The Location of Avaris

While it is very clear today, based on the excavations of Manfred Bietak, that the Hyksos (Dynasty 15) capital in Egypt was at Tell-ed-Dab'a, there once was a very heated debate on this topic. Some scholars favored Tell ed-Dab'a / Kantir, while others favored Tanis.

I wrote a paper back in 1986, in which I argued strongly for Tell ed-Dab'a. I based my reasons on a variety of arguments that had nothing to do with Dr. Bietak's excavations (which were not widely known at the time, except to working Egyptologists). I have incorporated into that paper a number of arguments based on Bietak's excavations.

I will begin posting the relevent portions of my paper tomorrow or the next day, and will post all of it over the next few days.