Egypt and the Levant: Interrelations from the 4th through the Early 3rd Millennium BCE(New approaches to anthropological archaelogy)

There are chapters examining the origins of the metals trade as well as a reassessment of the famous Kfar Monash metal hoard. Petrographic studies of vessels found in Tomb U-j at Abydos provide new and controversial data and a wealth of new, previously unpublished data concerning interaction during the key Early Bronze 1B period is presented for sites in Israel. New information and reassessments of some of the most important discoveries using epigraphic data - hieroglyphic and pictographic evidence concerning Dynasty 0 - Dynasty 1 presence in Palestine for example - is also presented. Finally the focus turns to the mechanisms of trade related to ancient seafaring and the overland caravan routes.

Table of Contents:
Interaction in Context: Interaction Models, Egypt and the Canaanite Periphery, Thomas E. Levy and Edwin C.M. van den Brink; The Socio-Political Dynamics of Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction in the Early Bronze Age, Pierre de Miroschedji; The Relative Chronological Position of Egyptian Predynastic and Early Dynastic Tombs with Objects Imported from the Near East and the Nature of Interregional Contacts, Stan Hendrickx and Laurent Bavay. Geoarchaeology and Biological Considerations: Geoarchaeological Implications of Recent Research in the Nile Delta, Karl W. Butzer; Configuration of the Egypt-to-Canaan Coastal Margin and North Sinai Byway in the Bronze Age, Daniel J. Stanley; The Paleo-Biological Evidence for Admixture Between Populations in the Southern Levant and Egypt in the 4th-3rd Millennium BCE, Patricia Smith; Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction During the 4th and 3rd Millennium BCE - The Shell Connection, Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer. Chalcolithic Interaction: Competitive Involution and Expanded Horizons: Exploring the Nature of Interaction between Northern Negev and Lower Egypt (c. 4500-3600 B.C.E.), Catherine Commenge and David Alon; Teleilat Ghassul - Foreign Relations in the Late Chalcolithic Period, S.J. Bourke, The Chronological Frame and Social Structure of Buto in the 4th Millennium BCE, Dina Faltings. Early Bronze Interaction: Egypt's First Sojourn in Canaan, Eliot Braun; Ceramics, Identity and the Role of the State - The View from Nahal Tillah, Eric Kansa and Thomas E. Levy; Egypt, Bet Yerah and Early Canaanite Urbanization, Rafi Greenberg and Emanuel Eisenberg. Metallurgical and Petrographic Studies: The Origins of the Metals Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean - Social Organization of Production in the Early Copper Industries, Jonathan Golden; The Kfar Monash Hoard Again - A View from Egypt and Nubia, Miriam Tadmor. Petrography of the Naqada IIIa Canaanite Pottery from Tomb U-j in Abydos Naomi Porat and Yuvel Goren Early Bronze I, Predynastic and Eary Dynastic Primary Data: The Ceramic Assemblage from Tel Ma'ahaz, Stratum I (Seasons 1975-1976), Ruth Amiran and Edwin C.M. van den Brink; Core-Periphery Interaction Between the Pristine Egyptian Nagada IIIb State, Late Early Bronze Age I Canaan and Terminal A-Group Lower Nubia - More Data , Ram Gophna and Edwin C.M. van den Brink; The Egyptian Presence at the End of the Late Early Bronze Age I at the Tel of Lod, Central Coastal Plain, Israel, Edwin C.M. van den Brink; Egyptian Pottery from Samll Tel Malhata and the Interrelations Between the Egyptian 'Colony' in Southwest Palestine and the 'Canaanite' Arad Basin and Central Highlands, Ornit Ilan; Egyptian-Transjordanian Interaction During Predynastic and Protodynastic Times - The Evidence from Tell Abu al-Kharaz, Jordan Valley, Peter Fischer; Imported Finds from the 'Ein Assawir Tombs, Israel, and their Significance in Understanding the Chronological Synchronization Between Israel, Egypt and Eastern Anatolia, Eli Yannai. (Part contents)

About the Author :
Thomas E. Levy is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. Levy took his Ph.D. degree at the University of Sheffield, U.K. Edwin C.M. van den Brink is Research-Archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority in Tel Aviv.