Settlement and Society in the Early Bronze I and II Southern Levant: Complementarity and Contradiction in a Small-scale Complex Society.

Settlement and Society in the Early Bronze I and II Southern Levant: Complementarity and Contradiction in a Small-scale Complex Society. Like the general public, scholars of the past often seem to beoverly concerned with humanity's `firsts': the firstagriculture, the first metallurgy and, naturally, given the urban socialagglomerations which are the foci of modem life, the first cities.Modern research in some ways has been marred by attempts to project backinto the past notions of the urban `revolution' as both a drivingforce and foregone trajectory amidst the rise of early societies. Thoseachieving some form of this perceived distinction are the successes,while those that did not seem relegated to antiquity's backwater.In this respect, the lack of huge `urban' sites in southernLevantine Le��vant?1?The countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt.Le pre-and proto-history has resulted in the importance of NearEastern cores eclipsing contemporary developments in its southernLevantine intertices. Alexander H. Joffe's first offering is awelcome attempt towards understanding the rise of local socialcomplexity in the southern Levant Levant(ləvănt`)[Ital.,=east], collective name for the countries of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean from Egypt to, and including, Turkey. independent of, but in apposition Adv. 1. in apposition - in an appositive manner; "this adjective is used appositively"appositively toprocesses at the cores. This `first fruit' is divided into four main chapters, eachprogressively longer as the author follows the Early Bronze Age (EBA EBA Eisenbahn-Bundesamt (German)EBA Euro Banking AssociationEBA Emergency Brake AssistanceEBA Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (Australia)EBA Elite Beat Agents (video game))social trajectory towards complexity. Chapter 1 is a wide-rangingconsideration of site survey, sampling and formation andsettlement-pattern interpretation. Amidst all of the methodologicalcaveats noted, one is left with a sober thread that provides littleescape from the labyrinth of inconsistent data collection andpresentation. The author and his colleagues' Decapolis Data Baseproject, which is only briefly outlined here and categorized in theappendix, seeks to rectify this situation. As this, the primary datasource for the work at hand, is still unpublished, any attempt atcriticizing Joffe's interpretation of settlement data is renderedpremature. Chapter 2 presents four themes that form the foundation of theauthor's thesis of `complementarity and contradiction'. Thecyclical nature of rising and declining complexity (often a buzz-word,but here implicitly intra- and inter-site organization and contacts,craft specialization and social stratification), which began withNeolithic sedentarism. The scalar differences of society, economy andpolity between the Levant and Near Eastern cores, which require adistinctively local interpretation and terminology. The notion ofsocio-ecological `preadaptation' in a fragmented and diverseenvironment, in which the lack of a unifying ecological feature createdcultural tensions, forces and the aforementioned cycles. Last, theimportance of inter-societal (read rather cross-cultural) contacts incontributing to the centripetal centripetal/cen��trip��e��tal/ (sen-trip��e-t'l)1. afferent (1).2. corticipetal.cen��trip��e��taladj.1. Moving or directed toward a center or axis. and centrifugal forces acting uponLevantine society. The chapter concludes with an initial considerationof these themes in a description of Chalcolithic society and culture.Its decline is treated as combination of climatic change,socio-political attenuation Loss of signal power in a transmission. AttenuationThe reduction in level of a transmitted quantity as a function of a parameter, usually distance. It is applied mainly to acoustic or electromagnetic waves and is expressed as the ratio of power densities. and, admittedly speculative, a risingcommercialism with Egypt that undermined the pre-existing social andeconomic order. The last cause will require more investigation. Whetherthe carriers, of Chalcolithic material culture (traders, transhumantpastoralists or refugees?) who resided at Maadi in the Egyptian Deltaaugmented or undermined the authority of Chalco-lithic elites is stillan open question. What is made clear by Joffe is that whether thetransition to the EB I involved a systems collapse, population decreaseor movement, the abandonment of the Negev locale was accompanied by theloss of the very focal symbols that characterize these elites (e.g.mortuary, ritual and elite paraphernalia). Chapter 3 details the rise of social complexity in the EB I period.From the end of the Chalcolithic `collapse' through theestablishment and abandonment of the Egyptian `colonial, apparatus, thegeneral trend is seen as one leading from recovery to consolidation togrowth in site numbers, size and organization, and increasing craftstandardization (and communication between craft centres). Joffe seesthese developments within a backdrop of growing elites who, given thescale of the ecological niches at their command, developed a power basethat was agrarian in orientation (pp. 58-60). Surely elites benefitedfrom the trade in surplus (and the transhipment of `invisible'non-local commodities), particularly with Egypt, which clearly showedinterest in the southern Levant. Typological and material analysisreveals that Egyptians (administrators, potters, masons, flint-knappersand farmers) lived in an entente cordiale Entente Cordiale:see Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. Entente Cordiale(French; “Cordial Understanding”)(April 8, 1904) Anglo-French agreement that settled numerous colonial disputes and ended antagonisms between Britain with the indigenous populationin the southern coastal plain (see summary by Brandl 1992). The degreeto which this presence stimulated or complemented local process willcontinue to be widely discussed in the literature. If local developmentswere at least partly a result of some response to the Egyptian demandfor Canaanite commodities, as Joffe notes (pp. 58-9), it left littlevisible impact on the material culture. The first evidence for any`Egyptianized' culture in the Levant is at Byblos, beginning inEBII EBII Expeditionary Base Information Infrastructure . Is this a reflection of a different pattern of emulation betweenland-based and maritime-based relations, the latter of which tend tohave intensive port site-specific acculturation acculturation,culture changes resulting from contact among various societies over time. Contact may have distinct results, such as the borrowing of certain traits by one culture from another, or the relative fusion of separate cultures. processes? The southernLevant would succumb to this process, albeit in less intensive terms, inthe Middle Bronze Age, when as a region it became involved in a dynamicmaritime trade network (Marcus 1991; Ilan 1994). Even less wellunderstood is whether a role should be ascribed to the southern Levantin the transference of Mesopotamian `Uruk' cultural items to Egypt.Despite the lack of evidence for intervening landfalls, Moorey'sMediterranean maritime model (1987; 1990) seems preferable over thePersian Gulf-Red Sea alternative. Joffe's suggestion (p.55)? thatJawa in the Jordanian Black Desert was an overland nexus in this processseems highly unlikely and unsupported in the southern Levantine record.Jawa is best seen as an Arad-like gateway, on the frontier On the Frontier: A Melodrama in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the third and last play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1938. between the`sown' south Syrian Hauran and the desert (see Braemer 1993). In chapter 4 the southern Levant of the EB II reaches a plateau ofcomplexity: urbanism. Joffe eschews models that import a foreigntaxonomy for what is urban and what isn't, and instead urbanism isseen in terms of a continuum of differential developments, and varyingdegrees of agglomeration ag��glom��er��a��tion?n.1. The act or process of gathering into a mass.2. A confused or jumbled mass: , nucleation nu��cle��a��tionn.1. The beginning of chemical or physical changes at discrete points in a system, such as the formation of crystals in a liquid.2. The formation of cell nuclei. and differential settlement andorganization (p. 65). Whoa! Pardon my lack of sophistication so��phis��ti��cate?v. so��phis��ti��cat��ed, so��phis��ti��cat��ing, so��phis��ti��catesv.tr.1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly.2. , butisn't this just a more cumbersome way of referring to settlementpattern, site size, density and social stratification as reflectedmaterially in the magnitudes of architecture from the private to theelite and public (including fortifications)? Aren't these allChildean derived parameters that were first applied to the EBA byKempinski (1978)? On one level, maybe. On another level, the elasticity- to use his own words - of Joffe's approach avoids thepigeon-holing that so often is the rule in studies of this type,creating a potential mabrix for comparison with earlier periods andallowing for a variety of adaptations to different phyto-geographicalzones. A graph or diagram depicting this continuum, with examples, wouldhave strengthened the point that a social threshold had been reached. Inlight of the issues raised and the conceptual framework employed, itwould have been illuminating to see Joffe's consideration of anotion posed by Kempinski (1989: 165) regarding the Chalcolithicculture; namely, with all of its,social complexity,, why didn't itreach the urban threshold? Other points to note@ in his extensive discussion of the EBA socialframework joffe,s assertion (p. 71) that fortifications werebuilt,because they could be built' is an important one andunderscores the economic basis of public works even at this scale. Thesocial role of fortifications as monumental architecture is well-taken,but seeing their intent as mere `codpieces' (p. 70) may be a bittoo much conceptual neutering. If there was no military value to themassive constructions, why their variety, emulation and innovation?Posturing or propaganda -an over-used buzz-word Joffe avoids - does notnecessarily require such complex construction. Also, what should onemake of Old Kingdom Egyptian depictions of a besieged Asiatic stronghold(cf. Wright 1988: 155)? A propagandistic collusion between Egyptian tombartists and Canaanite civil engineers, now revived by 20-Moth-centuryscholars? A study that considers process and development over diverseregions should make better use of radiocarbon determinations (pp. 41,67-8). Simply quoting the 1[sigma] (standard deviation) calendricalranges does not show a full appreciation of the probabilistic nature ofthe calibrated result. A series of tables listing the raw data forindividual sites, material (short-lived, long-lived, etc.), 1[sigma] and2[sigma] calibrated ranges and graphical representation of theprobability determination would have provided a better indication