Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 8/20/2004 3:14:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
mattfeld12 AT charter.net writes:


> None of this "proves" that the Hyksos were still at Avaris and vicinity,
> only that an Egyptian settlement existed in the area in Hatshepsut and
> Amenhotep II's days. Bietak understood Ahmose I was responsible for the
> initial settlement and fortress.

Of Avaris?  No.  Here is the deal--and I quote from my own book--"Dr. Manfred 
Bietak's excavation at the site he believes to be Avaris saw a Canaanite 
settlement in the 13th Dynasty with expansion during the Second Intermediate 
Period (fn:  With Avaris becoming one of the largest cities in Egypt).  He 
further 
has concluded that a reoccupation of the Hysos citadel took place in the 
early 
18th Dynasty that may have been a royal habitation of the time of Ahmose I.  
Minoan-style paintings are seen in that stratum, which resemble the artwork 
at 
Thera, a volcanic island in the Aegean..."

After my book had gone to press--Bietak announced he had changed his mind.  
This is from my "addenda" page to my book:

http://www.geocities.com/scribelist/addenda.html

"Recently, in relation to his ongoing excavation at Tell el Daba, which he 
believes to be the site of ancient Avaris, Manfred Bietak has rescinded his 
former assertion that the stratum in which Minoan artifacts, decorations and 
volcanic pumice were discovered belongs to the time of the pharaoh, Ahmose I. 
 
Bietak now concludes this stratum can be assigned to the reign of Thutmose 
III, 
instead.  Bietak also dates the eruption of Thera to ca. 1500 BCE, in light 
of 
his new theory, and takes issue with those who place the cataclysmic event to 
about 130 years earlier.   In brief, Bietak now wishes to eliminate any 
chronological problems connected with  his newer theory.  Even if he is 
correct and 
there was no volcanic blast in the Aegean at the time of King Ahmose, there 
still remains the unaccountably bad weather and flooding during his reign, as 
recorded by himself.
And then there is the interesting premise of the Thera volcano devastation 
while a "Tethmosis" was pharaoh, two disasters having then occurred within a 
half century--or less."