Beyond urbanization, regional settlement pattern in south-eastern Levant during the Early Bronze Age

Abstract

In the southern Levant, urbanization is the prevailing model used when interpreting the settlement history and material culture changes observed during the Early Bronze (EB) II–III periods. Several scholars question the dominance of this interpretative model. They point out differences between settlement organization and site morphology data, and the situation depicted by the traditional urban model. Beyond this monolithic narrative, other models are appearing. Models that highlight the large spectrum of settlement variability and regional networks, and express doubts about social hierarchy and intensive production. In these approaches, grounded on facts rather than theoretical a priori, the development of sub-regional analyses is needed, with a broader chronological scope not limited by the pace of urbanization. The existence of several well-preserved sites in south-eastern Syria allows a relatively accurate picture of the different settlements, mainly occupied by communities of mobile pastoralists, to be drawn. The image that emerges from the diachronic presentation of several of these sites is specific to the region: here the traditional architectural elements of urban societies are used differently, in a context where rurality and nomadism prevail, and where the border with the urban world is difficult to establish. Moreover, no evolutionary continuity is perceptible. Even when the characteristics of the sub-region are taken into account, the observations made necessitate the reformulation of the over-generalizing model of southern Levantine urbanization.