Hazor Box

TEL AVIV Vol.
36, 2009, 567
A Decorated Jewellery Box from Hazor

Amnon Ben-Tor
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
An almost complete box decorated with engraved bone plaques was found in the destruction debris of the Canaanite ceremonial palace at Hazor. Twenty-two additional, similarly engraved bone plaques were found scattered in the building and its immediate surroundings. Among the box plaques and scattered plaques alike, the head of the Egyptian goddess Hathor is the most common motif. A study of the iconography shows that similar artistic portrayals are present on comparable boxes found in Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Cyprus. These boxes fall into two categories: game-boxes and container boxes. Based on the Hazor example, the latter were used for the storage of jewellery and other valuables. The motifs depicted on both types of boxes have much in common. Egyptian inuence on the Hazor artist is clearly evident, however it seems that the inuence was not always direct: some of the Egyptian motifs seem to have reached Hazor via Syrian intermediaries. Even though the Hazor box was discovered in a 13th century BCE context, a comparative study of similar boxes from Egypt and Cyprus clearly shows that this type of box was produced sometime in the 16thearly 15th centuries BCE. Being valuable objects, the boxes were certainly cherished by their owners and passed on from one generation to the next, which may explain the fact that some, like the Hazor box, were found in contexts two to three centuries later than the date they were produced.
keywords Hazor, Late Bronze Age, Engraved bone plaques, Egyptian, Levantine, Syrian and Cypriot archaeology
A group of 32 bone plaques with incised decorations, all clearly from one assemblage, were discovered on the oor of the northeastern room of the Late Bronze Age palace at Hazor, henceforth the palace (for a discussion of the function of this building, see Ben-Tor 2006, 2008a, b; Bonl and Zarzecki-Peleg 2007; Zuckerman 2006). All the plaques had clearly adorned one box, which was found almost complete, embedded in debris and ash that were the result of the intense conagration that destroyed the palace along with the entire city of Hazor (Fig. 1). The box, whose size is estimated at 26 16 13 cm (see below), had probably originally been set on a
Friends of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 2009 DOI 10.1179/204047809x439442
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Figure 1 The Hazor box in situ.
shelf attached to the eastern wall of the room, and had contained ten cylinder seals and dozens of beads made of glass and various types of semiprecious stones. When the box fell from the shelf, the contents spilled out and the items were found scattered around it. An additional 18 plaques of the same kind were found in other rooms of the palace, and four more were found close by, outside the building (Fig. 2). These 22 plaques clearly did not belong to the almost complete box from Locus 7050 but to three other boxes (see below). F. Poplin of the Muse National dHistoire Naturelle in Paris examined all the plaques and determined that, with two exceptions, they were made of bone, in most cases cattle bone. The exceptions were made of ivoryone from the tooth of a hippopotamus and the other, found outside the palace, from an elephant tusk (see below).
The Hazor box

The almost complete box (Fig. 3, Locus 7050, Registration number 40960)henceforth Box or the Hazor boxwas unearthed along with the debris in which it was embedded, and was carefully cleaned in the laboratory by the expeditions conservator, Orna Cohen. The substance the box had been made fromprobably woodhad disintegrated; however most of the bone inlays survived and were positioned exactly where they had originally been on the walls of the box. The front and most complete side (Fig. 4)henceforth 1is composed of 11 rectangular bone plaques set vertically, bounded on top and bottom by elongated horizontally-placed bone strips. The upper strip consists of one piece of bone that was
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A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR
Figure 2 Plan of the Late Bronze Age palace. The grey rectangle marks the nd-spot of Hazor box I. The sunburst symbols mark the nd-spots of the scattered plaques.
cracked in three places. The lower strip, longer and broader than the upper strip, consists of two equally long pieces of bone. A heraldic scene is portrayed on side I1, most of it on the vertical plaques: Two human gures facing one another, each supporting a large Hathor head, are at the two edges of the scene. Between each human gure and Hathor head is a schematic branch: The branch on the left appears on the joint between two plaques and extends the entire height of the plaque; on the right side, only half a branch is depicted, and it appears on the lower part of the plaque. The heads of the two human gures, and the plant-like objects depicted on the Hathor heads, extend beyond the upper edge of the vertical plaques, and are portrayed on the horizontal strip bordering them from above. The centre, made of four narrow plaques, is blank; another plaque, a Hathor head carved in relief, is attached to them by two small bone dowels. The back side of the box (Fig. 5)henceforth 2is in a much poorer state of preservation than the front side, but it is clear that both sides portray a similar scene. Side I2 is also made up of vertically-placed rectangular bone plaques, bordered above and below by horizontal strips. On this side, as on I1, the dimensions of the lower strip (length and breadth) are somewhat larger than those of the upper strip. While there are 11 vertical plaques on side 1, there are only 10 on side 2. The main difference between sides 1 and 2, however, is that the scene on the latter is not heraldic: The human gures at each extremity of side I2 do not face each other;
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the human gure on the right stands with its back turned to the one on the left, supporting the right rather than the left side of the Hathor head. The plaques on side I2 were not preserved in their entirety. Of the two human gures, slightly more than the upper half of the one on the left remains. The head of the human gure, part of its right hand and the plant-like object on the Hathor head are portrayed on the horizontal strip bordering them from above. The right side of the scene is more poorly preserved than the left. Here, all that can be seen is the lower part of the Hathor head and the torso of the human gure. Since the
Figure 3 Box I.
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Figure 4 Side I1 of Box I.
right side of the horizontal upper strip is missing, the head of the human gure, part of its right hand and the plant-like object on the Hathor head are all absent. A branch, depicted on the upper part of the joint between two plaques, is placed between the human gure and the Hathor head. No such branch accompanies the gure portrayed on the left side. Since the lower part of the human gure on the left side of the scene is not preserved, it is not possible to say whether a branch was also depicted here, as is the case on the right extremity of side I1. The centre of the scene is composed of three blank vertical plaques (on side I1 there are four such plaques), and another plaque, carved in relief in the shape of a Hathor head, is attached by two small bone dowels. The upper and lower parts of the head are not preserved. The left side of the box (Fig. 6)henceforth I3is composed of four vertical plaques and one long, narrow strip bordering the scene from above; the lower strip, if there was one, is not preserved. The two human gures depicted on the left and right of the scene
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Figure 5 Side I2 of Box I.
are engraved on two adjacent plaques each. The gure on the right, behind which a branch is depicted, carries a sacricial caprid on its shoulders, while the gure on the left, which is only partially preserved, carries a similar animal in its arms. The gures march towards the centre, but the gure that should have been there, probably the recipient of the offerings, is missing. The main part of the scene is portrayed on the vertical plaques, and the upper part of itjust like the heads of the gures on side I1is depicted on the horizontal strip bordering the scene from above. This is mainly evident with regard to the gure on the right, of which the top of the head and upper part of the animal are shown on the horizontal strip. This was obviously also true for the gure on the left, the head of which was not preserved, yet the head and edge of the front paw of the animal it carries in its arms are likewise portrayed on the horizontal strip. The right side of the box (Fig. 7)henceforth I4is composed of four plaques. The lower section contains three vertically placed plaquestwo rectangular, separated by a third, central one that is squarewhile the upper section is made of one large rectangular
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plaque, placed horizontally. It is not known whether the scene was bordered from above and below by horizontal strips, as is the case on the other three sides. Six cobras are portrayed on the plaques on the lower part of the scene; for lack of space, only half of the one furthest to the left is portrayed. A schematic branch, like those on the other three sides, is shown separating the two cobras on the right from the rest of the group. A sphinx with a es jug (see below) in front of it is portrayed in the upper section. A stream of droplets spills from the spout of the jug in the direction of the sphinx. As in the case of the cobra depicted below the jug, there was room only for the depiction of the right side of the jug. The interior of the bottom Figure 6 Side I3 of Box I. of the box and all four walls are decorated with small pieces of bone (Fig. 8), some of which are square and approximately 1 1 cm, and others which are rectangular and approximately 0.6 1 cm. Most of the pieces are preserved. All the pieces are the same colour, but since they were placed in alternating order, so that the wooden background (of which the box was most probably made) remained exposed, a checker-board effect was obtained. The checkered area on each wall of the box is bordered on all sides by long and narrow strips approximately 6 cm long and 1.5 cm high, which are decorated with groups of 25 vertically incised lines placed approximately 24 cm from one another Returning to the exterior, the total height of the bone plaques decorating the front and back is approximately 11 cm, and the combined width of the plaques lined up side by side is about 24 cm. The combined width of the two smaller sides of the box is approximately 14 cm. Assuming a margin of approximately 1 cm on each side for the wooden walls of the box into which the plaques were inserted, one may estimate the size of the box to have been approximately 26 16 13 cm. Several peculiarities with regard to sides I1, I2 and I4 are noticeable, raising the question of whether all the pieces of Box did indeed originally belong together. Even the almost complete front side (I1) presents several difculties: The hands of the human gure on the left (I1bc) supporting the Hathor head and both sides of
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the branch clearly indicate that plaques 1ac belong together. Yet, in this arrangement the head of the human gure portrayed on the horizontal strip (I1m) is disconnected from the body and positioned far to the left. Any attempt to pull plaques (I1ab) to the left in order to unite the body and the head would leave an inexplicable void between the human gure and the Hathor head, would result in separating the persons hands from the arms, and would cut the branch in two. Since the horizontal strip was preserved in its entirety, it is not possible to push the detached head further to the right, as this would separate the head of the human gure on the right side of the scene (I11) from its body. The plant-like object shown on the Hathor head is entirely Figure 7 Side I4 of Box I. out of place, which is again inexplicable since the horizontal strip is preserved in its entirety. The two parts of Hathors mouth on the left side of the scene (where plaques I1c and I1d join) do not seem to belong together, especially if compared to Hathors mouth as portrayed in I1jk, since the line separating the lips is missing on the right side of the mouth. In contrast to the branch portrayed on plaques I1b and I1c, only half of a branch is portrayed on plaque I1k, and this is not for lack of space. Finally, the upper horizontal strips on both sides of the box (I1m and I2 l ) seem to be slightly too low, leaving almost no room for the necks of the human gures (I1ab and I2a), and attening the upper part of the Hathor heads. The relationship between the various plaques on side I2 are even more problematic: Positioning the human gure on the right side of the scene with its back towards the one on the left, rather than having the two facing each other as they do on side I1, is difcult to explain. Since plaques I2gh and j clearly belong together, this arrangement can only be explained by the supposition that they originally belonged to another box, where they had constituted the left side of the scene. The right side of Hathors face may perhaps not belong to the left side. Note, for example, Hathors hair, which contains horizontal,
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ladder-like strips of varying widths: The ladders on the left side of the head (I2j) are narrower than those on the right side (I2k). The hand of the human gure portrayed on the right side of the sceneplaque I2jis also problematic: It does not belong to the arm portrayed on plaque I2h. On the left side of the scene, the plant-like object shown on the left of Hathors head is out of place, being slightly thrust to the left. Finally, the arm of the human gure, plaques I2ab, is much too long and completely out of proportion. On the right side of the box (I4) the three plaques that constitute the lower part of the scene (I4ac) are in their original location, as evidenced by the fact that the second cobra on the left connects plaques I4a and b, and plaques I4bc are connected to one another by the stylized branch. The question of whether the sphinx (I4d) was part of the original scene cannot be resolved. However, the fact that the left side of the jug in the upper part of the scene and the left side of the cobra underneath it are both missing seems to indicate that both sphinx and cobra had been part of one scene, but they perhaps decorated a box of slightly broader dimensions than Box , and in order to t the plaques to this box they were trimmed. This possibility nds support in two additional observations. First, the size and proportions of all plaques constituting side I4 differ from those of the plaques on all other sides of Box , as well as from those of all the other scattered plaques found dispersed in the ceremonial palace (see below). Second, a considerable number of square bone pieces such as those that decorate the
Figure 8 The interior of the Hazor box.
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Figure 9 Plaques that belonged to Box O.
bottom and interior of the walls of Box (see above), was found and they are sufcient to reconstruct an entire side (or bottom?) of another box. These squares, approximately 1 1.4 cm, are larger than the squares of Box , and so is the horizontal border strip, which measures 2.8 cm. When the plaques are joined (Fig. 9), this side measures approximately 28 16 cm, larger than the side of Box . The plaques that constitute side I4 of Box I apparently originally belonged to that larger box (called here Box 0). The woman depicted
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on the partially preserved plaque (Type A6, see below) and the border strip depicting an animal chase (Type C1, see below) could perhaps also have belonged to that box. Given all the peculiarities enumerated above, the inevitable conclusion is that not all the plaques that currently constitute Box originally belonged to this box. What we are witnessing is a recycling of plaques (noted not only at Hazor, see below); the plaques that now constitute Box I originally formed part of another or several other boxes. One may claim that the noted peculiarities are due to the low standard or even sloppiness of the Hazor artist who produced the box. However, a comparison with similar boxes found elsewhere (see below) shows that our artist exhibited considerable skill in executing this box. Furthermore, some of the peculiarities notedthe head of the human gure and the plant-like object on the Hathor heads, both placed off centre (I1m); the depiction of only half a branch (I1l); the two parts of Hathors mouth on the left side of the scene (where plaques I1c and I1d join) that do not seem to belong together; and the disproportionately long arm of the human gure (plaques I2ab)all these can denitely not be explained as resulting from the Hazor artists lack of skill.
The scattered plaques

