Published by Maney Publishing (c) Friends of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University A LION-HUNT SCARAB AND OTHER EGYPTIAN OBJECTS FROM THE LATE BRONZE FORTRESS AT JAFFA Deborah Sweeney Abstract This article presents four Egyptian finds from recent excavations at Jaffa: an Amenhotep III lion-hunt scarab and medium-sized scarab, a faience amulet of the god Bes and a fragment of a faience vessel. The Egyptian objects presented here were uncovered during excavations at Tel Yaffo, the site of the ancient city of Joppa (Jaffa in Arabic). The expedition, carried out between 1997-1999, was conducted by Ze'ev Herzog and a team from the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. It enjoyed the cooperation of the Old Jaffa Development Corporation, the LIBRA organization in the US (directors: John Lawrenz and Adie Harstad) and Macquarie University in Australia. The 1997 season was a short trial-dig, while the 1999 season was a full-scale field operation. The excavations were aimed at exposing the Late Bronze remains at ancient Jaffa. Parts of this settlement were exposed by Jacob Kaplan in the 1950s and thel970s (Kaplan and Ritter-Kaplan 1993). Tel Yaffo is located above a natural anchorage at the summit of a promontory that slightly protrudes into the Mediterranean. The 1997-1999 expedition uncovered most of the Late Bronze I gate, as well as parts of the Late Bronze Age citadel to the south ofthe gate. The Egyptian objects described here were not found in their original utilization location but in a later, secondary context. Two scarabs of Amenhotep III were uncovered in side mudbrick walls of the gate towers. One, the lion-hunt scarab, was incorporated into gray brick of the Stratum IVA wall, tentatively dated to the late 13th and mid-12th century BCE. The other, Amenhotep Ill's medium-sized scarab, was incorporated into the reddish brick of the original phase of the gate (Stratum IVB), dated to the days of Ramesses II (Herzog forthcoming). The lion-hunt scarab (no. 517/80), praising Amenhotep Ill's success in bagging 102 fierce lions during the first ten years of his reign, was found in fill at Locus 158, Area J. It is made of steatite, and measures 91 cm. long by 6.3 cm. broad by 2.1 cm. high (Fig. 1). Traces of pale green glaze remain on the surface of the scarab. The back of the scarab is extremely eroded, and it is therefore difficult to draw any conclusions about its appearance. However, the backs of Amenhotep III commemorative scarabs tend to have a vertical line separating the elytra, which are depicted schematically and are marked with humeral callosities. These scarabs also have round heads with pronounced jaws (e.g., Tufnell, Inge 54