Northern Levant Research Articles

Ancestral origins: northern Levantine Funerary Palaces in the Middle Bronze Age

While typically considered a south Levantine palace form, recent research suggests that the Middle Bronze Age Funerary Palace type has its origins in the northern Levant. The Western Palace at Ebla (Building Q) has long been known to feature similarities in plan, layout and contents with south Levantine forms. Of particular note is the shared funerary association in both southern and northern examples, specifically the discovery of elite, possibly royal interments, and associated retainer burials, in association with these complexes. In addition to Ebla, other palace complexes from the northern Levant, broadly defined, should be considered as examples of the Funerary Palace form, namely Byblos and Tell el-Burak. This paper will outline the evidence in support of this association and explore the ramifications of a broadly northern origin of the Funerary Palace form in wider considerations on the nature of MBA urbanism more generally.

Early extensional salt tectonics controls deep-water sediment dispersal

Predicting the distribution of sedimentary facies during the early stages of deformation of salt-detached continental margins is key to constraining the location and stratigraphic architecture of hydrocarbon and CO2 reservoirs, as well as to understanding the oceanic carbon cycle. Despite its importance, we still have a relatively poor understanding of salt-sediment interactions during the early phases of extensional salt tectonics, mainly because subsequent salt-related deformation and/or deep burial of the related stratigraphic succession means the related deposits are poorly imaged in seismic reflection data and/or not penetrated by borehole data. We investigated the interplay between early extension-related salt deformation and deep-water sediment dispersal using 3-D seismic reflection data from the northern Levant Basin offshore Lebanon. Our results indicate that salt tectonics has two contrasting impacts: Whereas slope-parallel faults favor early sediment transfer along downslope-oriented corridors to the abyssal plain, slope-normal faults and ramp-syncline basins trap land-derived sediments, hampering or delaying their transport to the abyssal plain. These results help refine source-to-sink models of turbidite systems developing in young salt basins, highlighting the crucial role of extensional tectonics in controlling sediment dispersal and the development of intra-slope depocenters and emphasizing the impact of fault strike, ramp-syncline basin evolution, and salt thinning. Our study has significant implications for predicting the location of deep-water coarse-grained sediment and the preservation of land-derived organic carbon in mature, more structurally complex, salt basins.

Agropastoral and dietary practices of the northern Levant facing Late Holocene climate and environmental change: Isotopic analysis of plants, animals and humans from Bronze to Iron Age Tell Tweini.

One of the largest isotopic datasets of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean region is evaluated, based on plants (n = 410), animals (n = 210) and humans (n = 16) from Tell Tweini (Syria). Diachronic analysis of plant and faunal specimens from four main periods of occupation: Early Bronze Age (2600-2000 BC), Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC), Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BC) and Iron Age (1200-333 BC) were investigated. Mean Δ13C results from seven plant species reveal emmer and free threshing wheat, olives, bitter vetch, rye grass and barley were adequately or well-watered during all periods of occupation. The grape Δ13C results suggest excellent growing conditions and particular care for its cultivation. The δ15N results indicate that especially the emmer and free threshing wheats received some manure inputs throughout the occupation sequence, while these were likely further increased during the Iron Age, encompassing also the olive groves and grape vineyards. Generally, domestic animals (cattle, sheep, goats) had C3 terrestrial diets and were kept together in similar environments. However, some animals consumed significant amounts of marine or C4 plants, possibly from disturbed habitats due to land use pressure or salt tolerant grasses and shrubs from wetland environments, which were recorded in the direct vicinity of the site. Middle Bronze Age humans consumed a C3 terrestrial diet with no measurable input from C4, freshwater or marine protein sources. Interestingly, the human diet was relatively low in animal protein and appears comparable to what is considered today a typical Mediterranean diet consisting of bread (wheat/barley), olives, grapes, pulses, dairy products and small amounts of meat. The combined isotopic analysis of plants, animals and humans from Tell Tweini represents unbroken links in the food chain which create unparalleled opportunities to enhance our current understanding of environmental conditions, climate change and lifeways in past populations from the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Levantine Megalithic Building Techniques: A Groundbreaking Method Applied to Menjez’s Monuments (Akkar, Lebanon) from the 4th–3rd Millennium BCE

