Spatial and Statistical Inference of Late Bronze Age Polities in the Southern Levant
The Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200 B. C.) marks the earliest opportunity to apply substantial historical archives to the inference of spatially defined polities in the southern Levant. A series of analyses of the Amarna Letters suggests numerous, small, bellicose "city-states" differing co...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
The University of Chicago Press
2003
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| In: |
Bulletin of ASOR
Year: 2003, Volume: 330, Pages: 31-45 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200 B. C.) marks the earliest opportunity to apply substantial historical archives to the inference of spatially defined polities in the southern Levant. A series of analyses of the Amarna Letters suggests numerous, small, bellicose "city-states" differing considerably in political prominence and demographic composition. We propose quantitative methods for analyzing archaeological settlement data to explore the spatial configuration of Late Bronze Age polities and their varying hierarchical structures. This approach provides an independent test of the historical method, which identifies capital cities and assumes the adherence of surrounding communities, by discerning polities from constellations of settlements, large and small, amid the abundantly available regional survey data for the southern Levant. We infer a political landscape that corresponds well with many aspects of historical reconstruction and propose new ideas on the configuration and structure of Late Bronze Age polities. In particular, the readily apparent balkanization of the southern Levant is founded on significant structural variation between settlement and polities on the Coastal Plain, the Central Hills, and the Jordan Rift. These results carry connotations for the study of earlier and subsequent political dynamics. Our methods and inferences are readily applicable to other cases of emergent political complexity in the southern Levant and elsewhere, particularly those lacking historical documentation. |
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| ISSN: | 2161-8062 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Schools of Oriental Research, Bulletin of ASOR
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1357838 |