Tall al-Ajjul or Tell el-‘Ajjul is an archaeological mound or tell in the Gaza Strip. It is located at the mouth of Wadi Ghazzah, just south of Gaza. The fortified city excavated at the site dates back to ca. 2000-1800 BCE and was inhabited during the Bronze Age.
Location of Tell el Ajjul
Tall al-Ajjul or Tell el-‘Ajul is an archaeological mound or tell in the Gaza Strip. The fortified city excavated at the site dates back to ca. 2000-1800 BCE and was inhabited during the Bronze Age.
History
Bronze Age
Archaeologists have excavated dates mainly to the Middle and Late Bronze Ages.
Middle Bronze
In the MBII, Tell el-Ajjul was an essential city in the Southern Levant.
In the MBIIB, Tell el-Ajjul had the most significant Egyptian Second Intermediate Period imports.
Late Bronze
Large quantities of pumice were deposited during the Late Bronze Age, which may have been caused by the Thera (Santorini) volcanic eruption. If proven correct, this would offer a good correlation and dating tool.
Treaty of Tell Ajul (1229)
The Sixth Crusade ended with the so-called Treaty of Jaffa and Tell Ajul. These were, in fact, two different treaties, the first being the one signed at Tell Ajul by the competing Ayyubid rulers of Egypt, Syria and various smaller principalities. This treaty settled their territorial disputes and left Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt in a mighty position. Al-Kamil signed the follow-up treaty at Jaffa, and the leader of the Sixth Crusade, Emperor Frederick II, thus removed the threat posed to Al-Kamil by the European armies.
Identification
Ajjul has been and remains one of the proposed sites for Sharuhen, and Beth Eglaim mentioned in Eusebius’s Onomasticon, contrasting with Petrie’s initial identification with ancient Gaza. Eusebius placed Beth Eglaim at eight Roman miles from Gaza. The name is absent from the Bible and is given by Eusebius in Greek as Bethaglaim.
In the 1970s, the archaeologist Aharon Kempinski proposed identifying Tall al-Ajjul with Sharuhen, the last Hyksos c. 1550 BCE stronghold.
Excavations
In 1930-1934, Tell el-Ajjul was excavated by British archaeologists under the direction of Sir Flinders Petrie, who thought the site was ancient Gaza. One of Flinders Petrie’s discoveries was three hoards of gold jewellery, considered among the Levant’s most remarkable Bronze Age finds. Most of the collection is preserved at the British Museum in London and the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
In 1999 and 2000, the excavations were renewed by Peter M. Fischer and M. Sadeq because of a common interest in the protection and exploration of the site. Still, work was interrupted due to the outbreak of the Second Intifada.
Two scarab seals found in debris from the north pyramid cemetery at el-Lisht bear the name Sehetepibre, written without a cartouche or royal title. Whether these refer to the same individual is not certain. However, a virtually identical scarab was found at Tell el-ʿAjjul in a Middle Bronze Age context (paralleling the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt).
A large amount of imported pottery from Cyprus has been discovered. These imports begin with Base-ring I and White Slip I types of pottery. In particular, over 200 sherds of White Slip I have been found, which pottery is rarely found outside of Cyprus. The majority of the sherds are of the later White Slip II and Base-ring II wares. There are also sherds of Cypriot pottery, including Bichrome Wheel-made, Monochrome, Red Lustrous Wheel-made, and White Painted V/VI. Mycenean pottery and such from Upper Egypt were also found.