The aim of this paper is to present the methodology used to study the megalithic architecture of Menjez’s monuments (Akkar, Lebanon), as part of the MEG-A Project - “First megalith builders in the northern Levant” (2022–2025). Twenty-four monuments have been investigated since 2018. The primary objective is to pioneer a comprehensive understanding of the unique Levantine megalithic building techniques and re-establish the “chaînes opératoires,” by determining the builders’ sequence of actions. This groundbreaking methodology originally developed for Western European megalithic monuments, notably in Brittany, France, has been innovatively applied and customized to suit the Levantine context, specifically focusing on the distinctive basaltic monuments of Menjez and its surrounding areas. By using photogrammetry as a tool, the researchers are able to de-construct the megalithic architecture by analyzing the different components of these monuments. Moreover, it is then possible to describe monoliths according to their place within the monument and their geological and geomorphological features. Our work has led us to consider the symbolic aspect expressed in the megalithic architecture of Menjez. Employing this groundbreaking methodology not only yields concrete answers regarding the typology of these monuments but also dramatically reshapes our perception of their construction. It establishes a precise relative chronology for the various architectural phases and, most significantly, reveals the hidden details of the raw material supply chain.

From small beginnings... population explosions of migrant Belenois aurota (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) in Türkiye, with rare observations in Syria and a first record for Cyprus

Incursions of Belenois aurota (Fabricius, 1793), a vigorous, tropical migrant pierid, have become more common in recent years in countries of the southern Levant, with rare appearances in south-eastern Türkiye. Here, we report on the species presence in other Levant countries of the eastern Mediterranean, including Mediterranean Syria and, for the first time, in Cyprus, on which island B. aurota was discovered in 2023. We also report on experiences in south-eastern Türkiye, where, during the same autumn period, extensive breeding resulted in at least three local broods leading to significant population irruptions and dispersal. Likely migration routes via the Jordan Rift Valley System into countries of the Levant are discussed, and we introduce an additional migratory route east of the Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon and Silsilat al-Jib āl as-Sāhilīyah (Latakia) mountain ranges, not previously recognized to our knowledge. The value of the Tigris River as a conduit for migrant butterflies from the Middle East into the provinces of south-eastern Türkiye had previously been documented and is again well illustrated by numerous observations in south-eastern Türkiye along the river's route south from its origins in the mountains of eastern Türkiye. Although B. aurota is recognized as an obligate migrant, it is considered that 2023 weather systems assisted the arrival of the species into the northern Levant and south-eastern Türkiye.

The Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Site of Aḥihud (Western Galilee, Israel)

Abstract. The recent excavations at the site of Aḥihud uncovered the remains of an Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B village on the bank of Nahal Ḥilazon (Acre valley, Israel) tributary channel. The site is in an ecotone between the western Galilee hills and the northern coastal plain. The lithic assemblage from the site includes typical PPNB arrowheads (about a third are El-Khiam and Helwan types) as well as hundreds of sickle blades. The fauna include evidence to the hunting of large and small game as well as small predators. The flora from the site shows evidence for an intensive legume crop agriculture. Thousands of legume seeds were concentrated in two silos. The vast majority are broad beans (Vicia faba) that predate the earliest evidence for an established cultivation of legumes in the Southern Levant. Other finds attest to the acquisition of exotic goods such as various green stones and obsidian from the Northern Levant or shells from the Red Sea.

Time to Go Beyond Chrono-Stratigraphy: The (EPPNB) Aswadian Culture of the Southern Levant

Abstract. Contrary to current trends, I strive in this paper to uphold culture history as a valid conceptual and analytical framework of archaeological analysis and define Neolithic cultures as representatives of specific past socio-cultural groups. Promoting this claim, I dwell on the cultural makeup of the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB) period in the southern Levant and make a case for the Aswadian culture. Following a review of the Aswadian’s spatiotemporal and material culture features, the paper proceeds to propose that it may be split further into subcultures, making way for a more detailed understanding of its socio-cultural makeup. Notwithstanding gaps in our knowledge, I will draw on the Aswadian’s distinctiveness from other entities—the preceding PPNA Sultanian, the EPPNB of the northern Levant, and the very recently defined Badia culture of Jordan—to argue that it be considered a full-fledged cultural entity. Notably, the position of the Aswadian culture within the broader context of the Levantine Neolithization will also be considered. I will argue that, notwithstanding decisive, innovative trends in the north Levantine EPPNB, the Aswadian culture continued to maintain a hunter-gatherer way of life, resisting the incorporation of domesticates (plants and animals) into its economy, which do not appear in the southern Levant before the very end of the 11th millennium cal. BP and later in the Middle PPNB.

