The detailed analysis of the site evidence in the preceding section makes it clear that the events associated with the establishment of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt and the expulsion of the Hyksos that must have thrown these Asiatics back into Palestine, must have had a tremendous effect on town life in that country. It has long been claimed that Tell Beit Mirsim and Jericho were destroyed at the end of the Middle Bronze Age and not reoccupied for a period. Analysis shows that, on present evidence, many other sites were unoccupied in the succeeding period. In the south, in addition to Tell Beit Mirsim, the important towns of Tell ed-Duweir (Lachlsh) and Tell el-Far‘ah were abandoned. The latter may be Sharuhen, captured by Amosis after a three-year siege. Further north on the edge of the coastal plain there is no evidence of occupation at Beth-shemesh or Gezer. In the central hill-country Gibeon, Bethel and Shiloh may have been abandoned, though in all cases the evidence is somewhat scanty. In the northern part of the hill country. Tell el-Far‘ah (North) and Shechem were both abandoned.
In the south, only one important town, Tell el-‘Ajjul, seems to have survived. In the centre it is probable that Jerusalem did, though the evidence is terribly scanty. In the north, it would seem that the great towns of the Esdraelon Plain survived, even though there may have been intervening destructions. This is reasonably certain for Megiddo and Ta'anach and probably for Beth-shan. At Hazor there was probably not a break but a period of considerably reduced prosperity and importance.
What archaeology cannot prove is the exact cause of the break. If Tell el-Far‘ah is to be identified with Sharuhen, the break is likely to be associated with the campaign of Amosis (1570— 1546 B. c.) during the first years of his reign. He campaigned also into northern Palestine during the later years of his reign, and archaeological evidence is not yet so precise that some of the destruction could not be attributed to these campaigns. It is however possible that the Asiatics displaced from Egypt after the fall of Avaris became roving soldiers-of-fortune, and inflicted disasters upon their remote relatives in Palestine.
The campaigns of Tuthmosis III are the next major historical event, recorded in detail, to affect Palestine. The only two sites at which destructions and abandonments suggested by archaeological evidence seem to belong to this period are Megiddo and Ta‘anach, both sites mentioned in the records of the campaigns of Tuthmosis. Hazor may have been affected, since the succeeding period seems to have been one of reduced prosperity.
After the campaigns of Tuthmosis III, the greater number of the ancient towns of Palestine began gradually to regain prosperity, presumably because restored Egyptian control meant more peaceable conditions. The period of the destruction associated with the Khabiru in the Amarna letters does not seem to be reflected in the history of towns, though there may be some indication of this in a low level of material culture, as shown by buildings, pottery and evidence of art.
By the last years of the Eighteenth Dynasty, it can in fact be said that almost every town for which there is evidence in the Middle Bronze Age was once more flourishing and some, such as Tell Abu Hawam, had been newly founded. There is little evidence to suggest direct contact with Egypt, but the restoration of a central power in Egypt at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty certainly stimulated eastern Mediterranean and Aegean trade, from which Palestine clearly continued to benefit. Apart from this, Palestine seems to have continued on its own during the years of the decaying power of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
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