Avaris ([pronunciation?]; Egyptian: ḥw.t wr.t, Budge notation: Hut-waret, Greek: Αὔαρις, Avaris) was the capital of Egypt under the Hyksos. It was located at modern Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern region of the Nile Delta, at the juncture of the 8th, 14th, 19th and 20th Nomes. As the main course of the Nile migrated eastward, its position at the hub of Egypt's delta emporia made it a major administrative capital of the Hyksos and other traders. It was occupied from about 1783 to 1550 BC, or from the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt through the second intermediate until its destruction by Ahmose I, the first Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. The name in the Egyptian language of the 2nd millennium BCE was probably pronounced *Ḥaʔat-Wūrat 'Great House' and denotes the capital of an administrative division of the land. Today, the name Hawara survives, referring to the site at the entrance to Faiyum.
In 1885 the Swiss Édouard Naville started the first excavations in the area around Tell-el-Daba. Between 1941 and 1942 Labib Habachi, an Egyptian Egyptologist first forwarded the idea that the site could be identified with Avaris. Between 1966 and 1969 and since 1975 the site has been excavated by the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Using radar imaging technology its scientists could identify in 2010 the outline of the city including streets, houses, a port, and a side arm of the River Nile passing through the city.
Train time man, train time, train time
I'm a depot man, I go down to the depot
Early in the morning 'fore the sun come up
I ain't joking man and I wait for that five o ten to come up the line
I can hear her movin' early in the morning
Before the sun come up way down the line
She don't stop at this depot man
She goes right on through like the crack of dawn
But I go out on that depot platform man
And I wait for that five o ten to come up the line
I go out on that depot platform, I stand right near the edge
And I wait for that train to come by me
The early in the morning before the sun come up
And when that train's come and gone man
There is one thing that I know, I'm lying
Long as noon, I go out along the road
And I watch the road gang lighten up the track
I can hear the foreman hollering man
Ay, big boy can't you move it, big boy move it
Can't you hear that ball of fire
Coming down the line man, she's right on time
It's okay big boy you got it straighten out
Move on down the line
This is a small depot, just a dock way out on the line