A Tale of Two Cities

Abstract Much has been written of the events concerning the Egyptian, Mittanian, and Hittite presence in the northern Levant during the so-called ʿAmārna Period. Decades of work from excellent scholars have established that the Egyptians elected two cities to be their “capitals” in the region, centres from where they could establish their control over the territory of modern Lebanon: Ṣumur on the ʿAkkār Plain, and Kumidi in the Biqāʿ (Beqaa) Valley. Many points remain relatively unclear, such as the succession of events in the region, the developments of war, and the reasons why the Egyptians decided to create a second centre in Kumidi, when they already controlled Ṣumur. This paper reanalyses the data at our disposal and reconstructs the diachronic succession of events related to the two centres, arguing that Kumidi became an Egyptian centre only after Ṣumur had fallen prey to Abdi-Aširta of Amurru.

Mobility and connection among the Early Bronze Age Syrian elite

The archaeological site of Umm el-Marra (in the Jabbul plain, western Syria), is a large, fortified urban center. Excavations have uncovered ten tomb structures built during the Early Bronze Age (ca. 2600–2150 BCE) that possibly contain royalty as evidenced by lavish grave goods and paleopathological evidence suggesting sociocultural buffering from the harsh social and physical environments of agricultural urban centers in the Bronze Age Near East. Inside adjacent brick installations are animal (primarily equid) skeletons interpreted as interments, possibly sacrifices in some instances, as part of ceremonies honoring the entombed. The burial site was eventually re-used as evidenced by a monumental platform above the tombs, interpreted as use for ritual activities of ancestor veneration.This study analyzed 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O values from enamel of 13 individuals interred in these tombs, along with enamel and bone samples from animals found in and around the tomb structures. Six of 13 (43 %) individuals analyzed in these tombs are identified as non-locals. Although contemporaneous data in the northern Levant is scarce, we see much higher evidence of human movement at Umm el-Marra compared to others. Only elites are included in this study, but their relative mobility might imply that the ancient city established its position as a secondary center along major trade routes through intermarriage and connectivity. The concept of ‘social memory’ is evident, as the lives and deaths of these elites are integrated into this site where ancestor veneration is evidenced in centuries following interment.

Climate variability in the northern Levant from the highly resolved Qadisha record (Lebanon) during the Holocene optimum

AbstractNew stalagmites from Qadisha Cave (Lebanon) located at 1720 m above sea level provide a high-resolution and well-dated record for northern Mount Lebanon. The stalagmites grew discontinuously from 9.2 to 5.7 and at 3.5 ka, and they show a tendency to move from a more negative oxygen isotope signal at ~9.1 ka to a more positive signal at ~5.8 ka. Such a trend reflects a change from a wetter to a drier climate at high altitudes. The δ13C signal shows rapid shifts throughout the record and a decreasing trend toward more negative values in the mid-Holocene, suggesting enhanced soil activity. In the short-term trend, Qadisha stalagmites record rapid dry/wet changes on centennial scales, with a tendency to more rapid dry events toward the mid-Holocene. Such changes are characterized by overall good agreement between both geochemical proxies and stalagmite growth and might be affected by the seasonal variations in snow cover. The Qadisha record is in good agreement with other Levantine records, showing more humid conditions from 9 to 7 ka. After 7 ka, a drier climate seems to affect sites at both low- and high-altitude areas. The Qadisha record reflects uniquely mountainous climate characteristics compared with other records, specifically the effect of snow cover and its duration regulating the effective infiltration.

