1The early Late Bronze Age (1500-1300 BCE) culture of Jordan is a direct continuation from the preceding Middle Bronze Age. However, the political world had been completely altered by the reunification of Egypt, and the conquest of much of the Southern Levant under the warrior pharaohs of the Imperial Eighteenth Dynasty. Initially Jordan stood outside the Egyptian orbit, but the Thutmosid conquerors probably brought the main Jordan valley settlements (Nimrin, Deir Alla and Pella) into the New Kingdom empire around 1450 BCE. Whether early New Kingdom control stretched into the eastern highlands remains controversial, although the disruption to the economy would have reverberated throughout the land.

2Culturally LBA Jordan is a divided land, with western (Jordan Valley) settlements heavily Egyptianised in all major aspects of culture. The temple and tomb deposits at Pella (pottery, faience, glass, stone wares and statuary), the temple architecture at Deir Alla, and the burial offerings from Tell al-Saidiyeh (jewellery, metalware, ivory, seals) display a wide range of influences, but predominantly that of Egypt (plate II.14andplate. II.15). The uplands, on the other hand, seem to have been much freer to choose their cultural orientation, and a rich mix of influences (Syrian, Mesopotamian and Aegean) can all be seen in the extraordinary ceramics, stone vessels, jewellery and weaponry unearthed within the Amman Airport temple (plates II.16andfig. II.17).

Plate II.14  — MBA Egyptian Tell al Yahudiyeh Vessels - Pella.

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Plate II.15 — LBA Gold Earring - Pella.

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3In the last phase of the Late Bronze Age (1300-1200 BCE), under increasingly heavy taxation and corvee labour demands to support the military occupation, the south Levantine economy began to deteriorate, and with it the Egyptian ability to control trade routes and secure the borderlands. Disruption was particularly bad in Jordan, where Egyptian inscriptional evidence refers to growing disorder and the incursions of Shashu raiders. Imperial military intervention in the north (Southern Bashan) and in Moab in the later years of Ramses II and Merneptah (1250-1210 BCE) only seems to have made matters worse, and by the end of the Thirteenth Century BCE the region east of the Jordan river slipped out of imperial control.

Plate II.16  — LBA Cylinder Seal - Pella.

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Plate II.17  — LBA Cylinder Seal 2 - Pella.

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Atlas of Jordan

History, Territories and Society