Middle Bronze Age Southern Levant

As the first comprehensive study of fortification systems and defensive strategies in the Levant during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900 to 1500 B.C.E.), Walled up to Heaven is an indispensable contribution to the study of this period and of early warfare in the ancient Near East. Although archaeologists and ancient historians alike have discussed a variety of theories regarding the origin and cultural significance of the construction of earthen ramparts during the Middle Bronze Age, only this work addresses these questions in detail. In a tour de force, Burke traces the diachronic evolution and geographic distribution of the architectural features and settlement strategies connected with the emergence of Middle Bronze Age defenses in the Levant. By synthesizing historical and archaeological data from Mesopotamia and Egypt as well as the Levant, he reveals the interconnectedness of the Near Eastern world during the first half of the second millennium to an extent not recently considered. The result is a detailed employment of cognitive, social, and dirt archaeology to reconstruct the political, social, military, and cultural implications of the construction of monumental defenses and the development of defensive networks during the period of Amorite hegemony in the Levant.

Based on author's Ph.D. dissertation: The Architecture of Defense: Fortified Settlements of the Levant during the Middle Bronze Age (2004). Ph.D. Dissertation. Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.

After more than a century of scholarship on Amorites no real consensus has emerged on their origins, identity, and cultural legacy. It remains the case that little dialogue occurs across geocultural zones or between scholars working on different historical periods. Furthermore, few efforts have been made to incorporate anthropological approaches, despite the fact that more than thirty years ago Kamp and Yoffee (1980) noted its conspicuous absence among prior methods. The only consensus that exists, therefore, is that there is no consensus, and many have resolved that the issue is intractable or represents a red herring as far as ethnic identifications are concerned. Recent scholarship in anthropology addressing the
archaeology of colonialism combined with other anthropological approaches, however, offer new opportunities for rethinking a social history of the Amorites and the development of Amorite societies from the late third millennium through the first half of the second millennium BC. This paper, which stems from in-progress research for a monograph exploring the negotiation of Amorite identiteis, explores the socioeconomic contexts that shaped both the ethnogenesis and development of Amorite societies from the mid-third through mid-second millennia B.C. Emphasis is placed on events, socioeconomic processes, and institutions that played a pivotal role in the evolving nature of Amorite identity during this period.

In the early 2nd millennium BCE, Near Eastern groups of diverse origin penetrated the Nile Delta, via sea and land. The Wadi Tumilat was one of the two principal overland routes in and out of Egypt for Asiatics arriving from the East. Unlike the Western Asiatics from the harbour town of Tell el-Dab‘a who predominantly migrated from the northern Levantine coast, Asiatics who arrived overland into the Wadi Tumilat (from the desert areas beyond Egypt’s eastern border), belonged to a different backdrop and different socio-economic networks. The issue of identifying the geographical affiliations of these groups remains complicated. Nonetheless, micro-regional specificities in the material culture of the Wadi Tumilat, and distinctive traits in funerary practices, daily-life equipment and, more generally, lifestyle, allow the tracing (albeit preliminarily) of connections to specific sub-regions and socio-economic networks in the Levant. At least one or more substantial elements amongst the Asiatic components which entered the wadi from the East, and contributed to the establishment of Asiatic communities during the 15th Dynasty (following the Hyksos takeover and renewed commercial interests in caravan operations to the Southern Levant), may denote cultural and social ties with the southernmost part of Canaan. This adds more evidence to the multifaceted picture being created of the Asiatic groups and subgroups which infiltrated the Egyptian Delta in the early 2nd Millennium BCE and eventually led to the rise of Hyksos rule.

Cult buildings in the Southern Levant during the mature Middle Bronze II-III (1800-1500 BC) represent a homogenous architectural tradition, closely linked to the Syrian prototypes, well known, among the others, through the archaeological discoveries at Tell Mardikh, ancient Ebla, in north inland Syria. On the other hand, the first, formative phase of the Middle Bronze Age in the Southern Levant, Middle Bronze I (1950/1920-1800 BC), is characterized by a larger degree of variety within cult architecture. With regard to this issue, the article focuses on two well known southern Levantine multi-phased sacred compounds: those of Tell el-Mutesellim/ancient Megiddo, in the Jezreel Valley, in Strata XIII B-XII, and of Tell el-Hayyat, in the northeastern Jordan Valley, in Phases 5-4.
These are both analyzed in regard to their regional context and compared to architectural parallels in search for possible inter-regional connections. The analysis shows that Middle Bronze I is characterized by a less unitary and not yet codified tradition of cult buildings compared to the following phases of the Middle Bronze Age. In fact, it was a period of elaboration and transformation, blending local features with Syrian influxes, whose ‘cultural’ implications are discussed in the article.

This article is the first in a series of articles on the history of Jaffa and deals with the earliest phase of settlement in Jaffa up through the end of the Achaemenid period. It incorporates both historical and archaeological evidence in an effort to provide a long overdue examination of Jaffa’s role within the study of the history and archaeology of these early periods.