Tilbes, Surtepe and Tilvez Mounds: An Approach about the Early Bronze Ia-Ib phases, north of Birecik-Carchemish subregion (Southeastern Turkey)

The Early Bronze (EB) I culture in the Turkish Middle Euphrates is of particular importance to our Tilbes Project. Such an archaeological period was discovered in three of the archaeological sites under our supervision. We have been able to differentiate two different moments in the character of the occupation during this Early Bronze Age I, Phases Ia and Ib. The EB Ia phase is characterized by a large urbanization and extensive settlement of the places of Surtepe Höyük, Tilvez/Meteler Höyük and Tilbes Höyük. However, the EB Ib phase, which seems to have continued in at least two of the places, Surtepe and Tilbes Höyük, does not present large remains of monumental architecture and does show an increase in funerary remains in both places. Tilbes Höyük also had, during EB Ia-b, a building with ritual-religious characteristics, built in the same place that was later occupied by BA II and BA III sanctuaries in sector E4a-E8-E3. This area of Birecik is included in the ceramic province of the Late Reserved Slip Ware and indicates a change of orientation of Tilbes and Surtepe towards the Northern Levant, the region of the future kingdom of Ebla, as opposed to the route of the Euphrates, dominant during the Late Chalcolithic.

Networks of Specialized Knowledge

Recent research focused on the regions of Malatya and the northern Levant has allowed scholars to improve our understanding of the political history of the polities of Malizi and Palastina. The present article examines recent archaeological evidence from Arslantepe and several northern Levantine sites alongside a corpus of textual and iconographic data from the upper Euphrates and the northern Levant in an attempt to identify Early Iron Age networks of cultural exchange that resulted in shared specialized cultic and artistic knowledge. While networks of interaction between these regions may have begun as a product of persistent sociopolitical ties following the fragmentation of the Hittite Empire, this article proposes that it is due to the resilience of major cult centers that Malizi and Palastina were able to exchange specialized cultic knowledge and artistic traditions and employ them in the definition of their new Iron Age cultic and political communities.

Mass wasting records the first stages of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the eastern Mediterranean

Abstract The geological processes that occurred during the deposition of the Mediterranean salt giant are poorly constrained, limiting our understanding of the earliest phase of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Using three-dimensional seismic reflection data from the northern Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, we investigated a previously unrecognized deposit at the base of the Messinian halite that we interpret as an extensive mass-transport complex (MTC). While MTCs have been described within stratigraphically equivalent deposits in the western Mediterranean Sea, this is the first such MTC documented at the base of the halite in the eastern Mediterranean. The spatial distribution and seismic facies of the MTC suggest a slope failure origin, likely in response to multiple processes including tectonic activity and sea-level fall. Our study indicates that margin instability was diffuse across the entire Mediterranean during the early stages of Messinian halite deposition, with implications for the chronology of erosional events and sediment transport to the deep basin.

New evidence for Middle Bronze Age chronology from the Syro-Anatolian frontier

Dates differ by up to 150 years in the protracted debate around the chronology of the Middle Bronze Age Near East. Here, the authors present radiocarbon and ceramic evidence from destroyed buildings at Zincirli, Türkiye, that support the Middle Chronology. Ceramics from late Middle Bronze Age sites in Syria and Anatolia, and Bayesian modelling of 18 well-stratified radiocarbon samples from site destruction contexts attributable to Hittite king Ḫattusili I, indicate a date in the later seventeenth century BC. Since the Northern Levant connects the Mesopotamian and Eastern Mediterranean second-millennium BC chronologies, this evidence supports the convergence of these long-debated schemas, with implications for the start of the Late Bronze Age and the rise of empires.

Indus-Style Stone Beads in the Late Third-Millennium BCE Southern Levant

This article discusses how identification of stylistic, morphometric, mineralogical, and technological characteristics of carnelian stone beads can provide major insights into EB IV/MB I interregional networks and social differentiation. Based on unique drilling techniques, stylistic shapes, morphometric proportions, and mineralogical characteristics, fifty-four carnelian beads found in Israel/Palestine have been identified as crafted in a manner ultimately diagnostic of the Indus tradition of modern Pakistan and western India. Fifty Indus-style beads in the EB IV/MB I probably reflect increased socio-cultural links to the northern Levant and Mesopotamia during this period, while four beads from later contexts represent long-term curation of valuable ornaments.

