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HANAN SHAFIR / COURTESY OF THE SELZ FOUNDATION HAZOR EXCAVATIONS

OBJECTS OF PRESTIGE. Much closer in date to the Late Bronze Age destruction of Hazor is a silver ring inscribed with the throne name of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Smenkhkare (r. 1336–1334 BCE). Similarly, the stone fragment above belonged to an offering table and bears the name Prahotep, a vizier and high priest under Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213). These rare finds underscore the close ties between Canaanite Hazor and Egypt during the New Kingdom, when much of the southern Levant was under Egyptian control. But why then do some of the statues found at Hazor represent pharaohs from the distant past rather than more contemporary rulers and officials?