This thesis is a study of maritime trade along the southern Levantine littoral zone from earliest times until the Middle Bronze IIa period (ca. 1950-1750 BCE).  Throughout antiquity this region served as a land and sea bridge for traffic between Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds.  This work examines the impact of this seaborne traffic on the southern Levant and the increasing importance of maritime trade.  Following the introductory first chapter, which outlines the goals of this work and its approach, Chapter Two examines the long-term commercial relationship between Egypt and the southern Levant, and demonstrates that the latter functioned as a primary and then a secondary supplier of raw materials, but always as a geographical intermediary for Egypt’s foreign relations.  With that relationship established and qualified, Chapter Three examines the terrestrial and maritime means of communication, and surveys the history of maritime activity in the southeastern Mediterranean, which reaches its first major peak in the Middle Bronze IIa period with the establishment of numerous ports.  Chapter Four surveys the material evidence for this seminal period, examining the artifactual evidence for trade in its proper regional and chronological context.  Chapter Five synthesizes this evidence and suggests a maritime commercial model for the growth of southern Levantine urban culture, and its material prosperity.  It is argued that the growth of maritime trade was among the principal factors shaping southern Levantine coastal society, segments of which were drawn to settle in the Egyptian Delta, inter alia, by commerce and craft.  Finally, it is suggested that the economic prosperity of these Deltaic Canaanites may have contributed to their successful usurping of political control from the Egyptians and their founding of a Canaanite (Hyksos) Kingdom at Tell el-Dab`a, ancient Avaris.

The paper analyzes the formative stage of the Middle Bronze Age in the Southern
Levant, generally described as a phase of rapid urban regeneration under a strong
Syrian influx, and recently subject to substantial reappraisals. Reviews of sites with
aspects of discontinuity with Early Bronze IV, such as public architecture, and of the
‘Syrian connection’ in the Southern Levant in the 24th-19th centuries BC are proposed.
Thus, the supposed urban nature of these sites and their relation with coeval Syrian
centers are discussed. Finally, considerations on collapse/regeneration and transition
are put forward in order to investigate cultural change in the region between the 3rd and
the 2nd millennia BC.

This paper presents the role of climate fluctuations in shaping southern Levantine human history ca. 3600-600 BCE (the Bronze and Iron Ages) as evidenced in palynological studies. This time interval is critical in the history of the region: it included two phases of rise and decline of urban life, organization of the first territorial kingdoms and domination of the area by great Ancient Near Eastern empires. The study is based on a comparison of several fossil pollen records that span a north-south transect of 220 km along the southern Levant: Birkat-Ram/Golan Heights, Sea of Galilee and Ein Feshkha and Ze’elim Gully, both on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The vegetation history and its climatic implications are as follows: during the Early Bronze Age I (ca. 3600-3000 BCE) climate conditions were wet; a minor reduction in humidity was documented during the Early Bronze Age II-III (ca. 2950-2500 BCE). The Intermediate Bronze Age (ca. 2500-1950 BCE) was characterized by moderate climate conditions, however, since ca. 2000 BCE and during the Middle Bronze Age I (ca. 1950-1750 BCE) drier climate conditions were prevalent, while the Middle Bronze Age II-III (ca. 1750-1550 BCE) was comparably wet; humid conditions continued in the early phases of the Late Bronze Age, while towards the end of the period and up to ca. 1100 BCE the area was typified by the driest climate conditions in the time-span reported here, based on the dramatic decrease in arboreal vegetation. During the period of ca. 1100-750 BCE, which covers most of the Iron Age I (ca. 1150-950) and the Iron Age IIa (ca. 950-780 BCE), an increase in Mediterranean trees was documented, representing wetter climate conditions, which followed the severe dryness. The decrease in arboreal percentages, which characterize the Iron Age IIb (ca. 780-680 BCE) and Iron Age IIc (ca. 680-586 BCE), could have been caused by anthropogenic activity and/or might have derived from slightly drier climate conditions. Changes in the distribution of cultivated olive trees along the different periods resulted from human preference and/or changes in the available moisture.

This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the sometimes easy assumptions made by historians and biblical scholars about the past. It combines essays from both archaeologists and biblical scholars whose subject matter, whilst differing widely in both geographical and chronological terms, also shares a critical stance used to examine the relationship between 'dirt' archaeology and the biblical world as presented to us through written sources.

This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the sometimes easy assumptions made by historians and biblical scholars about the past. It combines essays from both archaeologists and biblical scholars whose subject matter, whilst differing widely in both geographical and chronological terms, also shares a critical stance used to examine the relationship between 'dirt' archaeology and the biblical world as presented to us through written sources.

