Monday, 19th September 2005

Prof. Emeritus Trude Dothan (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

THE CRISIS YEARS, 12TH CENTURY BCE: CANAANITES, ISRAELITES, EGYPTIANS & PHILISTINES

The arrival and settlement of the Sea Peoples is one of the most fascinating episodes of the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the Levant. The best known of these peoples are the Philistines and the paucity of written sources makes the archaeological evidence of prime importance. For much of that we have to thank Prof Trude Dothan.

The building of the early Philistine city at Tel Miqne-Ekron shows that its inhabitants had a concept of a planned, fortified city from the start. The ability to build this large new city shows a well-organized society with a firm economic structure, fitting our picture of the Sea Peoples' military supremacy and technological abilities. The material culture of the city was based on elements new to Canaan and reflects the Aegean background of the newcomers. It is clear that a new age had begun in what was to become the Philistine heartland. The situation reflected in the archaeological evidence, however, is not one of uniform change. At the same time as the Philistines were establishing their distinctive settlements, an Egyptian provincial administration maintained its own presence separate from the Philistine communities. This part of a broader picture of the co-existence of diverse cultures - Canaanite, Israelite, Egyptian and Philistine - was itself an element in an even larger panorama of far-reaching social change, population movements and cultural transformation. Such factors characterized the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age, from Canaan to Cyprus and the Aegean, and to the western regions of the Mediterranean world.

Prof Emeritus Trude Dothan is one of Israel's leading archaeologists and the recipient of the Israel Prize in Archaeology. She has excavated widely in Israel and in Cyprus and has lectured all over the world. In addition to her work for the Hebrew University, she has also taught at Princeton, Brown University and the New York Institute of Fine Arts.

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