They ruled ancient Egypt for about a hundred years: but the mysterious Hyksos may not have come to power through an invasion, but through an internal takeover, researchers report. Studies of human remains suggest that the Hyksos were a group of immigrants who had already established themselves in Egypt and then finally seized an opportunity to seize power.
It was the first foreign rule in ancient Egypt: from 1640 to 1530 BC The pharaohs lost control of northern Egypt to the mysterious Hyksos rulers. The traditional explanation is that it was a foreign invading force from the neighboring region of Southwest Asia. At least that’s how the pharaohs portrayed it twelve centuries later: the Hyksos were foreign invaders who had taken the north of Egypt by force and caused disorder and chaos. But it is quite possible that this was ancient Egyptian propaganda. Since there are only a few textual sources from the epoch itself, the exact geographical origin, the way in which power was taken over and the role of Hyksos in ancient Egyptian history have remained puzzling.
Searching for traces in the capital of the Hyksos
However, scientists have already gained some information from long-term excavations in Tell el-Dab’a in the northeastern Nile Delta. This place has been identified as the capital of the Hyksos during the rule of Egypt. The finds have confirmed the Middle Eastern origins of the ruling class. This emerges from non-Egyptian features of ceramics, burial customs, ornaments, weapons, and domestic and cult architecture. As part of the current study, the researchers led by Chris Stantis from the University of Bournemouth have now used another method to draw conclusions about the origin of the Hyksos: They carried out a strontium isotope analysis.
To this end, they collected samples of tooth enamel from 75 human remains that were found in burial fields in the Hyksos capital Tell el-Dab’a. They then compared the ratio of strontium isotopes in these teeth to environmental isotope signatures from Egypt and other countries. As they explain, the results could provide clues about the geographic origin of people living in the city. This is how they found out: Many of the residents of Tell el-Dab’a were not locals, but immigrants from different regions. That alone would have matched the result of an invasion. But as the researchers report, the multicultural population in Tell el-Dab’a existed both before and during the Hyksos dynasty.
Were the Hyksos rulers born in Egypt?
This finding does not therefore fit a scenario of a sudden invasion from a single distant country, the researchers say. It seems more likely that Tell el-Dab’a was a multicultural region in which an internal group – the Hyksos – eventually came to power after having lived there for generations. “The isotope analysis points to an immigration to Egypt before the rule of the Hyksos, when there were great cultural transformations there. Women in particular had immigrated to Egypt before the rule of the Hyksos. Ultimately, this points to economic and cultural changes as the cause of foreign rule rather than a violent takeover, ”Stantis sums up.
Nevertheless, many questions about the rule of the Hyksos remain open – including who they actually were. The researchers therefore want to continue using chemical archeological techniques to identify the specific ancestors of the Hyksos and other non-original inhabitants of Egypt.