Since Box was found more or less complete, the scattered plaques most probably belong to, or were intended for, other boxes. Since the plaques fall into three groups of heights, and we can assume that the height of the vertical plaques in each box was more or less uniform, we can reasonably deduce that there were four boxes (including Box 0). The vertical plaques seem to have belonged to two boxes, I and 0. The vertical plaques on sides I1, I2 and I3 of Box are approximately seven cm high. The measurements and composition of side I4 are somewhat larger, and we have already noted that the plaques of this side may originally have belonged to an even larger box (Box 0), and were trimmed in order to t Box . The scattered plaques probably belonged to two additional boxes: The plaques that are approximately six cm in height belonged to one (Box II), and those approximately ve cm in height belonged to yet another (Box III) (Fig. 10). Three of the scattered plaques (A2bc and B1d) do, however, fall in between the sizes of Boxes and II. The fact that bone plaques from three or four boxes were found scattered around the Hazor ceremonial palace may indicate that a workshop specializing in the production of boxes decorated with incised bone inlays was perhaps active there. (See Luciani 2006 for a workshop in the Qatna Palace that produced inlays made of bone and ivory; for a different view, see Margueron 1979.) The scattered plaques found in other rooms of the palace and those found a few metres to its north show a close afnity in style, subject matter, posture of the gures and details of dress to those of Box .
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Figure 10 Plaques that belonged to Boxes I, II and III.
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Typology
The subjects portrayed on the plaques fall into four groups. Some, and probably all, of the depictions in Group A may actually belong to Group B. However, since all of the plaques in Group A were found scattered and unrelated to one another, unlike those of Box , it seemed preferable to categorize them in a separate group.
A: Human gures performing various activities (Fig. 11)

A1: Man holding lotus A2: Woman holding lotus A3: Man playing a musical instrument A4: Woman dancing A5: Woman crouching A6: Woman (unidentiable activity)
B: Cultic scenes (Fig. 12)

B1: Veneration of Hathor B2: Presentation of offerings B3: Sphinx and cobras
C: Animal chase (Fig. 13)

C1: Lion chasing horned animal C2: Lions(?) paw C3: Parts of two (?) unidentiable animals
D: Geometric decorative pieces (Fig. 14)

D1: Small square inlays D2: Strip inlays
Iconography
A: Human gures performing various activities