Megiddo (Israel) is a key site for the study of the stratigraphy, chronology and history of the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Levant. The article presents a Bayesian chronological model for seven ceramic typology phases and ten stratigraphic horizons at this site, covering the Late Bronze and much of the Iron Age. The model is based on 78 samples which provided 190 determinations – the most thorough set of 14C determinations known so far in a single site in the Levant. This set of data provides a reliable skeleton for the discussion of cultural processes and historical events in the region and beyond, including the periods of the Egyptian empire in Canaan and the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

This article presents the role of climate fluctuations in shaping southern Levantine human history from 3600 to 600 BCE (the Bronze and Iron Ages) as evidenced in palynological studies. This time interval is critical in the history of the region; it includes two phases of rise and decline of urban life, organization of the first territorial kingdoms, and domination of the area by great Ancient Near Eastern empires. The study is based on a comparison of several fossil pollen records that span a north-south transect of 220 km along the southern Levant: Birkat Ram in the northern Golan Heights, Sea of Galilee, and Ein Feshkha and Ze'elim Gully both on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The vegetation history and its climatic implications are as follows: during the Early Bronze Age I (∼3600–3000 BCE) climate conditions were wet; a minor reduction in humidity was documented during the Early Bronze Age II–III (∼3000–2500 BCE). The Intermediate Bronze Age (∼2500–1950 BCE) was character...

The excavation of a monumental mud-brick building and revetment wall dating to the Middle Bronze Age at Tell el-Burak have yielded a large assemblage of ceramics. This article gives a summary of the Middle Bronze Age ceramic types found at Tell el-Burak through the 2010 season of excavations and associates them with new carbon 14 evidence to provide an understanding of their chronological, functional, and regional context.

This paper presents the role of climate fluctuations in shaping southern Levantine human history ca. 3600-600 BCE (the Bronze and Iron Ages) as evidenced in palynological studies. This time interval is critical in the history of the region: it included two phases of rise and decline of urban life, organization of the first territorial kingdoms and domination of the area by great Ancient Near Eastern empires. The study is based on a comparison of several fossil pollen records that span a north-south transect of 220 km along the southern Levant: Birkat-Ram/Golan Heights, Sea of Galilee and Ein Feshkha and Ze’elim Gully, both on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The vegetation history and its climatic implications are as follows: during the Early Bronze Age I (ca. 3600-3000 BCE) climate conditions were wet; a minor reduction in humidity was documented during the Early Bronze Age II-III (ca. 2950-2500 BCE). The Intermediate Bronze Age (ca. 2500-1950 BCE) was characterized by moderate c...

This article presents the role of climate fluctuations in shaping southern Levantine human history from 3600 to 600 BCE (the Bronze and Iron Ages) as evidenced in palynological studies. This time interval is critical in the history of the region; it includes two phases of rise and decline of urban life, organization of the first territorial kingdoms, and domination of the area by great Ancient Near Eastern empires. The study is based on a comparison of several fossil pollen records that span a north-south transect of 220 km along the southern Levant: Birkat Ram in the northern Golan Heights, Sea of Galilee, and Ein Feshkha and Ze'elim Gully both on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The vegetation history and its climatic implications are as follows: during the Early Bronze Age I (∼3600–3000 BCE) climate conditions were wet; a minor reduction in humidity was documented during the Early Bronze Age II–III (∼3000–2500 BCE). The Intermediate Bronze Age (∼2500–1950 BCE) was character...

The last phase of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant, Early Bronze IV (EB IV), follows the crisis of the Early Bronze II-III “walled towns” and precedes the Middle Bronze Age urban regeneration in this region. In the past, EB IV was subject of intense study, but it was basically interpreted as a period of “collapse” and “deurbanization”.
In the last years, new data from stratified contexts and renewed interest in the southern Levantine EB IV allow a reconsideration of previous insights and a re-evaluation of the available EB IV archaeological dataset.

Recent research, moving from internal periodization of EB IV from a ceramic perspective, aims at providing a means to reappraise the socio-economic, political, and cultural organization of the region in this period in a diachronic perspective. We propose some interpretation of socio-economic dynamics between earlier and later EB IV phases. These provide an articulated picture of the general and progressive reorganization and growth of the southern Levantine communities during the late 3rd and the early 2nd millennia BC.

The last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC in the Southern Levant – the Early Bronze IV period (2300-2000 BC) – is characterized by a strong regionalization in the ceramic horizons, which has been recognized soon as one of the main features in the material culture of this period. Nevertheless, while the distribution of ceramic types and styles seems to stress “cultural” difference, weaponry seems to attest for a major degree of uniformity within the region. The spread of the so-called “warrior burials” in the Southern Levant during the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC has been recognized since long time. The aim of the paper is to draw attention on the adoption, within those ones, of a common set of weapons, which cross-cuts the differences expressed through the ceramic grave goods among sites belonging to different ceramic traditions during the Early Bronze IV. While ceramic assemblages express the local identities of the communities of the Southern Levant during the Early Bronze IV period, weapons equipments seem to define strong patterns of connectivity within the different sub-regional areas. Furthermore those ones further highlight strong technological and – in broad terms – “cultural” links with the neighboring areas in a supra-regional perspective, which, in turn, might help to shed light on the dynamic interactions taking place within the whole Levant at the close of the 3rd millennium BC.