This is for Christopher Michaels and anyone else interested in the data FOR the historicity of the Bible. I have taken data from various sources and put it in order of the Biblical events that took place in Avaris, Egypt–Tell el Dab’a.
Avaris was originally a small Semitic settlement in Goshen. The first houses, replaced by a Palace were of Syrian design–like those found in Haran, Syria where the Patriarchs obtained their wives.
" Significantly, this edifice was constructed right on top of the ruins of a previous structure in Stratum H, which it seems to replace: a stately residence of a characteristic, non-native, Syrian design. " Rabbi Michael S. Bar-Ron, THE SEAL OF JOSEPH IN HIS PALACE AT TELL ED-DABA, December 29, 2017, 11 Teveth 5778 Beth Midrash Ohel, Moshe Beit Shemesh, Israel, p. 2
The original town was under 100 people:
" This community of Semites numbered a hundred or so, at most, in its initial phase, with perhaps twenty houses. The Book of Genesis tells us that seventy souls arrived with Jacob to settle in Goshen, so this seems to fit the archaeological picture. As time passed, during the long reign of Amenemhat III, the palace of Joseph in Area F was built over the demolished remains of his father’s house, and his elder brothers were buried in the family cemetery to the rear of he vizier’s palace. On Tell A, the village rapidly expanded as the Hebrews multiplied ." David Rohl, Exodus, Myth or History, (St. Louis Park, MN: ThinkingMan’s Media 2013, p…123
A palace replaced the simple huts.
" Every detail of this building, the very first in Area F, precisely fits what we would expect of the house of Jacob, whose family originated in Ḥarran, modern Syria. Genesis records that they were given the open area of Goshen to settle, after arriving in Egypt from Canaan (Gen. 46,34-47,6). " Rabbi Michael S. Bar-Ron, THE SEAL OF JOSEPH IN HIS PALACE AT TELL ED-DABA, December 29, 2017, 11 Teveth 5778 Beth Midrash Ohel, Moshe Beit Shemesh, Israel, p. 2
There are two rows of 12 pillars in the palace and 12 tomb’s outback, one of which was given a high honor for a Semite–he was given his own small pyramid.
“The palace garden has a cemetery with Semitic burials. While Egyptian burials tend to be straight-bodied, buried on their backs, Semites buried their dead on their sides, in semi-fetal position. All the pottery and weapons found in the tombs are of Canaanite origin. Of all the burials, there were 12 prominent tombs; 12 main graves for men of seniority. This is precisely what one might expect to find in the central bastion of Jacob’s Israelites.”
“Among the main graves, all vaulted tombs, is a single grand pyramid tomb with the broken remains of a 3-meter-high, sitting statue of a Semitic lord in a long, rich, multi-colored coat , believed by Rohl and others to depict the famous vizier Ankhu. The Torah records that Joseph wore just such a coat, the envy of his brothers (Gen. 37,3-4).” Rabbi Michael S. Bar-Ron, THE SEAL OF JOSEPH IN HIS PALACE AT TELL ED-DABA, December 29, 2017, 11 Teveth 5778 Beth Midrash Ohel, Moshe Beit Shemesh, Israel, p. 3
The palace was obviously of an important man.
" Standing out among the uncovered ruins of Middle-Bronze Age Avaris, Tell el-Daba Area F, are the remains of a palace of a high-ranking official, excavated by Manfred Bietak with the Austrian Institute for Egyptology.
"Although the palace has an Egyptian style, it is understood by all that its chief occupant was a high-ranking Semitic official, on account of the graves in the cemetery of its palace garden. The honor given this Asiatic (another term for Semite) by the Egyptian crown was so great, he was given a pyramid tomb with a massive statue to commemorate his memory. It has been determined that the statue bore a striped, multi-colored coat, yellow-painted skin and flame-red hair, and held in its hand a throw-stick – all quintessential marks of Semite ethnicity.