A1. Man holding lotus: The decorated bone plaques found at Hazor show a strong Egyptian inuencesome to a greater degree than others (see discussion below). It is no easy matter to determine whether Type A1b depicts a male or a female gure. The decision to place this plaque in Type A1 is based on the following considerations: First, the length of the gures dress reaches to the kneesrelatively longer than the dress worn by men but shorter than that worn by the women depicted in Type A2. Second, the hairdo of gure A1b is obviously different from that of the women in Type A2, and is closer to that of the men depicted in Type A1. Neither dress nor hair-style depicted in Type A1 is necessarily Egyptian. Unlike the typical Egyptian lotuses, the Hazor gures are holding a stylized, three-pronged object,
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Figure 11 Group A plaques.
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Figure 12 Group B plaques.
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Figure 13 Group C plaques.
Figure 14 Group D plaques.
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Figure 15 Men and women holding lotuses on: (a) Syrian cylinder seals, (b) Palestinian scarabs. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
seemingly a stylized lotus ower(?) reminiscent of those depicted on top of the Hathor heads on sides 1 and 2 of Box . Men and women holding lotuses are quite often portrayed on Syrian cylinder seals (Fig. 15a), which in many cases depict a cross between the was sceptre and the lotus leaf (Teissier 1996: 122). A similar confusion between the lotus and the was sceptre can be observed on Palestinian scarabs dating to Middle Bronze IIbc (Fig. 15b). A2. Woman holding lotus: The Egyptian inuence on this type is much more evident than in A1: The upright stance of the lotus (A2a), the womens dress and hair-style, common to all examples from Hazor, nd close parallels in Egypt going as far back as the Old Kingdom (Vandier 1964: 6062, Fig. 18: 2021). Numerous parallels can also be found in the Middle Kingdom (Fig. 16). A3. Man playing a musical instrument: The plaque portrays a man playing the lute. This instrument is rst attested only shortly before 2000 BCE, as evidenced by depictions from the time of King Shulgi of the Third Dynasty of Ur (Anderson 1995; for the possibility of its being introduced already in the Akkad period see Rashid 1984: 62). Several clay gurines dating to the rst half of the second millennium
Figure 16 Woman holding lotus (Egyptian Middle Kingdom period).
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Figure 17 Lute players: (a) Tell el->Ajjul, (b) Beth Shean, (c) Egyptian wall painting, (d) Cypriot bowl.
BCE, showing men playing the instrument, were found at sites in northern Syria (ibid.: 92) and it is also known in Asia Minor. In these early depictions, the lute is played by men only, and is usually unaccompanied by other musicians. A clay gurine from Tell el->Ajjul of a male playing the lute (Fig. 17a) was dated by the excavator to the Hyksos period (Petrie 1933, Vol. 3: 8, no. 39, Pls. XVXVI) and probably dates to the early Late Bronze Age. A bronze gurine of a female lute player, from Late Bronze Age Beth Shean (Fig. 17b), probably indicates Egyptian inuence (see below). The lute is also played by the Late Bronze Age dancer from Tel Dan (Biran 1986). The instrument makes its rst appearance in Egypt in the New Kingdom (Anderson 1976: 70). The early representations of lute players in Egypt depict men only, as was the custom throughout the region. The earliest female lute players are known starting from the time of Amenhotep II, and thereafter when the lute is depicted being played by both men and women (Fig. 17c) (Vandier 1964: 374, 377, Figs. 190, 195; Manniche 1975: 71). The lute was also introduced into Cyprus during the same period, as shown by the portrayal of a female lute player exhibiting clear Egyptian inuence (Fig. 17d).
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Figure 18 (ab) Women dancers depicted on Egyptian wall paintings.
Since the Hazor plaques should be dated earlier than the introduction of the lute into Egypt (see below), the lute player here apparently represents a local or northern tradition. A4. Woman dancing: Dance, performed by both men and women, was practiced in Egypt from very early times (Brunner-Traut 1985: 215). Several scenes showing dancers are depicted on the walls of the tomb of an anonymous owner (Petries Sit-Hathor) at Qurnehdating to the late 17th/early 16th century BCE (Petrie 1909: 1011). The posture of the dancing woman depicted in the centre of the Qurneh scene (Fig. 18a) is similar to that of the Hazor dancer. Dancing scenes become more common in Egypt with the rise of the Eighteenth Dynasty. In most of those scenes the dancers are women or young girls, shown either naked or wearing a transparent dress (Fig. 18b) (BrunnerTraut 1985: 222; Gros de Beler 2001: 101). The above-mentioned dancing women from Qurneh, however, are fully dressed. Dancing scenes are known from several cylinder seals of the Old Babylonian period, most of them in collections and thus of unknown origin (Matouov Rajmov 1978). The cultic signicance of the scenes is evident from the depictions of fertility symbols (trees, snakes and the like) on those seals. The dancers portrayed in the cylinders are mostly men, but a woman dancer also appears (Fig. 19b) The most common posture of the dancer is with one leg on the ground and the other leg bent at the knee with one hand holding the foot.
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Scenes depicting dance are extremely rare in southern Canaan. The best-known example is the dancer from Tel Dan, found in a Late Bronze II context (Fig. 20a). The posture of the Tel Dan dancer who at the same time is also playing the lute is similar to that of the young girl depicted on an Egyptian cosmetic spoon (Fig. 20b); she has one leg on the ground and the other bent at the knee. Exactly the same posture was noted on dancers on Egyptian wall paintings and on the cylinder seals found in the Syro-Mesopotamian region mentioned above. The dress worn by the Tel Dan dancer is clearly non-Egyptian and thus seems to indicate a northern inspiration (Biran 1986: 170; for a similar type of dress often depicted on Syrian cylinder seals, see Fig. 19d; compare also with the dress worn by the priests[?] depicted on a cultic basin found at
Figure 19 (abc) Dancing scenes depicted on Old Babylonian cylinder seals, (d) dancing scene depicted on a Syrian cylinder seal (lower right of the seal impression). Figure d by permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
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Figure 20 (a) The Tel Dan dancer, (b) dancing girl depicted on an Egyptian cosmetic spoon. Figure a by permission of the Israel Exploration Society; Figure b by permission of the Louvre Museum.
Ebla: Orthmann 1975: 483, Pl. XLIV; relief of a dignitary from Carchemish, ibid.: 484, Fig. 414b; the wall painting from Mari, ibid.: 304305 Pl. XV)all of which date to the rst half of the second millennium BCE. Dancers are also depicted on several late Middle Bronze II Palestinian scarabs (Keel 1996). The dancers are portrayed in various postures (Fig. 21), among them those in which dancers have both hands stretched upwards and one foot bent at the kneethe same posture as that of the Hazor dancer. The Egyptian hieroglyphic and pseudo-hieroglyphic signs on these scarabs are the only indications of a remote Egyptian inuence; the rest of the scene is locally inspired. The dancer depicted on the Hazor plaque is fully dressed. Both her arms are upraised and one of her knees is bent. This posture is quite common in depictions of dancers from Mesopotamia, throughout the Levant and in Egypt. The Hazor dancer, however, apparently reects a local inspiration: There is nothing evidently Egyptian about her. She is shown in prole, except for her upraised arms, which are depicted en face, but the same is true for the depictions of dancers shown on the Mesopotamian (and North Syrian?) seals of the Old Babylonian period. Egyptian dancers are generally depicted either with a shaved head or wearing a long tripartite wig. The Hazor dancer has long
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hair that curls at the tips, quite similar to the hairdo of the female dancer shown on one of the Old Babylonian cylinder seals (Fig. 19b). A similar depiction of the posture as well as the curling hairdo of a dancer is shown on a Syrian cylinder seal (Fig. 19d bottom right). Having discussed the lute player and Figure 21 Dancing scene depicted on the dancer depicted on two of the scattered Palestinian scarabs. Hazor plaques, it is interesting to note that By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg. one of the letters of Manatn from Mari mentions singer-musicians who were sent to Mari from Hazor (Durand 1992: 127; Ozan 1997: 296297). A5. Woman crouching: Unlike the lute player and the dancer portrayed on the Hazor box, both of which seem to represent local traditions, the crouching woman shows clear Egyptian inuence (Vandier 1964: 220 224, Figs. 88(2), 89, 91)so much so that it could have been (it most probably was not) imported from Egypt. Though only the left half of it is preserved, the position of her right hand, almost resting on her knee, and her left hand, bent at the elbow and probably resting on her shoulder, is the typical manner in which seated persons were depicted in Egypt (Fig. 22). A6. Woman in an unidentiable activity: This plaque differs in several respects from all other plaques depicting women (Types A2, A4) found at Hazor, and was probably done by another hand: The womans hair is strung with large Figure 22 Crouching woman depicted on a heavy beads falling in a line along her funerary stela from Abydos (Middle shoulder; it is tied back by a ribbon Kingdom). across her forehead. The dimensions of By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg. this plaque and the size of the womans head are larger than those of all other plaques found at Hazor except those of the plaque depicting a sphinx (side I4), and like it, A6 may also have originally belonged to Box 0.
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B: Cultic scenes
B1. The veneration of Hathor (Box I):
B1a. Man supporting (venerating) head of Hathor: This motif is repeated six times in the Hazor assemblagetwice on each of the edges of sides I1 and I2 of Box , and again on two of the scattered plaques. It is the most common motif in the Hazor assemblage and must have been of special signicance. While there is nothing specically Egyptian about the human gures, neither in their features nor in their apparel, the manner in which the hands support Hathors head is denitely inspired by Egyptian prototypes. A close parallel can be seen engraved on one of the bone plaques found at Toumba tou Skourou in Cyprus (Vermeule 1974; Vermeule and Wolsky 1977, 1990), which must have been part of a box of the same type as the one from Hazor. A bone plaque found there (Fig. 23a), the dimensions of which are almost identical to those of Box , depicts a gure (of undeterminable sex) with crossed arms stretched forward, supporting part of an oval-shaped form. The plaque is complete on all sides, so the object that was supported must have been depicted on a plaque not preserved to the right of the gure. Vermeule and Wolsky speculate that the gure is probably bearing a gift or fertilizing a tree (Vermeule 1974: Fig. 60) or is touching a palm tree or a holy disc on a standard (Vermeule and Wolsky 1990: 221). In the Hazor depiction of a very similar scene, the tree is nothing but the stylized branch, exactly like the one that separates the gure from the Hathor head portrayed on Box I, and the circular object or holy disc is most probably the curl at the bottom of Hathors hair, as can be seen on Vermeule and Wolskys reconstruction of another plaque found close to it (Fig. 23b). Three other plaques found in the same tomb (Fig. 23c, d, e,) may have depicted sistra; they will be discussed below. While one of the hands of the worshipers depicted on the Hazor box touches the top of Hathors hair, the other touches it at the bottom (or close to it). This arm posture is quite common in Egyptian scenes (Fig. 24a, b), where it indicates protection, a close relationship or veneration. As Wilkinson wrote, The sign is frequently found in texts and inscriptions where the king is said to have a special relationship with the gods (1992: 51). The same arm position is also known on Egyptianizing Syrian cylinder seals of the Middle Bronze Age (Fig. 24c). There, however, the embrace may perhaps have lost its religious signicance and seems to indicate an intimate relationship or just friendship (Teissier 1996: 50). However, at least on one of those seals, the same arm position is clearly meant to portray adoration, this time of the nude goddess (Fig. 24d). Whether the support in the Hazor scene signies the retention of some form of the idea of veneration, or is merely a posture adopted from the Syrian seals remains an open question. Even so, interpreting it as signifying adoration is the most likely possibility (see below). A stylized branch is depicted on all four sides of Box between the human gures and the Hathor heads on side I1, and on the right side of the scene only on side I2. On side I3 there is a branch behind the gure carrying the caprid on the right side of the
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Figure 23 (af) Decorated plaques from Toumba tou Skourou. By permission of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
scene, and on side I4 there is a branch between the second cobra from the right and the one to its left. Among the group of scattered plaques from Hazor the branch is depicted on the left end of a hunting scene (Type C1). The branch is also known from similar boxes or parts of boxes such as the plaques from Tell Beit Mirsim (Fig. 25a); (see further discussion of this box below), the box from Toumba tou Skourou (Fig. 23a, above) and the bowl depicting a woman playing the lute, both from Cyprus (Fig. 17d, above). Numerous Middle Bronze II Palestinian scarabs depict branches (Fig. 25b, c), yet it is almost entirely absent in this form from the Syrian cylinder seals.
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Figure 24 Crossed arms posture (ab) in Egypt; (cd) on Syrian cylinder seals. Figure a by permission of Dr. Troy L. Sagrillo; Figure b by Thames and Hudson; Figures c and d by the Academic Press Fribourg.
The signicance of the branch motif on the Hazor bone plaques, if not just decorative, remains unknown. For an alternative view, see Schroer 1989. At Hazor, in all six occurrences of the human gure supporting the Hathor head, the important feature is not the human gure but rather the deity. The signicance of the Hathor heads on this box is demonstrated not only by the fact that the goddess is being venerated (if indeed that was what the positioning of the arms meant; the kneeling gure depicted on plaque B1d seems to support this interpretation), but rst and foremost by the size of the headsalmost four times larger than the heads of the supporting human
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gures. Whether the head and neck of Hathor depict a Hathor sistrum or a pillar with Hathors head as its capital remains an unresolved question. The four-pronged, plant-like object on the Hazor Hathor heads is unusual, and is almost unknown in Egyptian depictions of the goddess. One of the rare Egyptian parallels is a small votive faience mask of Hathor from Deir el-Bahri (Fig. 26a). Two volutes can clearly be seen on both sides of the plant-like motif shown on that mask. Pinch (1993: 142) interpreted these as all that remains of a naos. Another possibility is that the plantlike motif depicts the remnants of a papyrus clump (Fig. 26b), which was associated in Egypt with the goddess Hathor (Wilkinson 1992: 123). Figure 25 Branches depicted on (a) Tell Beit Alternatively, it could have been Mirsim box, (bc) Palestinian scarabs. taken from Palestinian scarabs, where Figures b and c by permission of the Academic it is often depicted on the head of the Press Fribourg. Hathor-Fetish type (Fig. 26c), where it represents the very stylized remnants of the sistrum naos (see below). It seems more probable, however, that the origin of this motif should be sought in Syria, since it may be related to similar features often depicted on the heads of deities portrayed on Syrian cylinder seals (Fig. 26d). In her discussion of the goddess in the oral head-dress, Teissier points out that the head-dress looks like an opening (lotus?) bud. The goddesses predominantly associated with oral crowns in Egypt were Hathor and Meret.The basic form of these head-dresses consisted of three central shoots with two side shoots falling to the sides, yet none of the head-dresses in this group [of Syrian cylinder seals, A. B-T] correspond closely to the Egyptian types (Teissier 1996: 137). Hathors hair is usually tied together by a few strips, which are, on all four depictions of Hathor on Box , in the form of ladders. These hair-strips do not appear on any of the numerous Hathor head depictions on Syrian cylinder seals (Fig. 27). The ladder motif is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the artist who created the Hazor box. In addition to using the ladder motif for the strips on Hathors hair, the artist also used this motif to form the belts on some of the human gures (1a, 2a, 3c), on the back of the sphinxs hair and all along the body of the six cobras 4ad). The ladder motif as part of a garment is well known from the Syrian cylinder seals, where the thickened border (the so-called Wulstsaummantel, see Schroer 1985) of the mantle
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Figure 26 Plant-like object on Hathor head: depicted on (a) faience mask from Deir el-Bahri, (b) papyrus clump, (c) Hathor fetish, (d) Syrian cylinder seals. Figure b by permission of Dr. Troy L. Sagrillo; Figure d by the Academic Press Fribourg.
Figure 27 Heads of Hathor depicted on Syrian cylinder seals. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
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worn by dignitaries is often portrayed in a ladder-like fashion (see also the discussion of the Tel Dan dancer, above, Fig. 20a). One other detail in the depiction of Hathor at Hazor is noteworthy, namely her mouth. Whereas in Egyptian portrayals she is usually rendered as a young woman with rather pleasant facial features, on Box I Hathors mouth is somewhat crooked, with the edges turning down. This specic manner of depicting Hathor is even more evident in other box inlays found in the region, such as the one from Toumba tou Skourou (Fig. 23b, d, above). This angry expression led Vermeule to refer to the plaques under discussion in her early publication as depicting a Near Eastern divinity, with an intense gazea demon with long oval eyes and a full beard (Vermeule 1974: Fig 59). In a later publication, Vermeule and Wolsky deliberate on the identication of who exactly was portrayed on the Toumba tou Skourou plaques and refer to them as depicting heads of Hathor or Bes-like daimons (sic) with beards (Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: 84). Of all known decorated boxes, the style of execution of the different motifs on the Toumba tou Skourou box is the crudest. It may perhaps have been made locally, in imitation of Levantine boxes, as were the Tell el-Yahudiyeh juglets found in the same context (Negbi 1978). Another rather extreme case of the angry facial expression of Hathor, as portrayed on the bone plaques from the Levant, can be seen on an as yet unpublished box at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem.
B1b. Hathor sistrum(?): Although many of its details differ from the usual depictions of sistra known from Egypt and the Sinai, it is possible that the object attached by bone dowels to the centre of the scene on sides I1 and I2 of Box is a Hathor sistrum. The proper sistrum had two main forms, both associated with Hathor: one had the rods and sounding plates contained within an arch, the other within a small naos or shrine. The two sistrum types had a Hathor head represented over the handle (Anderson 1995: 2557). A bas-relief at Dendera depicts both types of sistra being offered to the goddess (Wilkinson 1992: 172, Fig. 3). Neither the arch nor the naos are depicted on the Hazor object; this phenomenon can also be observed on some sistra handles found in Egypt (Anderson 1976: 4063). In all these cases, however, the triangular basis for the naos is preserved. One of the most typical features of Hathor is the way in which her hair curls at the base on both sides of her head. Indeed, this is not always so, and in numerous representations of her in Egypt itself, these curls are missing: This is the case, for example, on Hathor-capitals in the temples at Philae and Deir el-Bahri (Oaks 2001: 164, 166), or on pillars crowned by capitals in the form of Hathor sistra (ibid.: 176, 181). Quite a few of the sistra found in Egypt also lack the curling hair feature (Anderson 1976: 118, 119). In all these cases, however, Hathors hair is arranged in an orderly fashion, closely following the contours of her head and neck. The portrayal of Hathor on the Hazor box (Type B1b) with hair shown streaming down vertically on both sides of her head is unusual and the only close parallels are those known from Toumba tou Skourou (Fig. 23c, d, above). A somewhat close parallel to the depiction of the (apparent) sistrum on the Hazor box is the bone handle of a sistrum found at Bethel (Fig. 28): The carving is good but the
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workmanship is unmistakably Palestiniana date in the fteenth century would t the stratication admirably (Albright and Kelso 1968: 86). As at Hazor, Hathors hair on the Bethel handle does not curl at the bottom, her ears are very pronounced and her facial features are stern, all of which are reminiscent of the depictions on the Hazor box. She does not carry a naos on her head, but the triangular basis for that structure, so typical of sistra, is clearly portrayed. The presumed sistrum on the Hazor box has neither a naos nor its triangular foundation; it is, however, Figure 28 depicted on one of Hazors scattered plaques (Type Sistrum handle B1e, see below). from Bethel. Three of the bone plaques discovered at Toumba By permission of tou Skourou, may also have depicted sistra (Fig. ASOR. 23b, c, d,). One of these three (Fig. 23c) very closely resembles the sistrum portrayed on sides I1 and I2 of Box I. Unfortunately only a very small fragment of this Toumba tou Skourou plaque is preserved, but the down-streaming hair and the two horizontal lines depicted just below Hathors chin are reminiscent of those depicted on the Hazor plaque. A similar portrayal of Hathors hair can be seen on another fragment from Toumba tou Skourou. What remains of this fragment is probably also a depiction of Hathor (Fig. 23e), and if so, it shows two of the strips tying Hathors hair, quite similar to those depicted on the Hazor box. A similar depiction of the veneration of Hathor (or a Hathor sistrum?)a close parallel for the scene on the front side of the Hazor boxis portrayed on a gold plaque found in the Qatna Royal Tomb (Fig. 29). Despite all its peculiarities, the conclusion that the object at the midpoint of sides I1 and I2 of the Hazor box (Type B1b) represents a sistrum is almost unavoidable. With the entire scene so closely tied to Hathor, it is inconceivable that the object at its very
Figure 29 Gold plaque from Qatna. By permission of Peter Pflzner.
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Figure 30 Attached Hathor heads: (a) Megiddo, (b) Israel Museum.
centre would be unrelated. The fact that it was carved separately and attached to the box by dowels implies that it could be detached (even if it was not), and perhaps symbolizes a sistrum. Ultimately, all sistra are basically a Hathor head represented over the handle (Anderson 1995: 2557). Even so, it should be borne in mind that attaching heads (made of clay, bone, wood or ivory) in relief to various types of containers or furniture was quite common in the region in the late Middle Bronze and early Late Bronze Ages. Such heads were found at Lachish (Tufnell et al. 1940: 60, Pl. XVI: 2, 3), at Tel Miqne-Ekron (Ben-Shlomo and Dothan 2006: 1516, 29, Fig. 10), at Megiddo (Loud 1939: Pl. 44: 195196), at Kmid el-Lz (Hachmann 1983: 8788, 115118) and at Ugarit (Gachet-Bizollon 2007: 197, 303, Pl. 111: 404). These heads, however, do not depict Hathor. Attached heads depicting Hathor are known from Megiddo (Fig. 30a) and from numerous examples in Egypt, all dating to the New Kingdom. Among these the following are noteworthy: the bowl from Malkata (Brovarski et al. 1932: 99), a fragment of a clay vessel in the collection of the Israel Museum (Fig. 30b), palace pottery in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Hayes 1959: 247250) and a wooden cosmetic container from Gurob (Kozloff et al. 1993: 3435). However, unlike the attached Hathor head from Hazor, none of these heads has a handle. As already mentioned above, we have no idea which aspects of Hathor were adopted/ recognized (or even known) in Canaan. It is, however, worth noting that in Egypt the deities mainly connected with music were Hathorand her son Ihy (Anderson 1995: 2555) and that she is also known as Lady of the Dance (Brunner-Traut 1985: 216). Some of the funerary scenes depicted on the walls of tombs of the nomarchs at Meir show dances performed for the dead by musicians and priestesses of Hathor (Anderson 1995: 2564; see also Blackman 1914: 23; Blackman and Apted 1953: 15, 22), while scenes depicting the transport and erection of statues show musicians called Ladies of the Harem of Hathor (Anderson 1995: 2566). Hathors close association to dance and
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music in Egypt is therefore well established. If the Hazor plaques were meant to tell a storywhich cannot, of course, be ascertainedand if Hathors close connection with dance and music was known in Canaan, then the sistrum, so typical of her, attached to both sides of Box nds here its natural context. The same goes for the lute player (Type A3), the dancer (Type A4) and one of the Hathor heads (Type B1e), which, due to their sizeall are approximately 5 cm highprobably belong to one of the other Hazor boxes (see above).
B1cf. The veneration of Hathor (on scattered plaques): Two of the scattered plaques from Hazor, B1cd, denitely belong to this group. Two others that are only partially preserved may also be included: B1ealmost certainly; B1fdoubtfully. B1c and B1d are closely related to the veneration scenes depicted on sides I1 and I2 of Box . While the gure depicted in B1c is standing in exactly the same pose as those venerating Hathor on Box , the gure in B1d is kneeling, conveying the idea of veneration in an even stronger way. Representations of kneeling gures are common in Egypt and on Syrian cylinder seals, however: the Egyptian king may kneel before deities or temples but he never kneels on one knee, with one knee on the ground and the other at right angles [as does the gure depicted on plaque B1d, A. B-T.]which is a position characteristic of Syrian iconography (Teissier 1996: 129). This posture of kneeling is also known from Syrian cylinder seals (Fig. 31a, b) and Palestinian scarabs (Fig. 31c). The posture of the kneeling gure depicted in B1d, with both arms raised above its head, is somewhat different from that depicted on sides I1 and I2 of Box probably because the gure is placed very close to, and is actually touching, an object much taller than itself. The workmanship of plaques B1c and B1d is far superior to that of the depiction of the same scene in B1a and B1b. All of Hathors characteristics are clearly shown: her hair, executed in straight lines, runs down alongside her face and curls at the bottom. It is tied with strips (note that unlike the ladder-like strips tying Hathors hair in Box these strips are plain) and her large ears are clearly shown. Plaque B1e shows a strange mixture: There can be no doubt that Hathors head is portrayed here, but unlike B1cd, her hair is not incised in straight lines, and it more closely resembles the hair in B1a. Only one plain strip ties her hair, which curls at the
Figure 31 Kneeling gures depicted on: (ab) Syrian cylinder seals, (c) Palestinian scarab. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
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bottom, and her ears are not depicted at all. This plaque differs in one important detail from all the other plaques depicting Hathor found at Hazor: On the top of her head she bears a at triangular featurequite common in Egyptian portrayals of Hathorthat serves as the base for the naos, which houses the rods and sounding plates that are an integral part of the sistrum. A close parallel for B1e is the bone plaque from Tell el->Ajjul (Fig. 32), though the horns and a solar disc placed on Hathors head there do not appear on the Hazor plaques. As will be suggested below, the production of boxes decorated with incised bone inlays was a Canaanite specialty. Thus, plaques B1cd (and B1e?) and perhaps also the plaque from Tell el->Ajjul, were crafted in the Levant (B1ce most probably at Hazor itself), but were perhaps carved by a resident Egyptian or by an artist trained in Egypt. Figure 32 Tell elPlaque B1f may or may not belong to group B1: It may just >Ajjul plaque depictbe part of the back side of a standing human gure wearing a ing Hathor head. long dress. A close parallel comes from Toumba tou Skourou (Fig. 23f) where the plaque is described as depicting a man walking right in stippled shirt and pleated kilt, from a gaming board or casket? (Vermeule and Wolsky 1990: 240). This may also be true of the plaque from Hazor. Yet the fact that it was found outside of the palace and that its irregular outline differs from all the other scattered plaques casts doubt on whether plaque B1f actually belongs to the group of bone inlays under discussion. B2. Presentation of offerings: The scene depicted on side 3 of Box I portrays two gures, each carrying an animal (a young gazelle?). They are walking toward the centre of the scene where an unpreserved plaque most probably depicted the intended recipient (deity?) of the offerings. Only the gure on the right is fully preserved but several differences in detail can be distinguished in the dress of the humans and in the rendering of the two animals; even the hatching of the body of the animals was probably done by two different tools. The main difference, however, is the manner in which the animals are carried: While the animal on the right is borne on the mans shoulders, the one on the left is held in the mans arms. Parallels for carrying sacricial animals in this manner are numerous, both in Egypt and in the Levant. Both modes are depicted on Middle Kingdom wall paintings at BaniHassan and Meir (Fig. 33a). On Middle Bronze Age Syrian cylinder seals the animals always appear on the persons shoulders (Fig. 33b). In one of the scenes depicted on ivory plaques that probably decorated a box found at Tell el-Far>ah (Nineteenth Dynasty date) a calf is carried in a similar fashion on the shoulders of a young man (Fig. 33c). The scenes depicted on Tell el-Far>ah plaques are Egyptian in style and detail, yet Petrie claimed that even though the box was probably executed for the Egyptian resident [at Tell el-Far>ah, A. B-T]the workmanship is Syrian (Petrie 1930: 19). A recent
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Figure 33 Men carrying animals depicted on: (a) Bani-Hassan ceiling, (b) Syrian cylinder seal, (c) Tell el-Far>ah ivory box. Figure b by permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
close examination of the scenes on the Tell el-Far>ah box concluded that the work had indeed been executed locally (Dr. Christophe Barbotin, Chief Curator of the Egyptian Department at the Louvre Museum in Paris, personal communication). The possibility that some of the plaques found at Hazor may have been made locally by an Egyptian artist, or by a local artist who had either trained in Egypt or was vastly familiar with Egyptian iconography, was already suggested with regard to plaques B1ce (see above). No conclusion with regard to the possible origin or source of inuence for this motif can be drawn since there is simply no other way in which animals could be carried. None of the details of the scenethe facial features of both men, their dress, the manner in which they convey the animalsindicates foreign inuence, and it is thus the least Egyptianized scene on the Hazor box. One important detail of the scene, howeveralready noted with regard to sides 1 and I2deserves special notice, namely, the way the upper part of the scene extends from the vertical plaques onto the horizontal border plaque. The best parallel for this feature can be found in the box from Kmid el-Lz (Fig. 34a; for further discussion of this box, see below). The heads and backs of both humans, the heads of the horned animals and the lions head and part of the head and back of the bull portrayed on the Kmid el-Lz box (Fig. 52) extend onto the horizontal border plaque above the central section. In one case, on one of the short sides of the box (Fig. 34b), the order is even reversed: The major part of the scenethe man and animalis shown on the larger, upper part of the short side, while the lower part of the horned animal and the leg of
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Figure 34 Men chasing animals as depicted on the Kmid el-Lz box. By permission of Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmBH.
the human chasing it extend onto the narrow horizontal plaque below. The resemblance between the Hazor and Kmid el-Lz boxes is so close in this feature that it is likely that if both were not created by the same artist, then they were created by two artists who trained at the same school. B3. Sphinx and cobras: While side 3 seems the least Egyptianized scene on the Hazor box, the depiction on side 4 shows the closest afnity with Egyptian motifsmore so than any of the other sides. The components of the scene depicted on side 4 are a sphinx, portrayed on one large rectangular, horizontally-placed plaque, and six cobras portrayed on three plaques of varying sizes below. Both sphinx and cobras originate in Egypt, where they appear frequently; in Canaan they are rare, except for numerous representations on Syrian cylinder seals (Fig. 35a) and on Palestinian scarabs (Fig. 35b). While clearly reminiscent of the Egyptian sphinx, the Hazor sphinx, as evidenced in the portrayal of its head, is strongly Canaanized. The cobras, however, are much more akin to their Egyptian counterparts. Friezes consisting of rows of cobras were known in Egypt as early as the third millennium BCE, usually as an architectural motif. Examples of this can be seen at the pyramid of Djoser (Third Dynasty) at Saqqara. This type of frieze decoration in temples and tombs is a very conservative one, lasting for some 3000 years (Dewachter 2002: 40), and it can be observed often, particularly in tombs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties. Rows of cobras are also depicted on sarcophagi, especially those of the Middle
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Figure 35 Sphinx and cobra depicted on: (a) Syrian cylinder seals, (b) Palestinian scarabs. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
Kingdom period (Lacau 19041905: sarcophagai nos. 2808728106, on canopic shrines, and are also drawn on a number of papyri; for further discussion of this motif, see Arnold 1973; Wildung 1984; Martin 1985: 864867). An interesting attempt to Canaanize the cobra motif can be seen on the fragments of an alabaster vessel from Ugarit. In the scene, which may have been copied from an Egyptian one by a local artist, the row of cobras was replaced by a row of ibex heads of a type unknown in Egypt but common in Syria (Frankfort 1926: 86, note 1; Glanville 1929: 7, note 1; Desroches-Noblecourt 1956: 206209; Singer 1999: 625626; Caubet and Yon 2006: 8797). Rows of cobras are virtually unknown on Syrian cylinder seals; nor do they appear on Palestinian scarabs, except on Egyptian New Figure 36 Rows of cobras depicted on Palestinian Kingdom imports (Fig. 36). The scarabs. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg. association of Hathors head and sistra with a pair of cobras is well attested on Middle Bronze Age Palestinian scarabs (Fig. 37a) and on Middle and New Kingdom Egyptian scarabs (Fig. 37b, c). The depiction of cobras wearing the crown of Hathor that occasionally appear on Egyptianizing Syrian cylinder seals (Fig. 37d) and the scene portrayed on a rock engraving from Serabit el-Khadim (Fig. 37e) may also hint at the association of Hathor and the cobra. A scene from Deir el-Medinah shows the snake goddess Meretseger, one of the aspects of Hathor, being adored by one of the local craftsman (Oakes 2001: 167; for the close relationship between Hathor and the cobra, see also Martin 1985: 866). Although there are no exact Egyptian parallels to the sphinx depicted on the Hazor box, several sphinxes on Canaanite scarabs (Fig. 38) do bear a close resemblance. The depiction of the sphinx and the cobra on the same Syrian cylinder seal (Teissier 1996: 8084), and on the same Palestinian scarab (Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 101: 1238) deserves special notice, as the two are also closely associated on the Hazor box (for the close relationship between sphinx and cobra in Egypt already in the Old Kingdom, see Kaper 2003: 56). In the Middle Kingdom the cobra and sphinx appear together on magic
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Figure 37 Hathors head and cobras depicted on (a) Palestinian, and (bc) Egyptian scarabs; (d) cobra wearing Hathor crown on Syrian cylinder seal, (e) Hathor, cobra and sphinx from Serabit el-Khadim. Figures a, b, c by permssion of the Academic Press Fribourg; Figure e courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.
wands (Petrie 1927: 3943, Pls. XXXVIXXXVII). The two are also associated in the rock engraving from Serabit el-Khadim mentioned above (Fig. 37e). It should be stressed again that there is no way to determine whether the symbolism and associations that originated in the Egyptian world were understood, or even known, in Canaan. However, the numerous appearances of Egyptian motifs in the Hazor plaques clearly indicate, so it seems, a fair amount of Egyptian inuence, even if the various motifs were just copied, without any regard to their original signicance. The jug with a stream of liquid drops issuing from its Figure 38 Sphinx and cobras spout (the Egyptian es jug) is unknown in Canaan, neither depicted on a Palestinian on cylinder seals nor on scarabs. It is well known in Egypt, scarab. By permission of the Academic where it often appears in scenes that take place in temples or deal with mortuary libations (Reisner 1942: Pl. 19: b; Press Fribourg.
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Lhote 1954: 238, Figs. 30, 32; Eggebrecht 1984: 309; Wilkinson 1992: 204; for depictions of the jar on offering tables of the Middle Kingdom at Serabit el-Khadim, see Gardiner et al. 1955: 126, Pl. XLV: 122; 207, Pl. LXXXVI: 408). The inscriptions accompanying those depictions mention milk and wine, but most often water, and the terms offering, purication and libation are used (Wilkinson 1992: 205). The hieroglyph depicting the jug with liquid issuing from its spout is also represented in Gardiners sign list (Gardiner 1982: W 1416).
Was Hathor recognized in Canaan?