ofchronological trends, overlaps and differences. As Joffe (with Dessel(1995)) has begun more sophisticated treatment of radio chronology, Ican only assume an EBA undertaking will be in the offing coming; arriving in the foreseeable future.visible but not nearby.See also: Offing Offing . Apart from afew references, joffe does not make extensive use of Naomi Porat's(1989) seminal dissertation on EB ceramic composition. Lastly, given thelarge format allowed by the publisher for fold-out maps, the result isdisappointing. The EBA settlement of the southern Levant is reduced to apattern of equal-sized dots on a field of 300-m and higher contours. Fewrivers, no landforms, no physiography of any substance and, worst ofall, no identification of the dots. Several years ago, Joffe (1991) published a stimulating study,which was the basis for approximately two of the chapters offered here.His approach was refreshing, well-written and had the kernels of somevery promising lines of enquiry. With this harbinger of future advancesalready in hand, it was thus with great anticipation that this reviewerlooked forward to the arrival of his first monograph on the subject.Unfortunately, its arrival may have been a bit premature, as many of thereally good ideas were already dealt with in the JMA jma Jour Mois Ann��e (French: day month year)JMA Japan Management AssociationJMA Japan Medical AssociationJMA Japanese Meteorological AgencyJMA Jamaica Manufacturers' AssociationJMA Joint Marketing Agreement article. It wouldhave been interesting to see some of Joffe,s ideas in a more developedand elaborated form and to see his unique approach incorporatingevidence and syntheses recently collected and edited by Van Den Brink(1992). Finally, far be it from this reviewer to fault the author for theindiscretions of the graphic artist who designed the dust jacket, butthe juxtaposition of the jar-laden donkey figurine from Azor and thecaravan of Asiatics from Beni Hassan, attractive as they may be, shouldhave been accompanied by a coveatlest the latter be construed as bothtemporally and socio-culturally misleading. Unless an ultra-lowchronology is espoused for the end of the EBA (EBA III to IV) - atime-frame and subject not broached by this work - the caravan scenefrom the Middle Kingdom private tomb of Khnumhotep can hardly be called`end of the Early Bronze Age' (see inside of dust-jacket). If avisual idiom of Canaanite society and population, albeit anEgypto-centric one, is needed, equally attractive and illustrativecontemporary scenes depict the Canaanites in a relatively sedentarymanner - as combatants scurrying scur��ry?intr.v. scur��ried, scur��ry��ing, scur��ries1. To go with light running steps; scamper.2. To flurry or swirl about.n. pl. scur��ries1. The act of scurrying. about in siege scenes! ReferencesBraemer, F. 1993. Prospections archeologiques dans le Hawran (Syriel)III, Syria 70;117-70. Brandl, B. 1992. Evidence for Egyptiancolonization in the southern coastal plain and lowlands of Canaan duringthe EB I period, in Van Den Brink (ed.): 441-77. Ilan, D. 1994. The dawnof internationalism - the Middle Bronze Age, in T.E. Levy (ed.), Thearchaeology of society in the Holy Land: 297-319. Leicester: LeicesterUniversity Press. Joffe, A.H. 1991. Early Bronze I and the evolution ofsocial complexity in the southern Levant, Journal of MediterraneanArchaeology 4(1):3-58. Joffe, A.H. & J.P. Dessel. 1995. Redefiningchronology and terminology for the Chalcolithic of the southem Levant,Current Anthropology 36(3):507-18. Kempinski A. 1978. The rise of anurban culture: the urbanization of Palestine in the Early Bronze Age3000-2150 BC. Jerusalem: Ethnographic Society. Publication 4.) 1989.Urbanization and metallurgy in southern Canaan, in P. de Miroschedji(ed.), L'urbanisation de la Palestine a l'age du Bronzeancien: bilan at perspectives des recherches actuelles. Actes ducolloque d'Emmaus (20-24 October 1986)1:163-8. Oxford:: BritishArchaeological Reports. International series 527. Marcus, E.S. 1991. TelNami: a study of a Middle Bronze IIA period coastal settlement. Masters,thesis, University of Haifa About 16,500 undergraduate and graduate students study in the university a wide variety of topics, specializing in social sciences, humanities, law and education. The University is broadly divided into six Faculties: Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, Science and Science Education, Social . Moorey, P.R.S. 1990. From gulf to delta inthe 4th millennium BC: the Syrian connection, Eretz Israel 21 (AmiranVolume): 62-9. 1987. On tracking cultural transfers in prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to : thecase of Egypt and Lower Mesopotamia in 4th millennium BC, in M.Rowlands, M. Larsen & K. Kristiansen (ed.), Centre and periphery inthe ancient world: 36-46. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). . Porat,N. 1989. Composition of pottery - application to the study of theinterrelations between Canaan and Egypt during the 3rd millennium BC.Ph.D thesis, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Van Den Brink, E.C.M. (ed.)1992. The Nile delta in transition: 4th-3rd millennium BC. Proceedingsof the seminar held in Cairo, 21-24 October, 1990, at the NetherlandsInstitute of Archaeology The Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom. The Institute is located in a separate building at the north end of Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. and Arabic Studies. Tel Aviv: Brink. Wright, M.1988. Contacts between Egypt and Syro-Palestine during the Old Kingdom,Biblical Archaeologist 51(3):143-61.