ABSTRACT
For many years the date of the end of EB III in Palestine, Lebanon and Coastal Syria was set at c. 2200 bc (Albright 1957, 404–405; 1965, 57; Kenyon 1966, 6; 1979, 119), and EB IV was said to correspond in date to the First Intermediate Period in Egypt. This dating received a powerful challenge with Hennessy’s demonstration that the latest dateable Egyptian objects found in Palestine, the collection from ‘Sanctuary A’ at cAi, contained nothing later than the Fifth Dynasty (Hennessy 1967, 69–71, 74). Consequently, Hennessy raised the date of the end of EB III to a date not later than c. 2350–2300 bc. This analysis, combined with the clear evidence discussed above, and the assumption (following Albright: see especially 1965, 47–49) that taxonomically discrete assemblages in Palestine must represent discrete spans of time, never overlapping one another chronologically, has led to a general acceptance of a date of c. 2400–2300 bc for the end of EB III (e.g., Dever 1980, fig. 1; Callaway 1980, 273). Jericho. Part of section of north side of Trench I, FI (after <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1_33">Kenyon 1981</xref>, pl. 236). https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315086064/aa464eb3-19af-41e5-b55d-76760ad9b2c4/content/fig1_1.tif"/>
