Living and Dying Abroad: Aspects of Egyptian Cultural Identity in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron ...

629 Pages·2013·5.57 MB·English

UCLA
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Living and Dying Abroad: Aspects of Egyptian Cultural Identity in Late Bronze Age and Early
Iron Age Canaan
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/88r900cs
Author
Pierce, Krystal Victoria Lords
Publication Date
2013

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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University of California
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Los Angeles

Living and Dying Abroad:

Aspects of Egyptian Cultural Identity

in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Canaan

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the

requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy

in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

by

Krystal Victoria Lords Pierce

2013
© Copyright by

Krystal Victoria Lords Pierce

2013
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Living and Dying Abroad:

Aspects of Egyptian Cultural Identity

in Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Canaan

by

Krystal Victoria Lords Pierce

Doctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

University of California, Los Angeles, 2013

Professor Willemina Z. Wendrich, Chair

This study employs a new methodological approach in examining Egyptian and
Egyptianized material in the Levant, which entails a thorough analysis of a range of broad and
narrow Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age contexts at three sites in the Levant, entirely from an
Egyptian perspective and based on the cultural norms and praxis of New Kingdom Egypt. The
analysis of material culture at Beth-Shean, Deir el-Balah, and Jaffa is accomplished through a
theoretical framework of cultural identity, which examines the materiality, spatiality, and
temporality of how cultural identity is generated, maintained, and exhibited, both in the
homeland of Egypt, and abroad in Canaan. The three case studies focus on funerary, residential,
and material contexts and cover an array of facets related to cultural identity, beginning with the
expansive analysis of every burial in the two cemeteries at Beth-Shean and Deir el-Balah,
ii
subsequently shifting to the slightly more confined analysis of specific buildings at those two
sites, and then narrowing down even further to focus on one aspect of material culture, ceramic
vessels at Jaffa. The purpose of these broad and narrow case studies is not to substantiate the
presence-or-absence of Egyptians at Beth-Shean, Deir el-Balah, and Jaffa, or the exclusive
Egyptian use of the mortuary, residential, and ceramic material at these sites, but rather to
investigate how an Egyptian would have interacted with the architecture, objects, and features of
life and death in Canaan, based on the cultural norms and praxis of the Egyptian homeland, and
how these interactions reveal information about an Egyptian cultural identity abroad.

iii
The dissertation of Krystal Victoria Lords Pierce is approved.

Aaron Alexander Burke

Robert Mullins

William M. Schniedewind

Willemina Z. Wendrich, Committee Chair

University of California, Los Angeles

2013

iv
Dedicated to Victoria “The Bean” Diem Pierce,
who was born and has spent her whole life in the shadow of this work,
and is the motivation and inspiration behind everything I do.

