Tell El-Dab'a

Tell el-Dab'a is the modern name of the capital city for the Hyksos in the Nile delta region of Egypt, 30°47′N 31°50′E / 30.783°N 31.833°E / 30.783; 31.833Coordinates: 30°47′N 31°50′E / 30.783°N 31.833°E / 30.783; 31.833, called Avaris. Avaris was occupied by the Asiatics from the end of the 12th through the 13th dynasty (early second millennium BC). The site is known primarily for its Minoan frescos.

Identification of the site

Excavations in the area were started in 1885 by Édouard Naville.

Between 1929 and 1939, Pierre Montet excavated at Tanis, only 20km to the north, finding remarkably rich tombs. He believed that he found the location of Avaris, and this opinion was widely accepted at the time.

Yet others, such as Labib Habachi, one of the pioneering Egyptian Egyptologists, were not convinced. In 1941-42 he worked at Tell el-Dab'a for the Egyptian Antiquities Service and came to the conclusion that this was in fact Avaris.

Recent investigations of cemeteries at Avaris have been conducted as part of thirty years of joint excavations by the Austrian Archaeological Institute of Cairo, led by Manfred Bietak and since October 2010 by Irene Forstner-Müller. An interesting thrust of the latest investigations has to do with the historic epidemic at Avaris in 1715 BC, documented in archaeology and surviving papyrus.