Contra Bimson, Bietak Says Late Bronze Age Cannot Begin as Late as 1400 B.C. - The BAS Library
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Redating the Exodus—The Debate Goes On

Contra Bimson, Bietak Says Late Bronze Age Cannot Begin as Late as 1400 B.C.

By Manfred Bietak

In your September/October 1987 issue, John Bimson and David Livingston in their article “Redating the Exodus,” BAR 13:05, referred to evidence coming from our investigation at Tell el-Dab‘a in the Eastern Nile Delta. I would like to correct some of their statements in this respect. Using the low Egyptian chronology of the New Kingdom (NK) and the association of the Middle Bronze (MB) II A and B material with Egyptian material culture in finely stratified contexts, I proposed to lower the transition from MB II A/B by about 50 years (not 100!) to about 1700 B.C. (not to 1650 […]

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Endnotes

1.

Manfred Bietak, Proc Brit.-Ac. LXV (1979) pp. 232–238; American Journal of Archaeology 88 (1984) pp. 474–482; XXXIVème Rencontre Assyrologique Internationale 6–10 July 1987, Istanbul, Turkey (in print).

2.

Manfred Bietak, Anzeiger Phil-hist.Kl. Österr. Akademie d. Wissenschaften 122 (1985) pp. 267–278, fig. 12.

3.

Eliezer D. Oren, Op. Ath. IX (1969) pp. 127–150.

4.

There is a rare consensus now among experts (M. L. Bierbrier, W. Helck, E. Hornung, Kenneth A. Kitchen and R. Krauss) to apply for the New Kingdom an ultra-low chronology, starting in the 18th Dynasty with 1540 or 1530 B.C. (W. Helck) and the reign of Ramesses II with 1279 B.C. (see the latest contributions in “High, Middle or Low,” in Acts of an International Colloquium on Absolute Chronology, P. Aström, ed. (Gothenburg, Sweden: 1987), pp. 18–55). The calculations are based on a dense network of data and coregencies, going backwards from safe fixed points as 690 B.C. (beginning of reign of Taharqa). The differences in the calculations are minor (e.g., length of reign of Haremheb). The Sothis date in the Pap. Ebers from the ninth year of Amenhotep I (low 1516 B.C., ultra-low 1505 B.C.) became highly doubtful and should not be used anymore in the chronological considerations. These findings are important for reconstructing the Middle Kingdom chronology, which has to be attempted anew.

5.

That is, carriers of the Hyksos rule.