Head of a Ya’ohsharaly man from the Southern Levant
Item’s present location: KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM
International inventory number: 09/001/4907
Inventory number: 3896b
Date: 20th Dynasty: Ramesses III (1184-1153 BC)
Provenance: Lower Egypt: Governorate of Qalyubiya: Tell El-Yhudiya
Material: Faience Egyptian ceramic tile decoration Height: 9.2 cm Width: 10 cm
Year of acquisition: 1878
Description: Negroid man from the Southern Levant with dark brown-reddish skin, thin hanging black mustache, thin trimmed beard on the jaw, and black braided kinky locks of hair swept back and held together by a brightly colored headband. The chin part and part of the ear are missing because of the bad state the glazed piece is in. The earlobes are pierced. The lips are thick.
There were no more “Canaanites” in control of the Southern Levant in the time of Pharaoh Ramesses III. This artifact also cannot represent just some average Joe Shmoe homeless man wandering about in the Southern Levant. What the Egyptian artifact shows is a clear representation of what the dominant people of the Southern Levant actually looked like at the time of Ramesses III in the 12th century BC. Those people were none other than the so-called Israelites.