While Hathor was obviously an important goddess in Egypt, the role she played in Canaan is still unclear; even the name Canaanites used for Hathor is a mystery. Yet she must have occupied a signicant place in Canaan, perhaps even in some aspects of Canaanite religion, if not as part of the ofcial religion, then in the popular one. This is attested to by her close association with the natural resources of the Levanttimber (Lady of Byblos) and turquoise (Lady of Turquoise, in the Sinai). The adoption, in Canaan, of various symbols associated with Hathor, and even the assimilation of these symbols into the iconography of the local Canaanite goddess (the nude goddess) is not surprising In a comprehensive discussion of a group of Palestinian scarabs, sometimes referred to as a Hathor Fetish Schroer (1989: 139199; Keel 1995: 212213) suggests substituting the term Hathor Fetish with the term Goddess-Head Symbol (Gttinnenkopfsymbol), since she rejects any relationship between the symbol portrayed on those scarabs and the goddess Hathor. It appears that the attempt to deny any kind of relationship whatsoever between the so-called Hathor- Figure 39 Hathor Fetish. Fetish scarabs and the goddess Hathor may have gone a By permission of the Academic bit too far. After all, the depiction of a sistrum, so closely Press Fribourg. associated with Hathor, on those scarabs is obvious. Indeed in some cases the sistrum is portrayed in a rather stylized manner, yet in most cases, the sistrum is complete, showing the handle, rods and sounding plates, pronounced ears (unlike in Egypt; not cows ears) and the hair which often curls at the bottom (Fig. 39). Admittedly, the Palestinian Hathor Fetish scarabs (Schroers Gttinnenkopfsymbol) do not portray the classical Egyptian Hathor, but the attempt to deny any relationship between this class of Palestinian scarabs and Hathor requires more conclusive evidence. What of the other elements depicted on the Hazor box and the scattered bone plaques? In Egypt, Hathor was associated with music, and her depiction in the Hazor assemblage in the presence of a sistrum, a dancer and a musician isto say the leastinteresting and suggestive. Furthermore, Hathor was closely associated with the cobra, as demonstrated by the frequent appearance of cobras on Hathor-shaped capitals, some of which were topped by sistra that were also accompanied by cobras (Oakes 2001: 176). The naos-type sistra often contain the image of one or more uraei, and the rods of both types of the instrument
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were frequently bent where they projected from the hoop or naos in order to mirror the form of the djet or serpent glyph (Wilkinson 1992: 213). Once again, the scene depicting a sistrum, cobra (wearing a Hathor crown!) and a crouching sphinx from Serabit el-Khadim (above, Fig. 37e), dating to the early 15th century BCE, is noteworthy. Could the portrayals of Hathor, a Hathor sistrum, a musician, a dancer, a sphinx and cobrasall present in the Hazor assemblagereect any connection with contemporaneous Egyptian concepts? Tempting as an afrmative answer to this question may be, for the time being this issue must remain open. In this context, the following statement is quite instructive:
One should caution against an interpretation that views those Egyptianizing images taken over by non-Egyptians as simple and decorative motifs, devoid of soul and content, copied from model notebooks, the original meaning of which was not understood by the workshops that copied them again and again. Everything points in the opposite direction, indicating that in the Levant of the second as well as rst millenniathe profound signicance of this repertoire of imagery was adopted in the religious beliefs, whether popular or royal. They were perfectly understood, they were even chosen to fulll specic functions and needs, and were in time slowly adapted or transformed into a new usage, a new life (Caubet 2000: 123; translated, A. B-T).
C: Animal chase
All three bone strips classied under this group are long and narrow, and must have served as the upper or lower border pieces of boxes decorated by bone inlays, just like 1mn, 2lm and 3 of Box . C1 (Fig. 13): This is the only strip that portrays an almost complete scene: an animal, probably a gazelle, being chased by a lion. While the lion is complete, the rear part of the gazelles head and front part of her body are missing. The scene of a chase in which a lion pursues a eeing animal, usually a caprid, is one of the most common, timeless and universal of artistic motifs. On strip C1, however, the lion is depicted crouching and not running, undoubtedly due to the narrow dimensions of the strip. The height of the C1 strip is 2.4 cm as compared to the average 1.5 cm for border strips on Box . The lion, too, is larger than the gures portrayed on Box , except for those depicted on side 4; we have already noted that the plaques on side 4 may originally have belonged to a larger box (Box 0), and have suggested that they were trimmed in order to t Box I. One could speculate whether the C1 strip could have belonged, together with side 4, to that larger, now missing box. At the very edge of the strip a stylized branch, so common at Hazor (see above), is depicted behind the lion. Only half of the branch is shown; the other half must have been portrayed on an adjoining piece that was not preserved. The portrayal of two sides of a branch on two adjoining plaques can be observed on all four sides of Box , and it is thus a feature characteristic of the Hazor school of artists. This feature is uncommon outside Hazor; the only exceptions are the branch depicted at the edge of a plaque from Toumba
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tou Skourou (above, Fig. 23a), and the branch depicted at the edge of a plaque from Tell Beit Mirsim (above, Fig. 25a). Two decorated bone plaques were found at that site, on one of which only half of the branch is depicted at the edge of the plaque, while on the other the branch is depicted in its entirety. These two plaques most probably decorated the same box, more fragments of which were found nearby, and described as the remains of an oxidized wooden box, with the inlay of the top and the bottom still in position and ve additional strips of inlayare lying in their original position at right angles to the top and bottom (Albright 1938: 50, Pl. 37: b). The Beit Mirsim box and the one from Hazor share the following characteristics: In both cases the plaques are bone inlays that once decorated a wooden box; both were denitely not game-boxes but served as containers; in both cases the sides of the box were decorated with incised bone inlays, almost all of which were preserved at Hazor, but hardly any at Tell Beit Mirsim, except for the two bone strips depicting running caprids. In both cases the plaques were found in buildings of distinctionat Hazor in the ceremonial palace, at Tell Beit Mirsim in what the excavator termed a palace, also termed by Oren patrician house (Albright 1938: 3539; Oren 1992: 116117, Fig. 14). The two boxes were found in vastly different surroundings and were also executed on entirely different artistic levels. The issue of status should be borne in mind here: Hazor was a central site, perhaps even the most important site in southern Canaan whereas Beit Mirsim was small and rural.
Figure 40 Animal chase depicted on the Kamid el-Lz game-box. By permission of Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmBH.
Figure 41 Animal chase depicted on the Enkomi game-box.
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Figure 42 Animal chase depicted on Syrian cylinder seals. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
The branches depicted on the Kmid el-Lz inlays are located at the edge of the strips (Fig. 40; see further discussion of the Kmid el-Lz box, below), but unlike those depicted on the Hazor strips, they are of an entirely different nature, and seem to be part of a complete tree rather than isolated branches. The tree depicted on the box from Enkomi (Fig. 41; see further discussion of the Enkomi box, below) is of exactly the same type and depicted in the same manner as that from Kmid el-Lz. As noted above, the depiction of chase, with the predator usually but (as we shall see) not always a lion, is very common. In most cases, as on C1, a caprid prey turns to look back at the animal in pursuit. Depictions of chase contemporary with the Hazor box (for the date of the Hazor and similar boxes, see below) appear on Syrian cylinder seals but on some the meaning of the chase is no longer apparent. On some of the seals, for example, the caprid is included as a space ller (Fig. 42a), on another seal the caprid is being chased by a sphinx (Fig. 42b) while on yet another seal the caprid is attacking the lion (Fig. 42c). The chase is also a common theme on Middle Bronze Age Palestinian scarabs (Fig. 43a, b), where it is more vividly portrayed. On the two long strips bordering the lid of the box from Kmid el-Lz (above, Fig. 40), the caprid is pursued by an animal with large ears (fox? dog?), which is not running but rather getting ready to pounce. On one of the strips the caprid is shown looking back at its pursuer, while on the other it looks ahead. A similar scene, with the animal (fox? dog?) ready to pounce and the caprid eeing without looking back, is depicted on a long border strip of unknown origin (perhaps originally from Kmid el-Lz?) kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Fig. 44). On a box found at Thebes the dog and lion are running towards each other (Fig. 45; for further discussion
Figure 43 Animal chase depicted on Palestinian scarabs. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
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Figure 44 Animal chase depicted on the plaque from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Christine Lilyquist.
Figure 45 Animal chase depicted on the Thebes game-box.
Figure 46 Animal chase depicted on Tell Deir >Alla bone strips. By permission of the Peeters Press.
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Figure 47 Animal chase depicted on Beth Shean bone strip.
of this box, see below). Parts of two game-boards, only one of which is decorated with gurative scenes, were discovered at Enkomi (Dikaios 1969, Vol. 3A: Pls. 128: 66; 129; 156: 49); in the discussion that follows only this one will be referred to (above Fig. 41). The scene depicted on the Enkomi box shows a lion attacking, with the caprid looking back at its attacker. However, it is not, as is commonly the case, shown eeing but is rather crouching in a resting pose on all four legs. The two decorated bone inlays found at Tell Deir >Alla (Fig. 46) were not preserved in their entirety, but even so the scene clearly shows a lion chasing a caprid. The lion and caprid theme also appears on a bone strip, one end of which is missing, found at Beth Shean (Fig. 47). As with strip C1, the Beth Shean piece seems to have been a border strip of a decorated box. At 2.6 cm in height, its dimensions are somewhat larger than those of our C1, so it may have been part of a larger box. The crouching lion is looking at the caprid before it, and the eeing caprid looks back at the pursuer that was probably portrayed on the broken edge of the strip. The bodies of both lion and caprid are hatched (see below). C2 (Fig. 13) This small strip is approximately the same height as the border strips of Box . It is broken at both ends, but the top and bottom edges are complete. The leg and paw of what seems to have been a lion is very nicely executed. Since the upper edge of the strip is complete, the rest of the lion must have been incised on the plaque placed immediately above it. It was thus the lower border strip of that box. C3 (Fig. 13) This strip is complete on three sides. It is clear that at least two animals were incised on it, of which only the legs of two(?) and part of the body(?) of one were preserved. Since only the lower part of the scene was incised on this strip, the rest of the scene must have been depicted on the plaque immediately above. Like C2, it was therefore the lower border strip of a box.
Hatching of the gures

