel Batash) I: Stratigraphy and Architecture. (2 vols.).
Jerusalem.
Morris, E. F., 2005: The Architecture of Imperialism: Military Bases and the Evolution of Foreign Policy in Egypts New Kingdom. Leiden.
Naaman, N., 1994: The Hurrians and the End of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine. Levant 26, 175187.
1997: The Network of Canaanite Late Bronze Kingdoms and the City of Ashdod.
UF 29, 599625.
Oren, E. D., 1993a: Haror, Tel. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp.
580584.
1993b: Sera, Tel. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological
Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 13291335.
Phythian-Adams, W. J., 1923: Report on the stratification of Askalon. PEFQS
(April), 7690.
Prausnitz, M. W. / Mazar, E., 1993: Achzib. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 3236.
Redford, D. B., 1992: Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton.
2003: The Wars in Syria and Palestine of Thutmoses III. Boston.
Schulman, A. R., 1964: Siege Warfare in Pharaonic Egypt. Natural History 73(3),
1221.
1982: The battle scenes of the Middle Kingdom. JSSEA 12, 165183.
Sellers, O. R., 1933: The Citadel of Beth-Zur. Philadelphia.
Sethe, K. (ed.), 1907: Urkunden der 18 Dynastie. Urkunden des gyptischen Altertums IV.
Simpson, W. K., 2003: The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories,
Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry (3rd edition). New Haven.
Stager, L. E., 1985: Merenptah, Israel and Sea Peoples: New Light on an Old Relief.
EI 18, 56*64*.
2008: Tel Ashkelon. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological
Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 15781586.
Stern, E., 1984: Excavations at Tel Mevorakh (19731976), Pt. 2: The Bronze Age.
Jerusalem.
Sugerman, M. 2009: Trade and Power in Late Bronze Age Canaan. In J. D. Schloen
(ed.): Exploring the Longue Dure: Essays in Honor of Lawrence E. Stager. Winona Lake. Pp. 439448.
Tufnell, O., 1958: Lachish IV (Tell ed-Duweir): The Bronze Age. The WellcomeMarston Archaeological Research Expedition to the Near East (Vol. IV). London.
Tufnell, O. / Kempinski, A., 1993: Ajjul, Tell el-. In E. Stern (ed.) The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition).
Jerusalem. Pp. 4953.
Urk. = Urkunden des gyptischen Altertums IV (Sethe 1907)
Ussishkin, D. 1993a: Dothan. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 372
373.

66

Aaron A. Burke

1993b: Lachish. In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem. Pp. 897911.
2004: Area P: The Middle Bronze Age Palace. In D. Ussishkin (ed.): The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish (19731994). Tel Aviv. Pp. 140
187.
Vieweger, D. / Jutta Hser, J., 2005: Der Tell Zeraa im Wadi el-Arab: Das Gadara
Region Project in den Jahren 2001 bis 2004. ZDPV 121(1), 130, Tafel 3133.
2007: Tall Ziraa: Five Thousand Years of Palestinian History on a Single-Settlement Mound. NEA 70(3), 147167.
Watkins, L., 1997: Shiloh. In E. M. Meyers (ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (vol. 5). New York. Pp. 2829.
Weinstein, J. M., 1975: Egyptian Relations with Palestine in the Middle Kingdom.
BASOR 217, 116.
1981: The Egyptian Empire in Palestine: A Reassessment. BASOR 241, 128.
1991: Egypt and the Middle Bronze IIC/Late Bronze IA Transition in Palestine.
Levant 23, 105115.
Wimmer, D. H., 1997: Safut, Tell. In E. M. Meyers (ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia
of Archaeology in the Near East (vol. 4). New York. Pp. 448450.
Yisraeli, Y., 1993: Farah, Tell el- (South). In E. Stern (ed.): The New Encyclopedia
of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2nd English edition). Jerusalem.
Pp. 441444.

Alter Orient und Altes Testament

Verffentlichungen zur Kultur und Geschichte des Alten Orients
und des Alten Testaments

Band 372

Herausgeber
Manfried Dietrich Oswald Loretz Hans Neumann

Lektor
Kai A. Metzler

Beratergremium
Rainer Albertz Joachim Bretschneider
Stefan Maul Udo Rterswrden Walther Sallaberger
Gebhard Selz Michael P. Streck Wolfgang Zwickel

2010
Ugarit-Verlag
Mnster

Studies on War
in the Ancient Near East
Collected Essays on Military History
Edited by Jordi Vidal

2010
Ugarit-Verlag
Mnster

Studies on War in the Ancient Near East

Collected Essays on Military History
Edited by Jordi Vidal
Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Band 372

2010 Ugarit-Verlag, Mnster

www.ugarit-verlag.de
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
All rights preserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Herstellung: Hubert & Co, Gttingen
Printed in Germany
ISBN 978-3-86835-035-7

Printed on acid-free paper

Contents
Jordi Vidal
Introduction.................................................................................................................1
Juan Carlos Moreno Garca
War in Old Kingdom Egypt (26862125 BCE)..........................................................5
Aaron A. Burke
Canaan under Siege. The History and Archaeology of Egypts War
in Canaan during the Early Eighteenth Dynasty .......................................................43
Trevor R. Bryce
The Hittites at War....................................................................................................67
Juan-Pablo Vita
The Power of a Pair of War Chariots in the Late Bronze Age. On Letters
RS 20.33 (Ugarit), BE 17 33a (Nippur), and EA 197 (Damascus region) ................87
Jordi Vidal
Sutean Warfare in the Amarna Letters......................................................................95
Jaume Llop
Barley from lu-a-Sn-rabi. Chronological reflections on an expedition
in the time of Tukult-Ninurta I (12331197 BC).................................................. 105
Davide Nadali
Assyrian Open Field Battles. An Attempt at Reconstruction and Analysis ............ 117
John MacGinnis
Mobilisation and Militarisation in the Neo-Babylonian Empire............................. 153
Roco Da Riva
A lion in the cedar forest. International politics and pictorial
self-representations of Nebuchadnezzar II (605562 BC)...................................... 165
Indices..................................................................................................................... 193