Unit:
Specialty Greek and Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology: From the Bronze Age Palaces to the Hellenistic KingdomsLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Symes Elizabeth Clare
Supervisors info:
Assoc. Prof. Konstantinos Kopanias (Supervisor)
Assoc. Prof. Giorgos Vavouranakis
Prof. Eleni Mantzourani
Original Title:
Going East: Mapping the Egyptian Influence on the Personal Adornment of Metal Pendants from the Late Bronze Age Southern Levant
Translated title:
Going East: Mapping the Egyptian Influence on the Personal Adornment of Metal Pendants from the Late Bronze Age Southern Levant
Summary:
Metal jewellery that survives from the LBA provides evidence of strong elite Egyptian influence. Whether the Egyptians were the ones that procured and wore the distinctly Egyptian styles is ultimately unknown. The Southern Levant in the LBA was a unique period of Egyptian influence that followed the Egyptian garrisons and trade routes. But it seeped beyond this parameter to be seen throughout smaller Canaanite areas and in less international sites. Coastal cities proved to be the highest recorded for Egyptian style jewellery and there were also tombs that had distinct Egyptian objects, representing the idiosyncratic Egyptian communities that inhabited the region during the 18th and 19th dynasties. The jewellery shows what the elites considered to be stylish, and what was a politically important and religiously pertinent to the community at that time. Most of the materials required for making the jewellery of the elites would have only been available to the Canaanite population through the trading of the Egyptians and therefore presents already a strong influence. This thesis argues that the Egyptian influence reflected particularly in the metal pendants of the LBA represents a larger scale that filtered through to the lower classes that is not available in the current archaeological record.
Main subject category:
Archaeology
Keywords:
Jewellery, Metal pendants, Late Bronze Age Levant, Egyptian influence
Number of references:
104
