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© British Museum

“When an ant is struck, does it not fight back and bite the hand of the man who struck it?” The 382 Amarna tablets like this one illuminate the political conditions, social traditions and commerce during the 14th century B.C.E. when Egypt effectively ruled the city-states of Canaan. The Amarna tablets, argues Israel Finkelstein, provide archaeological evidence that there could have been no significant Exodus from Egypt a mere hundred years later.