Paper Abstracts
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PAPER ABSTRACTS Plenary Address Eric H. Cline (The George Washington University), “Dirt, Digging, Dreams, and Drama: Why Presenting Proper Archaeology to the Public is Crucial for the Future of Our Field” We seem to have forgotten that previous generations of Near Eastern archaeologists knew full well the need to bring their work before the eyes of the general public; think especially of V. Gordon Childe, Sir Leonard Woolley, Gertrude Bell, James Henry Breasted, Yigael Yadin, Dame Kathleen Kenyon, and a whole host of others who lectured widely and wrote prolifically. Breasted even created a movie on the exploits of the Oriental Institute, which debuted at Carnegie Hall and then played around the country in the 1930s. The public was hungry for accurate information back then and is still hungry for it today. And yet, with a few exceptions, we have lost sight of this, sacrificed to the goal of achieving tenure and other perceived institutional norms, and have left it to others to tell our stories for us, not always to our satisfaction. I believe that it is time for us all— not just a few, but as many as possible—to once again begin telling our own stories about our findings and presenting our archaeological work in ways that make it relevant, interesting, and engaging to a broader audience. We need to deliver our findings and our thoughts about the ancient world in a way that will not only attract but excite our audiences. Our livelihoods, and the future of the field, depend upon it, for this is true not only for our lectures and writings for the general public but also in our classrooms. If we are unable to successfully engage our own students, and to show them that good research goes hand in hand with good teaching, lecturing, and writing, with each informing and improving the others, we will fail to cultivate the next generation of archaeologists. 1A. Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age: Presentations in Honor of Suzanne Richard CHAIRS: William G. Dever (University of Arizona) and Jesse Long (Lubbock Christian University) Joe D. Seger (Mississippi State University), “The Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: A View from Tell Halif” Beginning in the 1970s, the Lahav Research Project (LRP) conducted extensive research at and in the environs of Tell Halif, near Kibbutz Lahav in southern Israel. Excavations on the tell and on the adjacent eastern terrace exposed well-stratified evidence of Late Chalcolithic to EB I and subsequent EB III occupations. The Halif Terrace remains included four well-defined strata (XIX–XVI) and 13 contiguous phases of Chalcolithic and EB I settlement. These provide clear evidence of association with other regional emporia in a trading network with Pre- and Early Dynastic Egyptians. After a hiatus during EB II, when regional occupations migrated to the major centers at Arad and Yarmut, Halif recovered in the EB III, becoming a large, well-fortified city flourishing along with regional sites such as Tell el-Hesi and Yarmut. This first EB III settlement (EB IIIA, Stratum XV) suffered massive destruction. Nonetheless, occupation at Halif endured through three further stages of development (Strata XIV–XII). These were unfortified, open enclaves sustained by local agriculture and a still-thriving flint knapping industry. Stratum XII occupation ended in the 23rd century B.C.E., perhaps at the hand of General Uni in his campaigns during the Egyptian VIth Dynasty. Halif’s progressive decline is paradigmatic of the ruralization of late EB III cultures in southern Palestine as contacts with Egypt flagged, and local subsistence became increasingly untenable. Stanley Klassen (University of Toronto) and Timothy P. Harrison (University of Toronto), “The Madaba Settlement Cluster and the Nature of Early Bronze Age Urbanism in the Central Highlands of Jordan” Numerous studies have attempted to define the evolution and nature of Early Bronze Age urbanism in the southern Levant, ranging from cultural-historical and linear evolutionary approaches to more recent formulations that have invoked concepts of heterarchy and corporate village identity. Site-specific case studies, meanwhile, have emphasized their “individual histories,” highlighting the uniqueness of their urban development, evident in town planning, potential “palatial” buildings, and the inference of centralized craft production and the distribution of goods, or lack thereof. While pan-Early Bronze Age models of hierarchical systems based on scale or size are still advocated by some, an increasing number of scholars now argue that the rise and decline of settlement in the southern Levant was based on rural rather than urban development, demonstrating that the level of integration of cities, towns, and rural communities is a better indicator of the level of complexity and “urbanization” than scale or size. The Madaba settlement cluster, situated in the highlands of central Jordan, offers a unique opportunity to test integration at the regional level. This paper will present the results of a holistic analysis of Early Bronze Age pottery