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ x
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... xi
CURRICULUM VITAE ............................................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER ONE. AN INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1
1.1 PROSPECTUS ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 RESEARCH IN EGYPTO-LEVANTINE STUDIES ......................................................... 2
1.3 STUDIES OF EGYPTIAN/IZED MATERIAL IN CANAAN ........................................... 3
1.3.1 Phase 1: 1980s-early 1990s ........................................................................................... 3
1.3.2 Phase 2: 1990s-early 2000s ......................................................................................... 12
1.3.3 Phase 3: mid-late 2000s .............................................................................................. 30
1.4 RESEARCH DESIGN ....................................................................................................... 36
CHAPTER TWO. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF CULTURAL IDENTITY .............. 48
2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 48
2.1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 48
2.1.2 Intellectual History...................................................................................................... 49
2.1.2 Social Identities ........................................................................................................... 52
2.1.3 Supernatural Identity ................................................................................................... 53
2.2 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ............................................................................................ 54
2.3 ASPECTS OF CULTURAL IDENTITY .......................................................................... 56
2.3.1 Archaeology ................................................................................................................ 56
2.3.2 Material Culture .......................................................................................................... 62
2.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 74
CHAPTER THREE. MORTUARY CONTEXTS: THE NECROPOLEIS AT BETH-SHEAN
AND DEIR EL-BALAH............................................................................................................... 78
3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 78
3.2 THE NORTHERN CEMETERY OF BETH-SHEAN ...................................................... 79
3.2.1 Excavation and Publication History............................................................................ 79
3.2.2 Chronology and Construction ..................................................................................... 82
3.2.3 Clay Coffins ................................................................................................................ 84
3.2.4 Tomb Descriptions ...................................................................................................... 87
3.3 THE CEMETERY OF DEIR EL-BALAH ...................................................................... 106
3.3.1 Excavation and Publication History.......................................................................... 106
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3.3.2 Strata and Chronology .............................................................................................. 114
3.3.3 Tomb Types and Contents ........................................................................................ 115
3.3.4 Clay Coffins and Pottery ........................................................................................... 118
3.3.5 Tomb Descriptions .................................................................................................... 123
3.4 ITEMS IN THE ISRAEL MUSEUM .............................................................................. 158
3.5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 169
CHAPTER FOUR. AN EGYPTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF THE MORTUARY CONTEXTS AT
BETH-SHEAN AND DEIR EL-BALAH .................................................................................. 171
4.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 171
4.2 PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP .......................................................................................... 171
4.3 LIFE: PREPARATION FOR DEATH ............................................................................ 175
4.4 TOMB LOCATION......................................................................................................... 177
4.4.1 Tomb Location: Egypt or Abroad ............................................................................. 177
4.4.2 Tomb Location: Proximity to a City ......................................................................... 182
4.4.3 Tomb Location: Layout of a Necropolis ................................................................... 190
4.5 TOMB CONSTRUCTION .............................................................................................. 196
4.5.1 Significance and Function......................................................................................... 196
4.5.2 Burial Compartment.................................................................................................. 198
4.5.3 Offering Place ........................................................................................................... 208
4.5.4 Reuse ......................................................................................................................... 217
4.6 TOMB EQUIPMENT ...................................................................................................... 224
4.6.1 Significance and Function......................................................................................... 224
4.6.2 Containers ................................................................................................................. 227
4.6.3 Personal Adornment .................................................................................................. 247
4.6.4 Funerary Practices and Items .................................................................................... 270
4.7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 279
CHAPTER FIVE. RESIDENTIAL CONTEXTS: FIVE STRUCTURES AT BETH-SHEAN
AND DEIR EL-BALAH............................................................................................................. 282
5.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 282
5.2 BUILDING 1500 AT BETH-SHEAN ............................................................................. 284
5.2.1 Excavation and Publication History.......................................................................... 284
5.2.2 Chronology, Dimensions, and Construction ............................................................. 289
5.3 BUILDING 1700 (NA) .................................................................................................... 305
5.3.1 Excavation and Publication History.......................................................................... 305
5.3.2 Stratigraphy and Chronology .................................................................................... 309
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5.3.3 Dimensions and Construction ................................................................................... 310
5.3.4 Layout ....................................................................................................................... 311
5.3.5 Rooms and Loci ........................................................................................................ 312
5.4 BUILDING NB ................................................................................................................ 324
5.4.1 Excavation and Publication History.......................................................................... 324
5.4.2 Stratigraphy and Chronology .................................................................................... 328
5.4.3 Dimensions and Construction of Stratum N-3b ........................................................ 329
5.4.4 Rooms and Loci of N-3b........................................................................................... 330
5.4.5 Dimensions and Construction of Stratum N-3a ........................................................ 332
5.4.6 Rooms and Loci of Stratum N-3a ............................................................................. 333
5.5 BUILDINGS 350 AND 1131 AT DEIR EL-BALAH ..................................................... 335
5.5.1 Excavation and Publication History.......................................................................... 335
5.5.2 Stratigraphy and Chronology .................................................................................... 340
5.5.3 Building 350: Dimensions and Construction ............................................................ 342
5.5.4 Building 350: Rooms and Loci ................................................................................. 343
5.5.5 Building 1131: Dimensions and Construction .......................................................... 346
5.5.6 Building 1131: Rooms and Loci ............................................................................... 348
5.5.7 Alleyway between Buildings 350 and 1131 ............................................................. 350
5.5.8 Silo 1074 ................................................................................................................... 350
5.5.9 The Crater ................................................................................................................. 351
5.6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 353
CHAPTER SIX. AN EGYPTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF THE RESIDENTIAL CONTEXTS AT
BETH-SHEAN AND DEIR EL-BALAH .................................................................................. 355
6.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 355
6.2 PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP .......................................................................................... 356
6.3 SIZE AND LAYOUT ...................................................................................................... 362
6.4 MAIN ENTRANCE ......................................................................................................... 367
6.5 LOCATION AND FUNCTION OF ROOMS ................................................................. 378
6.6 FRONT SECTION........................................................................................................... 380
6.7 MIDDLE SECTION ........................................................................................................ 397
6.8 REAR SECTION ............................................................................................................. 429
6.9 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 450
CHAPTER SEVEN. MATERIAL CONTEXT: THE EGYPTIAN AND EGYPTIANIZED
CERAMIC ASSEMBLAGE AT JAFFA.................................................................................... 454
7.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 454
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