“Then my majesty permitted them to go to their cities” THE MATERIAL CORRELATES OF THUTMOSE III’S CAMPAIGN IN THE JEZREEL VALLEY

Many settlements in the Jezreel Valley, both urban and rural in nature, demonstrate a significant break at the end of the Middle Bronze Age II, evidenced by the sudden termination of a continuous Middle Bronze Age material culture. This breakdown corresponds to the end of Megiddo Stratum X, YoqneꜤam Stratum XXI, and Tel Qashish Stratum VIII, after which new settlements were built that were entirely different. These new settlements were unfortified and contained pottery assemblages that departed from the known Middle Bronze II repertoire and were typical of Late Bronze Age I (Megiddo IX, YoqneꜤam XX, and Tel Qashish VIIB). This article shows that the transition between these two distinctive occupational and cultural phases should be attributed to the campaign of Thutmose III in the Jezreel Valley, despite recent claims negating this conclusion.