Except for the Hazor sistra (1e and 2e), all the gureshumans, animals and Hathor headsdepicted on the Hazor plaques are laced with small scars, henceforth hatchings. Hathor sistra depicted on scattered plaques (B1cd) also lack hatchings, although the humans adoring them are hatched. The phenomenon of hatching is characteristic not only of the Hazor plaques, but of all close parallels reviewed above, including those from Beth Shean, Tell Deir >Alla and Toumba tou Skourou, as well as a bone plaque from Tell el->Ajjul, depicting a captive, who, judging from its apparel appears to be woman
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(Fig. 48). The depiction of the woman reveals a strong Egyptian inuence, but the manner in which both her arms are tied behind her back indicates that the work is local, since tying the hands of captives behind their backs is restricted in Egypt to portrayals of men (Christoph Barbotin, personal communication). Consequently, it seems that this object, just like the Hazor scattered plaques B 1cd (see above), was probably carved Figure 48 locally (at >Ajjul) by a resident Egyptian artist or Prisoner by an artist trained in Egypt. depicted on a Hatching of humans and animals also plaque from characterizes the decorated ivory boxes of Kmid Tell el->Ajjul. el-Lz, Thebes and Enkomi.While hatching appears very rarely on the Syrian cylinder seals (Fig. 49a), it is quite common on Palestinian (Fig. 25bc) and Egyptian scarabs (Fig. 49b). Interestingly, in Egypt hatching is restricted to animals and never appears on humans. Hatching is attested in Egypt already in the Middle Kingdom when it frequently appears on magic wands, most specically on the animals portrayed on them (Petrie 1927: Pls. XXXVIXXXVII). Two fragments of these wands were found in Palestine, one at Tell el->Ajjul (Fig. 50a) and the other at Megiddo (Fig. 50b).
D: Geometric decorative pieces

