Ras el-‘Amud, Jerusalem: A Scarab and Two Pithos Handle Impressions

The excavations at Ras el-‘Amud yielded a scarab and two stamped pithos handles, all recovered from Stratum III and dated to the Middle Bronze IIC. The scarab, attributed to the group of Late Middle Bronze Age Canaanite Scarabs, has only one published parallel from a Canaanite site. The two stamped pithos handles likely originated from a single pithos. Variations in the size and outline of their impressions, as well as in the location and size of the hieroglyphic signs, suggest they were made either from different plaques or from opposite faces of the same bifacial plaque. Both impressions have only one published parallel, found at Bethel, hinting at some form of local administration connected to Jerusalem. All three glyptic items are typical ‘Hyksos’ or Late Middle Bronze Age Canaanite products from Greater Canaan. As rare items, they contribute to the broader corpus of ‘Hyksos’ or Late Middle Bronze Age Canaanite glyptics.