A micro-geoarchaeological look at adaptive and glocal socio-economic aspects: the case of Middle Bronze Age Tel Dor, Israel

Abstract

Adaptative mechanisms used by coastal urban Middle Bronze Age (MBA) settlements in the southern Levant are regularly studied from the point of view of maritime connectivity. Here we look into the adaptive mechanisms of MBA Tel Dor by investigating the utilization of geogenic (rock, soil, sediment) resources for construction — materials used for wall foundations, mudbrick superstructure and wall plaster — and for pottery making. The composition and fabric of archaeological materials were compared to those of local natural sediments from two boreholes. The results show that stones for wall construction relied on the local kurkar, that red-coloured mudbricks were produced from local Carmel coast sediments, while beige-coloured mudbricks were produced by mixing local red sediments with non-coastal calcareous rock fragments, and that wall plaster was made of non-coastal geogenic marl. From a small pilot sample of pottery, six petrofabrics were identified, including the local Carmel coast, along with five other, distant, production centres. These characteristics suggest that while the site’s inhabitants utilized local resources, they were firmly interconnected with regional, ‘global’, Mediterranean networks, suggesting MBA Dor was a glocalized society, and that diversification of resources served as a promotor of resilience for this coastal society, allowing it to thrive for millennia.