The Ordovician System in the Levant region (Middle East) and southern Turkey: review of depositional facies, fauna and stratigraphy

Abstract This contribution addresses the current state of knowledge of the mainly siliciclastic Ordovician rocks in Jordan, Syria and southern Turkey, including advances in palaeontology, stratigraphy, depositional facies analysis and supra-regional correlation. The extensive and excellent exposures of the sedimentary succession in southern Jordan represent the regional reference for the Ordovician System in the southern Levant. We discuss the sedimentological and faunal characteristics as well as the stratigraphy and correlation of the succession. For the northern Levant (especially southeastern Turkey) and the western and eastern Taurides, the Ordovician succession and an updated sedimentary architecture is explained, and a comprehensive correlation for the region is presented. Increased knowledge on the fossil content from these regions enables correlation across the southern parts of the Arabian Plate to southern Turkey, and with the greater Gondwanan regions, far field as southwestern Europe and northern Africa. The depositional environments in the southern and northern Levant and southern Turkey encompass non-marine to shallow-marine areas in the lower part of the Ordovician that are followed upsection by shelf deposits of variable proximity up to the glacial episode in the Late Ordovician that is traceable in each of the areas. Characteristic signals in the Ordovician succession are represented by the trans-regional early Darriwilian unconformity and by the base of the Hirnantian glacial-related deposits followed by lower Silurian strata, visible across the entire region. New data from zircon-based provenance analysis clearly implicate the Arabian Shield as the main source of a huge amount of the clastic detritus within the Ordovician succession. In the course of the entire Cambrian–Ordovician interval, progressive deeper erosion of the Arabian Shield occurred. Sediment sources from regions farther away indicate long time of exposure and resedimentation, and some long-distance transportation, but their sedimentary influence was only of minor extent. The excellent outcrops mainly in southern Jordan, in southeastern Turkey and in the Taurides represent potential regions for further research.

Cooking in Iron Age Alalakh: Change and Continuity in Vessels’ Functional Role

The site of Alalakh is located in the modern province of Hatay, southern Turkey. The recent discovery of Iron Age levels at the site offered the perfect opportunity to shed new light on the Iron Age I and the beginning of the Iron Age II (12th-9th century BC). This paper will focus on the analysis of cooking vessels retrieved from the Iron Age levels of the site. Studies on cooking and food preparation activities represent a long-standing lacuna in the archaeology of the Ancient Near East. The analysis of cooking vessels’ typology and function can offer a deep understanding of social habits and cultural behaviours and add new data towards the interpretations of the Iron Age in the site and in the Northern Levant.

Context and Shape: Geographical and Chronological Distribution of Handled Stamp Seals in Anatolia and Northern Levant

This article focuses on handled stamp seals, their typological classification, archaeological contexts and geographic distribution. By analyzing a total of 679 seals (302 from good archaeological contexts) over a time period from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age, it was possible to point out that specific shapes can be considered typical for the Anatolian region, while others were adopted from Anatolia in the Levant or belong to specific site productions. The data have shown that of the three predominant types (Stalk, Domed and Modelled Domed Knob Seals), probably only one passed from Anatolia to the Northern Levant with a consequent proliferation of variants. All other types of handled stamp seals didn’t provide sufficient data in archaeological contexts to better define the dynamics of production or geographical displacement: therefore, it was only possible to present the general data and propose some hypotheses.

A Look into the Neo-Assyrian Countryside: the Iron Age III Settlement of Taşlı Geçit Höyük in the Islahiye Valley

Turco-Italian excavations on the site of Taşlı Geçit Höyük, located in the Islahiye valley (South-Eastern Turkey), partially investigated a rural settlement dating to the Iron Age III (late 8th-7th cent. BC). The evidence from the site represents an opportunity for further insights on the impact of the Neo-Assyrian Empire on the countryside of the Northern Levant.

Tell al-Sour Late Neolithic (Homs region 6000–5500 bc)

Abstract – Tell al-Sour (the second largest tell after Tell El-Mishrefe/Qatna) is in the Homs Region (Middle Syria). It was excavated by the author between 1984 and 1986. The following paper presents the study only of Strata B2 (found in site Area P). In Trench I/Sounding 1 parts of an architectural structure and its related pottery assemblage were unearthed. Following the study and comparison with parallels from elsewhere in Syria and adjacent regions of the northern Levant and Mesopotamia, the finds from Tell al-Sour can be dated to the first half of the sixth millennium bc.