Avaris, Tell el-Daba, Ancient Egyptian Hyksos

Tell el-Daba is thought by archaeologists and Egyptologists such as Manfred Bietak to be the site of Avaris, the capital city of the so-called Hyksos of Ancient Egypt's 2nd Intermediate Period from around 1670–1550 BC. Once thought to be an invading military force that swept into Egypt and subjugated the land based on the account of Manetho—archaeological, cultural, and genetic studies now show they were a group of Semitic settlers that arrived from Canaan in the Levant and settled in the Nile Delta. With the aid of modern archaeology and academic work, new theories now hold the Hyksos of Egypt's 15th Dynasties grew plentiful in the Nile Delta, eventually becoming the dominant power in Lower Egypt after the waning of the 12th dynasty. For over a century, biblical historians and archaeologists like Sir Flinders Petrie have proposed the Hyksos to be the Hebrew people arriving in Egypt under the auspice of Joseph. The 1st century historian Josephus also makes this claim directly. -Nate Loper