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Ebla's Hegemony and Its Impact on the Archaeology of the Amuq Plain

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Ebla's Hegemony and Its Impact on the Archaeology of the Amuq Plain Ebla’s Hegemony and Its Impact on the Archaeology of the Amuq Plain in the Third Millennium BCE by Steven Edwards A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto © Copyright by Steven Edwards, 2019 Ebla’s Hegemony and Its Impact on the Archaeology of the Amuq Plain in the Third Millennium BCE Steven Edwards Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies University of Toronto 2019 Abstract This dissertation investigates the emergence of Ebla as a regional state in northwest Syria during the Early Bronze Age and provides a characterization of Ebla that emphasizes its hegemonic rather than imperial features. The texts recovered from the Royal Palace G archives reveal that Ebla expanded from a small Ciseuphratean kingdom into a major regional power in Upper Mesopotamia over the course of just four or five decades. To consolidate and maintain its rapidly growing periphery, Ebla engaged in intensive diplomatic relations with an array of client states, semi-autonomous polities, and independent kingdoms. Often, political goals were achieved through mutual gift-exchange and interdynastic marriage, but military activity became increasingly common towards the end of the period covered by the texts. However, apart from installing palace officials at some cities, Ebla did not appear to have invested heavily in building infrastructure, such as roads or forts, along its periphery, preferring instead to leave matters of defense up to client and allied states. As a result, the archaeological impact of Ebla’s political hegemony along parts of its periphery was minimal. In re-evaluating the archaeological evidence for Ebla’s growth in the mid-third millennium BCE, this dissertation shows that in only a few instances—for example, in changes to regional settlement patterns in the Amuq Plain, subsistence strategies at Tell es-Sweyhat, and the ii distribution of ceramic assemblages—can an Eblaite influence on material culture along its periphery be inferred, and even then, only indirectly. While Ebla’s sphere of interaction extended over a considerable territory, this dissertation restricts most of its discussion to Ebla’s northwestern frontier, and particularly to the archaeology of the Amuq Plain. This study demonstrates that even though Ebla had installed an official at Alalaḫu—the major polity in the Amuq Plain—local historical trajectories remained largely intact, and Ebla’s hegemony left only an ephemeral archaeological legacy in the area. iii Acknowledgments This project could not have been completed without the support of many people and organizations. Research for this dissertation was conducted while a fellow of the CRANE Project (Computational Research on the Ancient Near East). Major financial support was provided by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and by a doctoral award from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS). Additional funding was provided by the University of Toronto through a doctoral completion grant. The assistance provided by these organizations enabled the completion of this research, and their support in gratefully acknowledged. I wish to express sincere thanks to my doctoral advisor, Timothy Harrison, for his continued support, accessibility, and above all patience. Appreciation is also extended to my dissertation committee members Clemens Reichel, Paul-Alain Beaulieu, Anne Porter, and Lisa Cooper for their detailed and timely feedback. My dissertation is immeasurably better as a result of their comments. I am grateful to Ted Banning for his sound advice and encouragement, and to Anna Sousa for facilitating the administrative components involved in completing this project. I am also thankful to Douglas Frayne for our many informative conversations prior to his passing in December 2017. Doug was an original member of my dissertation committee, and his many insights into the Ebla texts will not soon be forgotten, nor will he. Thanks to Debra Foran, Andrew Graham, Stephen Batiuk and Stanley Klassen for their support throughout my time in Toronto. I learned from your past experiences in the program, and your guidance over the years has enabled me to spot many obstacles well in advance. Thank you for the feedback, shelter, and especially friendship. Thank you to my friends and fellow students iv Darren, Khaled, and Phil. Having a group of reliable chaps with whom to commiserate is essentially a pre-requisite for completing a dissertation. You provided that and much more. I am indebted to Michele Daviau and Robert Chadwick for introducing me to Near Eastern archaeology, and for providing me with the opportunity to join the Wadi ath-Thamad Project in 2004. Thank you also to my Bishop’s University professors Daniel Miller and Michele Murray for inspiring me to pursue a career in research and teaching. My family also deserves much credit. Their support throughout this journey has never wavered. To Patrick, Debbie, Justin, and Brandon, thank you for keeping me grounded all these years. Finally, I extend my deepest thanks to Annlee Dolan for her tremendous generosity, sincere encouragement, and tough love. You sacrificed so much to help me see this project through to the end, and for that I am eternally grateful. I could not have done this without you. Thank you. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction and Organization of the Study.................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 2 Thesis Statement ...................................................................................................................... 3 3 Research Goals ........................................................................................................................ 3 4 Organization of the Study ........................................................................................................ 5 Chapter 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 8 The Study of Early Expansionist States .......................................................................................... 8 1 Expansionist States .................................................................................................................. 9 1.1 An Overview of Expansionist States ................................................................................ 9 2 Power ..................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Power Over, Power To, and Power With ....................................................................... 14 2.2 Network-Based and Corporate-Based Power ................................................................. 15 2.3 Top-Down and Bottom-Up Perspectives on Power ....................................................... 17 2.4 Military Power................................................................................................................ 18 2.5 Political Power ............................................................................................................... 18 2.6 Economic Power ............................................................................................................ 20 2.7 Ideological Power ........................................................................................................... 23 3 Territoriality ........................................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Territory, Terrain and Land ............................................................................................ 27 3.2 Territoriality, Sovereignty and Economic Defensibility ................................................ 28 4 Borders and Frontiers ............................................................................................................ 31 4.1 Boundaries, Borders and Frontiers ................................................................................. 31 4.2 “Third Space” and the Dynamic Nature of Frontiers ..................................................... 33 4.3 Detecting Frontiers Archaeologically ............................................................................ 35 5 Models ................................................................................................................................... 37 5.1 An Overview of Core-Periphery Models ....................................................................... 37 5.2 World-Systems, Colonization and Acculturation........................................................... 39 5.3 The Formation of Core-Periphery Systems
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