Middle Bronze Age
c. 2000-1500   City-states of the Levant control their respective agricultural hinterlands and engage in far-flung trade. Sophisticated palace society controls the wealth. Scribal arts: cuneiform, Akkadian as lingua franca.

c. 1844-1760   Hieroglyphic execration texts, magic spells on various Canaanite cities that resist the expanding Egyptian empire, mention a city by the name of urushalimum.

c. 1800            Archeological evidence of a fortified city on eastern rigde near the Siloam (Gihon) spring.

c. 1648-1540   Canaanites with Semitic names invade and dominate northern Egypt (the Hyksos; capital: Avaris).