Egyptian Rule and Canaanite Resistance as Seen from Jaffa: ARCE Lecture

The excavations of the Egyptian New Kingdom fortress in Jaffa, on the southern side of Tel Aviv were undertaken from 1956 to 2014. It was the only Egyptian fortress excavated in Canaan. Its archaeological record, particularly the evidence from several dramatic destructions, provides a unique perspective on Egyptian rule and local resistance to it from ca. 1460 to 1125 B.C. The archaeological evidence, taken together with textual sources, yields a picture of Canaanite resistance to the Egyptian military presence in Jaffa. This originated in centers located throughout the coastal plain and persisted for several centuries. This talk is drawn from excavations directed by the author and undertaken by the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project between 2011 and 2014. Dr. Aaron Burke is the Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies at UCLA.