“That a Semitic official would be honored with a pyramid tomb is an anomaly with no equivalent in ancient Egyptian history. Most significant to our premise, it was found in Stratum G/4, dated to the 12th Dynasty, believed by some to be the ‘early Israelite period’ at Avaris.” Rabbi Michael S. Bar-Ron, THE SEAL OF JOSEPH IN HIS PALACE AT TELL ED-DA BA, December 29, 2017, 11 Teveth 5778 Beth Midrash Ohel, Moshe Beit Shemesh, Israel, p. 2
In the pyramid tomb was a large statue of a Semite in a multicolored clothing:
“Larger than life size statuary of non-royal Egyptians in the Middle Kingdom is very unusual, but rare examples do exist throughout the 12th Dynasty, both from tombs and from temples. They seem to be limited, however, to families of highest ranks. In the late Middle Kingdom nonroyal statuary can become quite small in size (VANDIER 1958, 255, 271, 284), as represented by the statuette from tomb l/19-Nr. 1 of stratum d/1 (BIETAK 1991 b, Abb. 12). On the other hand, most examples of non royal larger than life statuary date to this period as well .” p. 136 (PDF) Robert Schiestl, The Statue of an Asiatic Man from Tell el-Dabca, Egypt, in: Egypt and Levant 16, 2006, 173-185 | Robert Schiestl - Academia.edu
Schiestl continues:
" Another feature emphasized in Egyptian depictions of Asiatic people is their colorful attire. On our statue traces of the design of the garment are best visible on the back of the right shoulder: A color is detectable, with three horizontal stripes in black, red and black, with white spaces in between. the garment’s collar is relatively wide, in order to accommodate the Egyptian wsh-collar worn around the neck, which is visible in the front. Beneath the collar, the cloth consists of vertical red stripes ."p. 139
https://www.academia.edu/1470847/Robert_Schiestl_The_Statue_of_an_Asiatic_Man_from_Tell_el-Dabca_Egypt_in_Egypt_and_Levant_16_2006_173-185
Joseph couldn’t wear a ring that said he was the son of a God, so he chose a ring to give to his official that said “Jacob Chosen” Such rings are found in Avaris, this Semitic town.
Then they found rings that said jqbhr, interpreted as Hebrew Jacob Bahar with the middle ‘b’ serving both words, meaning “Jacob chosen”. What is quite fascinating is that one of the Hyksos pharoahs was Yaqub-Har (see the Wiki list of Pharoah’s). Yaqub-Har was just at this time in Egyptian history, but they can’t quite place him. I wonder if archaeologists have mixed up this name with an actual pharaoh. Jacob was the father of Joseph. Of these rings, Simcha Jacobovici says :
But if such a ring was placed on Joseph’s finger it would have created an immediate theological problem for Joseph. After all, he was a monotheist. Monotheism is, by definition, exclusive. It does not allow for the celebration of other gods. Put simply, wearing the ring attesting to the divinity of Pharaoh would have been a huge problem for Joseph. It would be tantamount to idolatry.
So what do you do if you are Joseph? You either quit your job or you have another ring designed that is, monotheistically speaking, “kosher”. Among the Egyptians, the purpose of the ring was to deify Pharaoh, but for Joseph the purpose of any ring would have been to celebrate God. Biblical Joseph’s ring – found! | Simcha Jacobovici | The Blogs
The Avaris Semites fell on hard times after Joseph, and there is archaeological evidence that males were selectively killed:
“According to the archaeological evidence at Tell el-Daba, conditions then began to deteriorate with skeletal remains in the graves showing signs of malnutrition(Harris lines in the bones). Anthropological studies show that adults were dying in their early thirties. Strangely there were far more burials of infants and young children than normal(25%) for this sort of ancient civic society. Moreover there were more females than males in the adult grave population. For every three females there were only two males. Where had the adult males gone? The Bible provides the answer. The opening chapter of the Book of Exodus tells us that the Egyptians first enslaved the Israelites, then culled the male infants because the slave populations was getting too large and Pharaoh perceived this as a threat. Obviously, in archaeological terms, this would mean an increase in infant burials and a skew in the adult population in favor of females.” David Rohl, Exodus, (Thinking Man Media, 2015, p. 127
There actually may be evidence of the Passover and there is evidence of the Exodus at this time:
Passover
" But the literary parallels and evidence from recent excavations do not stop there. It is around the time that, according to the archaeological evidence, from Avaris, Egypt’s eastern delta suffered a terrifying calamity. At the end of Tell el Daba Stratum G, several large pits have been unearthed, in which where found scores of bodies tossed in as if by some act of emergency internment. Non of the nomal burial goods accompanied the dead. Bodies lay on top of each other, many face down, The suddenness of the calamity is obvious by the way that the bodies have been tossed into the pits. According to excavation director Manfred Bietak, these people died from a deadly and virulent plague. Professor hans Goedicke(of Johns Hopkins University) notes that just such a plague is mentioned in papyrus documents of he era following the 13th Dynasty and, interestingly from our point of view, the texts refer to it as the ‘Asiatic Diseas’–in other words, a plague specifically associated with the Semitic population of Egypt. " David Rohl, Exodus, (Thinking Man Media, 2015, p. 153
" The mass graves of Avaris–located at the end of Proto-Israelite Stratum G-0were Quickly followed by an abandonment of the Asiatic quarter of the city (on the main tell next to Ed-Daba village)–all approximately at the time of Dudimose according to the New Chronology. The Semites simply gathered up their belongings and left. Archaeology cannot tell us where they went… but the Bible does ." David Rohl, Exodus, (Thinking Man Media, 2015, p. 136-137
I will again point out that Rohl is an agnostic, not a believer. But he seems to have more faith in the Bible as a history document than do many Christians.