Miriam Müller will discuss the major role of household and ancestor cults in creating and preserving cultural identity in ancient Egypt's border regions, where the social an political circumstances of their multicultural environments forced resident populations to develop their own characters.  Drawing on evidence from Tell el-Dab'a (ancient Avaris, capital of the Hyksos) in the eastern Nile Delta, where she works, Dr. Müller will contrast this picture of the northern Egyptian border with Asia and the picture from southern border with the Egyptian empire in Nubia.