The interior of Box was lined with 1 1 cm pieces of bone inlay (D1), placed in such a way as to form a checker-board pattern (above, and Figs. 3, 8). These were bordered on
Figure 49 Hatching on (a) Syrian cylinder seals, (b) Egyptian scarabs. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
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Figure 50 Fragments of Egyptian magic wands from: (a) Tell el->Ajjul, (b) Megiddo.
all four sides by elongated bone strips (D2), measuring on average 1.5 cm in height and 6 cm in length, with groups of three to ve parallel lines incised approximately 24 cm from one another. Since the lid of the box was not preserved, it is not known whether its interior was decorated in the same manner. The elongated bone strips are the most common bone inlay type of Middle Bronze Age Palestine, and are found in Middle Bronze II contexts at almost every excavated site, including Megiddo, Tell el->Ajjul, Tell el-Far>ah and Gezer (for a discussion of this type of bone inlay and an extensive bibliography, see Liebowitz 1977). These inlays were most probably used for the decoration of boxes and furniture. The bone strips are usually incised with rectilinear designs or small concentric circles. The narrow bone strips are sometimes accompanied by small bone inlays cut in the form of birds, snakes and, in rare cases, pieces shaped like Egyptian hieroglyphs such as the djed columns found at Megiddo (Loud 1948: Pls. 192195; see also Fig. 55a below), the latter indicating a clear Egyptian inuence. This type of bone inlay dates from the eighteenth to the fteenth century it may be that this type of inlay lasted a bit longer but it certainly died out beforethe fourteenth century (Albright 1938: 50). The custom of decorating objects with squares in a checker-board arrangement is not unique to Hazor. Twelve complete and ve partially preserved square bone pieces, approximately 1 1 cm each, just like those from Hazor, were discovered at Toumba tou Skourou (Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: 81; 1990: 240: B1 9). They were found scattered in the tomb, and the excavators refer to them as game pieces. The form of the square does indeed suit both the boards and playing pieces of various games known in antiquity in our region, especially senet, with 30 squares marked on a
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board, known in Egypt already in the Old Kingdom (Pusch 1979; Kendal 1982; Wilkinson 1992: 211), and another game on which 20 squares are marked on a board (called the Game of 20 Squares), which was clearly imported into Egypt from the east (Kendal 1982: 265). Many of the game-boards that have been discovered show both types of games, one marked on each side. Both games were also known in Palestine, where they are found at many sites, such as at Tell el-Far>ah (Petrie 1930: 10, Pl. XXXIV: 188), Gezer (Macalister 1912, Vol. 2: 299304; Vol. 3: Pl. CCI), Tell Beit Mirsim (Albright 1938: 49, Pl. 37: a), Hazor (Yadin et al. 1960: 34, Pl. LXXVIII, no. 6) and the elaborate ivory game-boards from Megiddo (Loud 1939: Pl. 50 no. 224, Pl. 51 no. 225). The boxes from Kmid el-Lz and Thebes, both decorated with ivory plaques, had a drawer to hold the game pieces. Too little was preserved of the Enkomi box to determine whether it, too, had such a drawer. The small square bone pieces found at Toumba tou Skourou could not have been game pieces, since they do not resemble any of the well-identied game pieces found at other sites, often associated with the boxes themselves (see, for example, Meyer 1986: 135, abb. 2021, Taf. 23: 2, from Kmid el-Lz; Loud 1939: Pl. 53: 252257, from Megiddo; and Macalister 1912, Vol. 2: 299304; Vol 3: Pl. CCI above no. 8, from Gezer; see also depictions of the games in Egypt, Petrie 1927: 5556, Pl. XLVIII; Kendal 1982: Figs. 370372). All these pieces look very much alikesmall cones resembling chess pawns. Not one such game piece was found in the undisturbed Toumba tou Skourou tomb, and that is also true for Hazor: Not even one game piece was found in the entire palace. In addition to the marking of squares, several of the game-boxes bear incised decorations similar to those on the Hazor box. This is especially the case for the game-box from Kmid el-Lz (Meyer 1986), which has hunting scenes similar to those on side 3 (see above). Two other game-boxes with incised decorations resembling those on the Hazor box are from a tomb at Thebes, dating to the 16th century BCE (Hayes 1959: 2526, Fig. 10; Finkel 2008: 152153), and from Enkomi, Stratum IIB, dating to the 13th century, making it two or even three centuries later than the board from Thebes (Dikaios 1969, Vol. 1: 255256; 1971, Vol. 2: 484487; for further discussion of these two boxes, see below, and Meyer 1986: 137138). It is noteworthy that, unlike the inlays from Hazor, which are made of bone, the Kmid el-Lz, Thebes and Enkomi inlays are made of ivory. It thus seems that the two types of boxesthose with ivory inlays that served as gameboards, and those with bone inlays that probably held precious artefacts (which certainly applies to the Hazor box)were both decorated with incised plaques portraying scenes characteristic of the artistic traditions of Canaan. The Kmid el-Lz box has much in common with the Hazor box, particularly in the way in which the scenes extend beyond the upper edge of the vertical plaques, and are portrayed on the horizontal strip bordering them from above (Fig. 34a, b), and in details such as the hatching of the bodies of man and animal, and in the portrayal of heads and hairdos, especially of the men (compare side 3ce, and plaques A1a, B1a, with those portrayed on the Kmid el-Lz box). The afnity between the boxes from Hazor and Toumba tou Skourou is manifest especially in the way Hathors head and the arms of the gure supporting her head are portrayed, and in the hatching of its entire gure (above, Fig. 23a).
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In a comprehensive discussion of the chase scenes depicted on the boxes from Kmid el-Lz, Thebes and Enkomi, Meyer states that in spite of some minor differences (in the way the chase is depicted) all three boxesfrom Kmid el-Lz, Enkomi and Thebesshow a great similarity in the choice of motif and details of portrayal, indicating that all three should be classied as belonging to one type. Further similarity between all three can be seen in the almost identical way in which the portrayed animals are hatched. Close parallels for this artistic style can be found only in Syria-Palestine (Meyer 1986: 142). The box from Thebes is considered to be clearly Palestinian in workmanship (although it could have been made in Egypt) (Lilyquist 1994: 216), and the Enkomi box was presumably imported from the Syro-Palestinian region (Dikaios 1971: 511). Finally, the incised bone plaques of the Toumba tou Skourou box were seen as Syro-Egyptian offbeat Egyptian work (Vermeule and Wlosky 1977: 85). The Hazor box, certainly, and the Toumba tou Skourou box, most probably, both decorated with bone plaques, had a different function from the game-boxes just described. Yet, all these boxesthe game-boxes and the container boxeshave another feature in common: the squares, whether of bone or of ivory. Checker-board arrangements are an integral element of various games, especially senet and the Game of 20 Squares. It should be noted, however, that the checker-board motif is most common in Egypt where it is attested in a variety of media and its use is not conned solely to games. The following is a small selection from among the numerous occurrences of this motif dating from the Middle Kingdom:
Ceilings of tombs at Bani-Hassan decorated with painted squares (Fig. 51a); Wooden cofns with painted checker squares (Bourriau 1988: 8592; for a general discussion see Lapp 1993, and examples on Pl. 79 there); The cofn at Saqqara of the Canaanite(?) Abdu (in which the dagger with the silver-plated handle was foundsee below) decorated in the checker-board motif (Lacau 1904, Vol. 1: Pl. XIX: 12; 1905, Vol. 2: [cofn 28108] 8687); A wooden cofn with a group of cobras, each sitting in what appears to be a wicker basket (Fig. 51b); Clothing for small dolls decorated in the checker-board motif (Fig. 51c); Sails, deckhouses and even ships.
The checker-board motif was prevalent during the New Kingdom as well, and was especially popular as a decoration on wooden boxes. A few examples are:
The elaborate wooden chest from the tomb of kha at Deir el-Medinah (Kozloff and Bryan 1992: 265, Fig. IX: 5; 373, Fig. XII: 1) found together with several other boxes also decorated in the same manner (Fig. 51d); A box from Tomb 254 at Sedment (Petrie and Brunton 1924: 24, Pl. LVII: 30); A box of unknown origin kept at Bostons Museum of Fine Arts (Fig. 51e).
As pointed out above, there is a close relationship between the decorated game-boxes found at Kmid el-Lz, Enkomi and Thebes. The game senet itself, which was known in
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Figure 51 Egyptian objects decorated in the checker-board motif. Figure c by permission of the Brooklyn Museum; Figure e by permission of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Egypt by the third millennium, but became popular in the middle of the second millennium BCE, was most probably imported into Egypt from the east (see Kendal 1982: 263), along with the style of decoration of those game-boards. The checker-board motif, however, certainly the one covering the entire inside of the Hazor box, and perhaps also the few pieces that survived of the Tell Beit Mirsim and the Toumba tou Skourou boxes, went in the opposite direction: from Egypt, where it is so well known as a purely decorative motif, to Canaan.
Summary and conclusions
Function
The six boxes discussed above fall into two distinct categories: games (such as senet and the Game of 20 Squares), and containers, probably for precious objects. The three boxes, or remnants thereof, found at Kmid el-Lz, Enkomi and Thebes, served as game-boards, while those found at Hazor, Toumba tou Skourou and Tell Beit Mirsim were used as containers. All six boxes were made of wood, which, except in the case of the box from Thebes, did not survive. What did survive of all six boxes are the incised and unincised plaques and strips: ivory for the game-boards, and bone for the containers. In spite of these functional and material differences, all six boxes share one important feature: the plaques and strips, which were set into the wooden walls and lids of the boxes, depicted various incised scenes that share much with each other, both in choice of subject
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and in the manner in which the scenes were portrayed. The similarities are such that an independent development for each type can be ruled out with certainty.
Chronology
The dates assigned to each of the loci in which the boxes were found span three centuries, beginning in the middle of the 16th and ending in the middle of the 13th century BCE. The earliest boxes are the game-board from Thebes and the container box from Tell Beit Mirsim. The rst was found in a Seventeenth Dynasty tomb, and is thought to be the earliest known example of its kind (Kendal 1982: 265). The tomb is dated to the mid-16th century BCE (Hayes 1959: 25; Meyer 1986: 138; Finkel 2009: 152153). The Tell Beit Mirsim container box is more or less contemporary with the Thebes game-board: It originated in Stratum D, which the excavator dates to the late 17th to early 16th century BCE (Albright 1938: 60). The box from Toumba tou Skourou, found in Tomb I, is dated somewhat later. Analysis of the abundant, mostly imported pottery found in the tomb indicated that the earliest use of Tomb I ought to be in the neighborhood of 15601550 B.C., and the last close to 1500, or, at the outside, 1480 B.C. (Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: 80). Following an analysis of the Tell el-Yahudiyeh Ware imitations from that same tomb, this date is supported by Negbi (1978). The range of dates given for the Kmid el-Lz box is extremely broad. It was found in the royal burial (the Schatzhaus) of the palace, which was built shortly before the end of building phase P5 (Hachmann 1989: 103104), and came to an end before the reign of Amenophis III (Echt 1985: 7071). A study of the objects found within that burial chamber suggests that the earliest object in the assemblage is the imported Late Minoan IB vessel, and the latest is dated to the pre-Amarna period. The entire tomb assemblage can thus be assigned to a period of the Eighteenth Dynasty before the reign of Amenhotep III, i.e., 15501390 (Lilyquist 1994: 220). We do not know where on this long time-line the Kmid el-Lz box can be dated, but a relatively early date seems most probable (see below). The Enkomi box was found in pit 27 located under the Ashlar Building of Stratum IIIA. The pit is therefore attributed by the excavator to Stratum IIB, dated to the late 14thearly 13th century BCE. The box had evidently been thrown [into the pit, A. B-T] at the time of destruction of the Level IIB building (Dikaios 1969, Vol. 1: 255). Somewhat reminiscent of the situation at Kmid el-Lz, the pit contained nds, mainly pottery, that spanned the Middle Cypriot through the Mycenaean IIIAB (Dikaios 1969, Vol. 1: 255266). Where within this lengthy time span the box should be dated cannot be determined. The Hazor box was found buried within the destruction debris of Stratum XIII (Stratum IA in the Lower City), the last Late Bronze Age city. The date of this destruction is still not xed with certainty, but there is a general consensus that it falls sometime within the rst half, close to the middle of the 13th century BCE (Ben-Tor, A. 1998: 465; 2008b: 17721773; Kitchen 2002, 2003; Zuckerman 2006). The boxes from Tell Beit Mirsim, Thebes and Toumba tou Skourou can all be dated with certainly to within a relatively short time span sometime between the early 16th and
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the early 15th centuries BCE. These boxes can therefore serve as a reliable chronological peg for the discussion of the chronology of the entire group. The boxes from Kmid el-Lz and Enkomi were found in assemblages of long chronological duration. It is clear that the Kmid el-Lz box could not have been placed in the tomb later than 1390, yet the Late Minoan IB jug found in the same context implies that even if the box had not been placed in the tomb that early, it could at least have been made in the 16th century. The same is true for the Enkomi box: Middle Cypriot pottery found in the same pit suggests at least such a possibility. The close afnity between the boxes from Thebes, Enkomi and Kmid el-Lz was discussed above. It is implausible that the box from Thebes, which cannot post-date the 16th century BCE, should be dated to a period that pre-dates its generally accepted source of inspiration, that is, the Levant; the same holds true for the Enkomi box. This difculty could easily be overcome if we assign a 16th-century date to the manufacture of the Kmid el-Lz and Enkomi boxes. As shown above, judging by the assemblages in which they were found, this is not impossible. Being a rather expensive item not subject to daily use, such boxes were probably kept as family heirlooms for generations and, as such, they required mending from time to time. There is clear evidence that the box from Kmid el-Lz had a prolonged history before it was placed in the tomb. This is indicated by the fact that at least one of its plaques clearly shows recycling: Beneath the charging bull one can see the erased remnants of two animals, a lion attacking a eeing caprid (Fig. 52). Not enough remains of the Enkomi box to show if it, too, underwent recycling, yet it is worth close examination.
Figure 52 Recycled ivory strip from Kmid el-Lz. By permission of the Kmid el-Lz Excavation.
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It is impossible to determine how long the Hazor box was in use before it nally fell from a shelf in the ceremonial palace as the city went up in ames. But the replacement of a considerable number of bone plaques, possibly taken from other boxes, makes it a certainty that it was in use for a considerable length of time. Too little remains of the Tell Beit Mirsim box to enable its inclusion in the present discussion. The style in which the two running caprids are portrayed has very little in common with those of the boxes discussed above; it is rather crude, betting a small rural town like Beit Mirsim. The boxs importance lies in the fact that it demonstrates that wooden boxes decorated with incised bone inlays were to be found even in such rural settlements in the Levant as early as the late 17thearly 16th century BCE. With regard to the boxes from Thebes, Enkomi, Toumba tou Skourou, Kmid el-Lz and Hazor, the above discussion shows that even though they belong to two different types, game-boards and containers, decorated with both incised ivory and bone inlays (respectively), they have much in common. The linkage between the two types of boxes can be seen in the manner in which the gures on both types of boxes were executed. They portray similar scenes executed in Levantine style. The period in which they were made spans the 16th and early 15th(?) centuries; those found in later contexts should be regarded as multi-generational heirlooms.
Motifs
The Kmid el-Lz, Thebes and Enkomi game-boxes can be grouped together in that they all portray closely-related scenes of a chase and exhibit no Egyptian inuence. The Hazor and Toumba tou Skourou container boxes belong to another distinct group: They portray a very different kind of scene, one that is much better represented in the Hazor box due to its superior state of preservation. The scenes portrayed on the Hazor box, and to a lesser degree on the Toumba tou Skourou box, are of a cultic nature, focusing on the adoration of a Hathor(?) symbol, the offering of sacrices (caprids) and libations (the sphinx). These scenes, some more than others, show obvious Egyptian inspiration. Hathor heads and sistrawhatever this symbol was called and whatever it meant locallyare indisputably Egyptian in origin, and the same is true for the cobras and sphinx. Egyptian inuence can also be seen in such details as the portrayal of a es jug and in the way the arms of those adoring Hathors heads are depicted. This holds true for many of the scattered plaques as well: men adoring heads of Hathor, men and women holding lotuses, seated womanall have close Egyptian counterparts. Yet not even one of all the bone plaques found at Hazor can be considered an Egyptian import; the portrayal of almost all gures is clearly Egyptianizing. Hathor heads or Hathor sistra such as those found at Hazor are never shown this way in Egypt. The men adoring Hathor are clearly not Egyptian, yet the position of their arms nds close parallels in Egyptian portrayals of protection or adoration. The Hazor sphinx is a Canaanized Egyptian sphinx, receiving libations from an Egyptian-like es jug. The men and women holding lotuses, depicted on the scattered Hazor plaques, are reminiscent of similar depictions in Egypt, yet there are also clear differences, such as the dress and
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hair-styles of the men and women, and the way the lotus is portrayed. Of all the Hazor scattered plaques, Type A5, the kneeling woman, is the closest to Egyptian prototypes, yet only half is preserved and there is no way to tell how the rest of her was portrayed. As for Box , side 4 is the closest to Egyptian prototypes: If not for the sphinxs head and the ladders on the bodies of the cobras, it could have been incised in Egypt. By contrast, side 3 of Box , the central part of which was unfortunately not found, is the most removed from Egyptian prototypes. Its close afnity with the Kmid el-Lz game-board, which shows no Egyptian inuence either, was already pointed out. Side 3 of Box together with the Kmid el-Lz game-board represent Canaanite art, totally free of Egyptian inuence.
Egyptian or Syrian inuence on the Hazor artist?

