Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 bc)

The start of the Late Bronze Age corresponds to the Egyptian New Kingdom (1550–1069 bc), during which Egypt extended its boundaries to include Syria-Palestine. The once independent and mighty Canaanite city-states were now governed by local rulers loyal to Egypt. This period is exemplified in the correspondence between Canaanite rulers and the pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV in the Amarna Letters, which date to the 14th century bc. This was a somewhat turbulent period, characterized by internal conflict among Canaanite rulers and the exploitation of Palestine’s raw resources by Egypt.

The Late Bronze Age was a period of internationalization in the Near East, marked by significant commercial relations between the Canaanites and the West—predominantly Cyprus and Greece, as evidenced by the presence of Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery in Palestine. Further innovations in writing developed in the Late Bronze Age, including the alphabetic cuneiform script of Ugarit. Archaeological projects in Palestine have found “Proto-Canaanite” inscriptions that are very similar to the “Proto-Sinaitic” script, leading some scholars to believe that the latter actually was a subgroup of early Canaanite writing (Naveh, Early History, 26–27).