from sites within the Madaba settlement cluster and will emphasize the distributed organizational structure of this regional community, as reflected in this craft industry. Steve Falconer (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) and Pat Fall (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), “EB IV Settlement, Chronology, and Society along the Jordan Rift” Bayesian modeling of calibrated 14C ages from Khirbat Iskandar, Bab edh-Dhra‘, and Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj bolsters an emerging high chronology for the southern Levantine Early Bronze Age. The work of Suzanne Richard, especially through the excavation of Khirbat Iskandar, highlights the importance of sedentary settlements amid the mobile pastoralism normally emphasized for EB IV society. Comparative analysis of radiocarbon dates from Khirbat Iskandar and Bab edh-Dhra‘ permits reexamination of their stratigraphic and chronological correlations. Integration of these results with a Bayesian model of 14C ages from Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj provides a coordinated overview of chronological relationships among these important sedentary communities and through the full course of a newly lengthened EB IV. Jointly, the temporal insights from these settlements contribute to a potential uncoupling of EB IV from the Egyptian First Intermediate period, both chronologically and interpretively, and a revised orientation toward non-urban settlement as a hallmark of Early Bronze Age society. Andrea Polcaro (University of Perugia) and Marta D’Andrea (Sapienza Università di Roma), “Urbanism, Collapse, and Transitions: Taking the View from Transjordan in the Early Bronze Age” Early urbanism and “rural complexity” have been crucial topics in Suzanne Richard’s research on the southern Levantine Early Bronze Age. Therefore, reconnecting to this line of research, Jabal al-Mutawwaq, in the Middle Wadi az-Zarqa Valley, and Khirbat Iskandar, along the Wadi al-Wala, will be used as key sites to reanalyze, respectively, EB I–II and EB III–IV. First of all, the settlement sites and the necropolis at Jabal al-Mutawwaq will be presented to review the state-of-the-art of EB I, considered not just as a transitional period but, rather, as a formative stage in the developmental trajectory of the southern Levant toward urbanization. In fact, recent discoveries at Jebel al-Mutawwaq suggest that the site represents a case study to re-investigate different stages of transformation and evolution of the settlement model from villages in EB I to walled settlements in EB II–II. Subsequently, Khirbat Iskandar will be used as a case study to reappraise the question of early urbanization in Jordan during EB II–III, as well as of how it came to an end and transitioned to the non-urban EB IV period. The question of continuity and discontinuity between EB III and IV and between EB IV and the Middle Bronze Age will be discussed, too, considering archaeological correlates and chronological issues. In this way, the paper aims to reconsider Early Bronze Age urbanism in Transjordan taking a long durée perspective from the mid-fourth to the end of the third millennia B.C.E. Shlomit Bechar (University of Haifa), “The Architectural Fabric of Hazor’s Lower City in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages” The transition between the Middle and Late Bronze Age is the first transition in archaeological periods which is based on historical events. The traditional date is attributed to the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt and the beginning of the New Kingdom (approximately the mid-16th century B.C.E.). Recently, the date of this transition has been challenged, with the suggestion that the date should be later and ascribed to the conquest of Canaan by Thutmosis III (approximately the first half of the 15th century B.C.E.). This paper will present the changes in the built environment of the lower city of Hazor during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. It will show that major changes occurred between Stratum II, dated to LB I, and Stratum IB, dated to LB IIA. During the Middle Bronze Age and LB I, most of the excavated areas in the lower city comprised public and monumental buildings, whereas in LB IIA the city was mainly occupied by domestic structures. The historical and social implications of these observations will be discussed as well as the question of the identity of the inhabitants of the lower city of Hazor. 1B. Yerushalayim, Al Quds, Jerusalem: Recent Developments and Dilemmas in Archaeological and Historical Studies from the Bronze Age to Medieval Periods I CHAIR: Yuval Gadot (Tel Aviv University) Joe Uziel (Israel Antiquities Authority), “Rethinking Identity in the Iron Age Southern Levant: A View from Jerusalem” The Iron Age in the southern Levant is often thought of as the particular instance in which the cultural and political fluidity so commonly discussed in earlier periods is largely replaced by well-defined entities that occupy particular geographic regions, each developing its own particular paradigm of political structure, cultic practice, material culture, and more.