(1) Hathor heads are depicted on both cylinder seals and scarabs (see discussion above). The hair-strips portrayed on the Hazor box, however, never appear on the seals or the scarabs, hence inspiration must have come from a different source: either from sistra imported from Egypt (of which none has thus far been found), or perhaps from depictions at sites such as Serabit el-Khadim, or from those closer to the Egyptian prototypes, such as the one found at Tell el->Ajjul (above, Fig. 32), of which that particular plaque was probably not the only one. (2) The sistra on the Hazor box could not possibly have originated in Syria since they are never depicted on Syrian cylinder seals. Hence, the inspiration for these sistra was either taken from imports to Palestine, none of which, it must be pointed out, has yet been found, or must have come from Egypt (via the Sinai?). The earliest example of the Canaanite Hathor symbol (the Hathor Fetish), occurs on a scarab from the early workshop at Tell el-Dab>a, dated to the late Middle Kingdom (Fig. 53). This is most probably also how they came to be depicted on the Palestinian Hathor Fetish type of scarabs, which, in turn, may very well have been at least one of the Figure 53 Hathor symbol from Tell elsources of inspiration for the depiction of Dab>a. By permission of the Academic Press Hathor heads on the Hazor box. (3) There are six examples on the Hazor plaques of men adoring Hathor heads. Such depictions are quite rare in Egypt: A similar scene is portrayed on an ostracon from Deir el-Medinah (Louvre Inv. E. 12966; Andreu 2002: 244). However, unlike at Hazor, the man in the Egyptian scene is not touching Hathors head with his hands, but is presenting her with a lotus. Syrian cylinder seals also lack scenes of this sort. The idea, therefore, must have originated locally. Indeed, two Canaanite scarabs depict the adoration of the Hathor symbol by two kneeling women, one on each side and touching the lower part of the head, just as on the Hazor box (Fig. 54). The specic posture of the arms of the adoring gures as depicted on the Hazor box is well known in Egypt and is also represented on Syrian
Fribourg.
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cylinder seals. In this respect the adoration of the nude goddess depicted on a cylinder seal (Fig. 24d) is of special signicance. Thus, though the posture may have originated in Egypt it was apparently taken up by the Hazor artist through a Syrian intermediary. (4) The plant-like object depicted on all four Hathor heads on the Hazor box is unknown in Egypt and is difcult to explain. It resembles the rendering of the lotus ower as it is depicted on the Hazor scattered inlays and on several Syrian cylinder seals. Yet placing a lotus ower on Hathors head makes no sense. The plant-like object could have been taken from Palestinian scarabs, where it is often depicted on the head of the Hathor-Fetish type (Schroer 1989: 139199). Many of those depictions portray rather schematized naoi or rods, which are indeed an integral part of the Hathor sistra. It is doubtful that the artists who carved these cylinder seals and scarabs were aware of the original form or meaning of what they were portraying. It is also possible that the votive faience masks that depict a plant and two volutes (sistrum rods?) on top of Hathor heads, discussed above (Fig. 26a), could have been another source of inspiration. (5) The depiction of men and women holding lotuses is very common in Egypt. It is also very common on both the Syrian cylinder seals and the Palestinian scarabs. It can be shown that the symbol was not always correctly understood in the Levant. The lotus is sometimes confused with the was sceptre: The lotus ower should be either erect or bent in the direction of the person holding it; the upper part of the was sceptre should be bent away from the person holding it. However, on several scarabs the order is reversed: The lotus points away from the person, while the was sceptre points towards the person holding it. The lotus plants portrayed on the Hazor scattered inlays are clearly not Egyptian derivatives. The ower portrayed at Hazor is very different from the Egyptian one, but very similar to the lotus plants portrayed on the Syrian cylinder seals and on Palestinian scarabs. Either one or both could have been the source of the Hazor artists inspiration. (6) The rendition of the sphinx on the Hazor box is highly Canaanized. No such sphinxes appear on Syrian seals, although like the Hazor sphinx many are indeed associated with cobras. The sphinxes on the Syrian seals (many of them are actually grifns) are usually portrayed walking, not crouching like the one from Hazor. Syrian sphinxes that do crouch bear no resemblance to the one from Hazor. The same is true of the sphinxes that appear on scarabs, again often in association with cobras, which are frequently depicted walking. There are, however, a few Palestinian scarabs that depict sphinxes that very closely resemble the sphinx of the Hazor box (above, Fig. 38). Even though the Hazor sphinx is clearly not Egyptian, and even though its execution is clearly local, its closest parallels should be sought in Egypt (via Sinai?). (7) The association of Hathor, sphinx and cobra, all closely related to each other in Egypt, was somehow transferred to Canaan and copied there (perhaps unknowingly). This is how
Figure 54 Adoration of Hathor head depicted on Canaanite scarabs. By permission of the Academic Press Fribourg.
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the rather frequent depiction of sphinx and cobra, and cobra and sun on Syrian seals and Egyptian and Palestinian scarabs can be explained. Whether the Canaanite artists were aware of the meaning of this association cannot be answered, but the assumption that they were seems to be rather far-fetched. 8) Hatching is known in Egypt as early as the Middle Kingdom, on scarabs and on magic wands. The practice there is conned to animals. Hatching is extremely rare on Syrian seals, so it must have been borrowed directly from Egypt. In Canaan, hatching is applied to people and animals alike, on both types of boxescontainers and game-boardsas can be seen on the Hazor box and scattered plaques, and on the boxes from Toumba tou Skourou, Thebes and Enkomi. Interestingly, only the animals on the Kmid el-Lz box are hatched. Hatching can also be seen on all scattered plaques from Tell el->Ajjul, Beit Shean and Deir >Alla, and on the plaque at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Tell Beit Mirsim plaque is the only exception. Hatching is very common on Middle Bronze Age Palestinian scarabs, where it is also conned to animals. In addition, hatching can be seen on the two precious objects of Syrian workmanship found in the tombs at Thebes (the golden sword) and at Saqqara (the silver-plated dagger handle), discussed below. On the latter, hatching is conned to one of the animals; the dots on the human gure are meant to portray leather straps and a necklace. It thus appears that hatching was introduced into Palestine from Egypt. In Palestine, unlike in Egypt, it was applied to humans as well as to animals. The idea could have been inspired by the magic wands, fragments of which were found in Palestine, or by the locally made scarabs. (9) The use of square bone plaques arranged in a checker-board pattern as a decorative motif was conned to container boxes; in the game-boards they basically served as an essential part of the game. The Hazor box is the only container box sufciently wellpreserved to show the manner in which the square plaques were placed. The loose squares found next to the remains of boxes at Toumba tou Skourou and at Tell Beit Mirsim cannot tell us anything about the system for creating the pattern. The checker-board arrangement as a purely decorative motif is wide-spread in Egypt, where it appears on ceilings, cofns, utensils, ships, clothing and especially on wooden container boxes. It, therefore, seems reasonable to assume that it was also the source of inspiration for the decoration of similar boxes in Canaan. The checker-board motif never appears as a decorative element on cylinder seals or scarabs, so it seems that the Egyptian inspiration must have been a more or less a direct one.
What route did the inuence take?

