Hidden in bones: Tracking the Hyksos across the Levant

Abstract

Though the term Hyksos commonly refers to the rulers of the Egyptian Second Intermediate Period, it is also used to describe the larger population from which these rulers derived. Archaeological, artistic and textual sources suggest a Levantine origin of the ‘Hyksos people’; however, whether this was a single homogenous group or several groups from a wider area has remained uncertain.
Non-metric traits, also called epigenetic traits, are normal variations of the human skeleton. The traits, though seemingly random in a single person, often have a genetic component that links biologically closely related people together, enabling an exploration of biological affiliations not only within but also between populations.
As a non-invasive method, non-metric trait analysis can be used to study biological closeness when there is no wish or possibility to use DNA analysis. An increasing number of non-metric trait analyses is being conducted on human skeletal remains, creating trait distribution maps for a wider exploration of biological closeness. As part of the Hyksos Enigma Project, non-metric traits from human skeletal remains from Tell el-Dabʿa, the ancient Hyksos capital of Avaris, are recorded. The results help to understand familial relationships within the site but also compare the site and its subgroups to Levantine sites, potentially offering new insight into the Hyksos origin and the wider migration of people in the Levantine area.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Sonia Zakrzewski: orcid.org/0000-0003-1796-065X

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