SUMMARY: Lecture-6 provides part-1 of a broad overview of the Early Bronze II-III (EB II-III) in the Levant, including the rise of urban society, settlement patterns across various regions (including the Negev), agriculture (and the rise...
moreSUMMARY: Lecture-6 provides part-1 of a broad overview of the Early Bronze II-III (EB II-III) in the Levant, including the rise of urban society, settlement patterns across various regions (including the Negev), agriculture (and the rise of horticulture), settlement layouts (e.g., fortifications; socially stratified housing types; palaces; temples; shrines; granaries; public drainage; industrial areas [potter's workshop; olive oil installations]; public reservoirs), and material culture (pottery; metallurgy: copper production & caches). This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource/aid for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I periodically provide copies privately). I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies. For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the initial materials were extracted for this ppt. (see syllabus; e.g., initially Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders). Much of this and the other lectures summarize the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), add in other data, including my own research materials, and furnish numerous images to clarify/illustrate the wealth of information encountered in the textbook(s). Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily). I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years. I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture (or in separate test study guides). Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture. These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students (who have since pursued graduate degrees), and a few colleagues, who, like me, often teach outside our main fields of specialty, and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well. My apologies for any errors I may have made (over time, as I teach this course every two years, I try to rectify any errors that might slip in inadvertently), and for my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources. In the case of my knowledge of ancient Syria-Palestine, fortunately I originally pursued a virtual specialist undergraduate and graduate degrees in this subject (under John S. Holladay), alongside my main focus in Egyptian Archaeology), subsequently examined Egypt's presence and influence in the Levant from 1550-525 BC (for my doctoral dissertation), and have since maintained my interest and research in Egypt's relations with this region (especially during the Old Kingdom [EB Age] and Late Period [Iron Age to Persian period]). UPDATES: The course is offered every two years within a classroom setting, and is updated variously every two years. REVISED: Sept. 2023 (mostly formatting changes, but including many text edits).