Egypt was already in close contact with northern Canaan (Syria) by the third millennium BCE and the contact intensied during the Middle Kingdom. The long years of interaction between Egypt and northern Canaan could not have gone by without Egypt having had some inuence on local art. Syrian cylinder seals of the Middle Bronze Age are a prime example of this impact (Teissier 1996).
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The relations between Egypt and the Levant were particularly close in the Second Intermediate period, during which Egyptians and Canaanites lived side by side in Lower Egypt (Bietak 1997: 97115; Ben-Tor, D. 2007: 187192). This could have been, and probably was, one of the factors that made Egyptian inuence in Canaan possible. Even so, the possibility should at least be considered that Egyptian inuence on the work of Levantine artistsincluding the Hazor and Toumba tou Skourou container box artists was not necessarily limited to direct contacts between Egypt and Canaan. Indirect inuence could have originated from a variety of sources, among others, glyptic art, such as cylinder seals and scarabs, which are found in the region by the thousands, could have played an important role. The close relations between Hazor and its northern neighbours in the Middle Bronze Age are well documented. Approximately twenty documents found in the Mari archive mention Hazor, testifying to the intensity of interaction between the two centres (Bonechi 1992). The caravan route along which these contacts took place, via the Lebanese Beq>ah, is also clearly documented. It is noteworthy that the rst site a caravan travelling northwards from Hazor would pass was Kmid el-Lz. The distance between the two sites is approximately 80 km, which a caravan could easily cover in three days. The close relations between Hazor and the north are not restricted to written documents. In fact, the material culture uncovered by excavations demonstrates clearly that Bronze Age Hazor was an integral part of the north in almost every aspect, including architecture, art, cult and written language (Ben-Tor and Rubiato 1999; Ben-Tor 2008b; Bonl and ZarzeckiPeleg 2007). The following two examples from the realm of glyptic art demonstrate the close relationship between northern and southern Canaan: The common motif on Middle Bronze Age Syrian cylinder seals portraying a dignitary clothed in a mantle with thickened (fur?) border, was embraced by the engravers of the Palestinian scarabs (Schroer 1985). So, too, with the nude goddess: The motif, taken from Syrian cylinder seals becomes a very popular one on Palestinian scarabs (Schroer 1989). Furthermore, the close relationship between cylinder seals and scarabs has recently been demonstrated by Keel, who has shown how motifs particular to scarabs were adopted by the engravers of cylinder seals (Keel 2006). Given the close interaction between Hazor and the north, the Hazor artist had ample opportunity to be inuenced and even to borrow motifs from his northern neighbours. Some of these motifs may originally have come from Egypt, yet the Hazor artist received them channeled via Syria. Moving from the north to the southwest, the relations between southern Canaan and Egypt during the Second Intermediate period and immediately afterwards are well known. Immigrants from Canaan actually lived in Lower Egypt, and for a while even ruled that part of the land. Their inuence on the region they inhabited is clearly shown by the evidently Canaanite characteristics of their architecture, pottery, weapons and burial customs (Bietak 1991, 1997). At the end of the Second Intermediate period and the rise of the New Kingdom, these foreigners were expelled from Egypt, and it is reasonable to assume that at least some of them settled in southern Canaan. Egyptian symbols and artistic motifs may thus
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have arrived in Canaan, againchanneled through the Canaanites, whether during the period of their sojourn in Egypt or after their expulsion. With the rise of the New Kingdom and the subsequent conquest of Canaan, the opportunity arose for direct Egyptian inuence on local art. This was in addition to the Egyptian motifs that had already taken hold, as demonstrated by the glyptic artnot only seals but even ivory and bone carvings like the djed columns of Middle Bronze Age Megiddo (Fig 55a; Kantor 1956: 168) and those found in the Hazor ceremonial palace (Fig. 55b) or the group of ivories found at el-Jisr (Ory 1946; Kantor 1956: 158; Amiran 1977). In addition to the box from Thebes, two precious objects deposited as funerary gifts in tombs in Egypt demonstrate that inuence on art went both ways. One is a golden sword found at Thebes in the tomb of Ahmoses mother, Ah-hotep (von Bissing 1900: 23, Pl. II; Smith 1958: 121127, Pl. 84b; Fischer 1977: 18, Fig.17; Lacovara 2008: 119122); the other, a silver-plated dagger handle found in the sarcophagus of one named Abdu at Saqqara (Lacau 1904: Pl. XIX: 12; 1905, Vol. 2: 86, note 1; Daressy 1906: 118; Montet 1937: 129132; Bietak 1994: 155; Schneider 2003: 148149). The dagger bears the name of Apophis on one side of the blade, and a name which is clearly of Semitic origin (nehemen or nakhman) on the other. This is also the origin of the name of the person in whose sarcophagus the object was foundAbdu (see also Meyer 1986: 140). Montet suggested that the dagger itself was made in Syria (Montet 1937: 130, note 1, and p. 132). The hunter portrayed on the Saqqara dagger, although dressed in a garment that resembles the Egyptian kilt, is most probably a Canaanite. This can be seen from his facial features (ibid.: 130), and also from the name of the deceased in whose sarcophagus the object was found. The chase scene depicted on the sword exhibits freedom of movementrepresenting a culminating point in the interplay of foreign inuences (Smith 1958: 126). The two Egyptian objects are securely dated to the 16th century BCE, the same date or slightly earlier than that of the Canaanite decorated boxes. The incised decoration of the game-board from Thebes, dated to the Seventeenth Dynasty, and the precious objectsthe silver-plated dagger handle from Saqqara with the name of Apophis, and the golden sword from Thebes found in the tomb of Ah-hotepdemonstrate the movement of artistic motifs from Canaan into Egypt. The earliest boxes were manufactured in Canaan possibly in the late 17th century but denitely
Figure 55 djed columns from (a) Megiddo, (b) Hazor.
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by the mid-16th century BCE, as shown by the box from Thebes. Their production continued at least until the beginning of the 15th century, as evidenced by the box from Toumba tou Skourou. As cherished objects, they were probably handed down from one generation to the next, which from time to time necessitated mending and substitution of parts, as shown by the boxes from Hazor and from Kmid el-Lz. Some of the decorated boxes, like those from Enkomi and Hazor, were still in use by the end of the Late Bronze Age. It is proposed here that the boxes decorated with incised bone plaques, such as the one discovered in the Hazor palace, ll the gap between the time the bone decorations so typical of the Middle Bronze Age (strips of bone decorated by geometric motifs, see discussion above) ceased to be made, probably by the end of the 17th century BCE, and the introduction of ivory works of art in the late 15thearly 14th centuries BCE, of which the Megiddo ivories are a prime example.
Acknowledgments
This work could not have been completed without the support of the French Embassy in Tel Aviv, which made it possible for me to benet from the facilities and libraries of the Collge de France in Paris. Thanks are due to the staff of the libraries of Egyptology, Assyriology and Semitic Studies of that institute for their help and patience. I am grateful to Dr. Dorothea Arnold, chair of the Department of Egyptian Art and to Dr. Christine Lilyquist, Research Curator in Egyptology, both of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to Dr. Christophe Barbotin, conservateur en chef, dpartment des Antiquits gyptiennes, Muse du Louvre, Paris and to Dr. Deborah Sweeney of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures of Tel Aviv University for their help and useful suggestions. My thanks also to Alina Getzel of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University for her assistance in obtaining permissions to reproduce artwork. Finally, thanks are due to my wife Daphna, who patiently guided me through the intricacies of the realm of Egyptian and Canaanite scarabs. The Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in Memory of Yigael Yadin are sponsored by the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Biblical Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and by the Israel Exploration Society. The photographs of the Hazor objects are the work of Gabi Laron of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the graphic work was carried out by Dalit Weinblatt-Krauz.
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List of Illustrations:
Figs. 114: The Hazor Plaques Figs. 1114: Scattered Plaque Details L=Locus; R=Registration number; H=Height (in mm); W=Width (in mm) Fig. 11: A1a: L 1699; R 16723/1; H. 60.2; W. 24. A1b: L 7372; R 43289; H. 50.1; W. 20.1. A1c: L 1738; R 17492; H. 50.6; W. 10.9. A2a: L 7050; R 41347; H. 40.9; W. 20.8. A2b: L 1671; R 16409; H. 60.6; W. 10.9 (between Boxes I and II). A2c: L 1671; R 15171; H. 60.4; W. 10.4 (between Boxes I and II). A2d: L 1738; R 17561; H. 50.1; W. 10.8. A3: A4: A5: A6: L L L L 1763; R 17520; H. 40.8; W. 20.5. 7050; R 48271; H. 40.8; W. 20.4. 1713; R 16931/2; H. 40.5; W. 10.5. 7138; R 41757; H ? (Broken); W ? (Broken).
Fig. 12: B1a: L 7050; R 40960; (for measurements, see Box I). B1b: L 7050; R 40960; (for measurements, see Box I). B1c: L 1768; R 17386; H ? (Broken); W. 20.6. B1d: L 1738; R 17878; H. 60.5; W. 20.2 (between Boxes I and II). B1e: L 7746; R 47223; H.50; W. 10.3. B1f: L 7754; R 47448; H ? (Broken); W? (Broken). B2: L 7050; R 40960; (for measurements, see Box I). B3: L 7050; R 40960; (for measurements, see Box I). Fig. 13: C1: L 7394; R 44636; H. 20.4; Length? (Broken at one end). C2: L 7394; R 44629; H. 10.6; Length? (Broken at both ends). C3: L 1746; R 17592; H. 20.1; Length? (Broken at one end). Fig. 14: D1: L 1827; R 18450; measurements: 10.1 10.1. D2: L 1738; R 17347; Length: 70.5; W. 10.5. L 1738; R 17347; Length: 40.5; W. 10.6. Fig. 15a: Teissier 1996: 52: 12, 19; 123: 56; 124: 52. 15b: Ben-Tor, D. 2007, Pl. 63: 2, 4. Fig. 16: Mller 1959, Fig. 10a. Fig. 17a: Petrie 1933: Pls. XVXVI. 17b: Fitzgerald 1931: Pl. XXVI: 2. 17c: Rodica Penchas, after Anderson 1995: Fig. 9. 17d: Rodica Penchas, after Baghdader Mitteilungen: 602, abb. 8d. Fig. 18a: Petrie 1909, frontispiece. 18b: Rodica Penchas, after Dewachter 2002, Pl. 69. Fig. 19a, b: Rodica Penchas, after Matouov Rajmov 1978: 17, 12. 19c: Dalit Weinblatt-Krauz, after Matouov Rajmov: 1978: 13.
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19d: Teissier 1996: 103: 200. Fig. 20a: Biran 1986: Fig. 2: 1. 20b: Vandier d'Abbadie 1972: 1617. Fig. 21: Keel 1996: abb. 6, 11. Fig. 22: Teissier 1996: 169, no. 5r. Fig. 23a: Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: Pl.XVIII: B1 40. 23b: Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: Pl.XVIII: B1 6B; 83, Fig. 1. 23c: Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: Pl.XVIII: B1 6A. 23d: Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: Pl.XVIII: B1 8A. 23e: Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: Pl.XVIII: B1 10A. 23f: Vermeule and Wolsky 1977: Pl.XVIII: B1 10B. Fig. 24a: Wilkinson 1992: 48. 24b: Wilkinson 1992: 76, no. 3. 24c: Teissier 1996: 135: 8; 173: 254, 255. 24d: Schroer 1989: 95, abb. 01. Fig. 25a: Albright 1938: Pl. 34. 25b: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 100: 1. 25c: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 101: 38. Fig. 26a: Dalit Weinblatt-Krauz, after Pinch 1993: 142, Pl. 27D. 26b: Wilkinson 1992: 123. 26c: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 106: 3, 8. 26d: Teissier 1996: 52: 20; 138: 101, 105. Fig. 27: Teissier 1996: 157. Fig. 28: Albright and Kelso 1968: Pl. 42. Fig. 29: Pflzner 2008: 226, no. 135. Fig. 30a: Loud 1939: Pl. 44: 192193. 30b: Ben-Tor, D. 1997: 71, cat. no. 63. Fig. 31ab:Teissier 1996: 56: 31; 113: 237. 31c: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 104: 18. Fig. 32: Petrie 1933: Pl. XXVIII: 9. Fig. 33a: Newberry 1893: Vol. 2 : Pl. XXXVIab. 33b: Teissier 1996: 96: 183. 33c: Petrie 1930: Pl. LV. Fig. 34a: Meyer 1986: abb. 18: 6. 34b: Meyer 1986: abb. 15: Ansicht C. Fig. 35a: Teissier 1996: 146: 143144. 35bc: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 101: 26, 38. Fig. 36: Keel 1997: 610611: 227; 728729: 108. Fig. 37a: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 105: 46. 37b: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: 19: 25. 37c: Schroer 1989: 152: 110. 37d: Teissier 1996: 52: 13; 74: 120. 37e: Gardiner et al. 1955: Pl. LXII: 202. Fig. 38: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 98: 40. Fig. 39: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 105: 29; 106: 5. Fig. 40: Meyer 1986: abb. 16: 4647.
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Fig. 41: Rodica Penchas, after Dikaios 1969: Vol. 3a: Pls. 149; 156: 49. Fig. 42a: Teissier 1996: 81: 139. 42b: Teissier 1996: 60: 57. 42c: Teissier 1996: 85: 152. Fig. 43ab: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 100: 26, 34. Fig. 44: Photograph courtesy of Dr. Christine Lilyquist, Research Curator in Egyptology of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fig. 45: Hayes 1959: 25: 10. Fig. 46: Franken 1992: Figs. 310: 27. Fig. 47: Rowe 1940: Pl. XXIV: 25. Fig. 48: Petrie 1932: Pl. XXIV: 3. Fig. 49a: Teissier 1996: 52: 14; 53: 26. 49b: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 19: 5, 11, 14, 15. Fig. 50a: Petrie 1933: Pl. XXVIII: 8. 50b: Loud 1948: Pl. 203. Fig. 51a: Newberry 1893: Vol. 1: Pl. VI. 51b: Lacau 1904: Vol. 1: Pl. XXIV. 51c: Riefstahl 1944: Figs. 1314. 51d: Schiaparelli 1927: Figs. 108110. 51e: Brovarski et al. 1982: Fig. 234. Fig. 52 Hachmann 1983: 128: Fig 25. Fig. 53: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 31: 11. Fig. 54: Ben-Tor, D. 2007: Pl. 106: 4, 13. Fig. 55a: Loud 1948: Pl. 193: 7. 55b: Hazor Expedition.
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TEL AVIV Vol.

36, 2009, 567

A Decorated Jewellery Box from Hazor

Figure 1 The Hazor box in situ.

The Hazor box

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 4 Side I1 of Box I.

Figure 5 Side I2 of Box I.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 8 The interior of the Hazor box.

Figure 9 Plaques that belonged to Box O.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

The scattered plaques

Figure 10 Plaques that belonged to Boxes I, II and III.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A: Human gures performing various activities (Fig. 11)

B: Cultic scenes (Fig. 12)

C: Animal chase (Fig. 13)

D: Geometric decorative pieces (Fig. 14)

A: Human gures performing various activities

Figure 11 Group A plaques.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 12 Group B plaques.

Figure 13 Group C plaques.

Figure 14 Group D plaques.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 16 Woman holding lotus (Egyptian Middle Kingdom period).

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 18 (ab) Women dancers depicted on Egyptian wall paintings.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 29 Gold plaque from Qatna. By permission of Peter Pflzner.

Figure 30 Attached Hathor heads: (a) Megiddo, (b) Israel Museum.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Was Hathor recognized in Canaan?

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 41 Animal chase depicted on the Enkomi game-box.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 45 Animal chase depicted on the Thebes game-box.

Figure 47 Animal chase depicted on Beth Shean bone strip.

Hatching of the gures

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

D: Geometric decorative pieces

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Summary and conclusions

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Egyptian or Syrian inuence on the Hazor artist?

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

What route did the inuence take?

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR

Figure 55 djed columns from (a) Megiddo, (b) Hazor.

A DECORATED JEWELLERY BOX FROM HAZOR