Society and Polity at Bronze Age Pella: An Annales Perspective.

Society and Polity at Bronze Age Pella: An Annales Perspective. Traditional archaeological writing on the Syro-Palestinian Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the (SPBA SPBA Sandy Plains Baseball Association (Marietta, GA)SPBA Swiss Private Bankers AssociationSPBA Society of Professional Benefit AdministratorsSPBA Singapore Promising Brand AwardSPBA Scottish Pipe Band Association ) has used documentary sources to construct a framework ofhistorical narrative into which archaeological data are fitted. Suchstructures, however, can inhibit the development of alternative lines ofenquiry. This volume, which unites previously scattered articles, aimsto take a new approach.Modern 'annales' scholarship encompasses an eclectic rangeof methods and orientations. Knapp reviews some of these, and identifiesvarious ways in which the different approaches may be applicable to theSPBA. The idea of blending the methods of history with those of thesocial sciences, and of employing data drawn from diverse sources, hasobvious relevance to work in protohistoric contexts. An interest inmaterial culture, and in the delineation and interpretation of patternand change, using quantitative techniques, would seem well suited toarchaeological data. On another tack, the realization that differentsystems -- demographic, political, economic -- have distinct temporalrhythms is consistent with the differential rates of change detectablewithin separate fields of material culture.Specific archaeological applications must be selective however, andemploy those approaches best suited to that particular problem. As Knappseeks to develop a dialogue between cyclical archaeological data and themore episodic documentary evidence A type of written proof that is offered at a trial to establish the existence or nonexistence of a fact that is in dispute.Letters, contracts, deeds, licenses, certificates, tickets, or other writings are documentary evidence. , he adopts Le Roy Ladurie'snotion of 'structure-event-structure'. This explores the wayin which pattern-breaking 'matrix-events' may reinforce orundermine existing structures, leading eventually to the production ofnew and different forms.Eschewing the use of linear time, Knapp defines, then compares, twodistinct temporal units with contrasting political structures, the'Canaanite' polities of the MFA, and LBA (Logical Block Addressing) A method used to address hard disks by a single sector number rather than by cylinder, head and sector (CHS). LBA was introduced to support ATA/IDE drives as they reached 504MB, and Enhanced BIOSs in the PC translated CHS addressing into LBA Canaan under Egyptiandomination. The matrix-event is taken to be the expulsion of the Hyksosfrom Egypt at the beginning of the LBA, a political episode which mayhave precipitated significant socio-economic transformations.In his analysis of documentary sources, Knapp seeks not to recounthistorical events, but to examine patterns of behaviour, economy andideology in the North Jordan Valley Jordan Valley may refer to: Jordan Valley in the Middle East. Jordan Valley in New Kowloon, Hong Kong, near Ngau Tau Kok. Jordan Valley, Oregon in the United States. . His key theme is the changingnature through time of relationships with Egypt. Following the collapseof the Hyksos presence in the Nile Delta Coordinates: The Nile Delta (Arabic:دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads , destructive military campaignsby early 18th-Dynasty rulers were followed by a relationship based ontribute-taking and exploitation of Palestine by Egypt. The latest phaseof New Kingdom documentary evidence hints at more frequent militarycampaigns in the area, suggesting greater unrest. Taken with theevidence for a direct Egyptian presence in 13th-century BC Palestine,this may indicate a greater need for Egyptian coercive power, suggestingthat local rulers were unable to maintain stability. This may haveresulted, in part, from the activities of mobile elements within thepopulation such as the Shasu.It is these general phases which Knapp seeks to relate to patternsdetectable through archaeology, not an easy task. His archaeologicaldatabase is the Middle and Late Bronze Age sequence at the large tellsite of Tabaqat Fahl (Pella). Knapp's work is based on evidenceexcavated up to 1988: there have been six subsequent seasons, renderingthe data incomplete. Furthermore, we might ask whether a dialoguebetween archaeological and historical sources can realistically be basedon a single site, unless that site has produced a substantial body ofboth? A regional study might have been better, all the more so as theneighbouring site of Beth Shan was an important Egyptian centre. AtPella itself, treatment of the various periods is unbalanced. The MBIIC-LBI remains are accorded seven pages of discussion, while those ofthe LB II period are dealt with in a single paragraph. This is despitethe importance of the claimed 'decrease in occupation and moreparochial material culture' of LB II to Knapp's overallargument.The scant consideration of regional settlement data must hinder anyattempt to understand demographic patterns and local economicstructures, widely seen as central to 'annales' methodology.Seasonal exploitation has long been characteristic of the Jordan Valley,while mobile groups feature in the documentary evidence. In Knapp'sreconstruction these groups feature only as 'disruptiveinfluences'. There is no real attempt to understand their rolewithin regional socio-economic structures.There is a mismatch between Knapp's historical time-slicebeginning c. 2000/1900 BC and his archaeological analysis which beginswith the end of the MBA, in the 16th century BC. This may simply reflectthe limitations of the available data from Pella, but presents problemsin terms of the research design. In fact, it is now clear that cycles ofcomplexity and collapse are a recurring theme of the archaeology of thesouthern Levant Levant(ləvănt`)[Ital.,=east], collective name for the countries of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean from Egypt to, and including, Turkey. , and can be traced as far back as the Pre-PotteryNeolithic B period.The heart of the archaeological investigation is an attempt todetermine patterns of ceramic production and exchange throughout theperiod of interest. Samples from clay sources local to Pella, andceramics from Pella and nearby Tell el-Hayyat, were analysed chemically.It proved possible to distinguish between plain and fine wares, and tosuggest that the former were manufactured from clays local to Pella.Fine wares from both sites were chemically similar, but differentfrom the plain wares. Knapp argues that the locus of fine wareproduction was Hayyat itself. However, there was no evidence for LBAoccupation at Hayyat, nor were its local clays included in theanalytical programme. Knapp offers no proof that fine wares wereproduced at either Pella or Hayyat, and the analytical data couldindicate importation from a third location, which would rendermisleading Knapp's free use of the term 'ceramicproduction' in subsequent discussion. This becomes crucial whenKnapp relates the (relatively small) temporal shifts detected in theproportions of fine and plain wares at Pella, to generalizedsocio-economic change. It is here that Knapp's stress on ceramics,at the expense of other likely material correlates of'prosperity', is most disturbing.As a technique, Knapp's recourse to chemical characterizationhas much to recommend it, and the evidence is well presented. However, Iwas unhappy about the way in which inferences were made from the ceramicdata, in particular the lumping together for statistical purposes ofmaterial from both settlement and cemetery contexts. Rich graves arelikely to produce substantially more fine wares than settlementcontexts, but no breakdown is provided of the context of the fine waresattributed to each chronological phase. In this respect, we should notethat while figure 16A (MB IIC-LB I) treats 'Imports/Other' asa single category, figures 16B and 16C (LB I-II and LB II respectively)have separate categories for 'Imports' and 'Other'.The reason for this goes unexplained.Knapp's study is valuable in several respects. It drawsattention to a range of potentially useful approaches, as yet littleexplored in Levantine Le��vant?1?The countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt.Le archaeology, while the analytical work andquantification are steps in the right direction. The weaknesses lie inthe inferential in��fer��en��tial?adj.1. Of, relating to, or involving inference.2. Derived or capable of being derived by inference.in problems discussed above, and misunderstandings of basicevidence. Examples of the latter include the claimed 'EBA centresat Ma'an and 'Aqaba' -- little sedentary EBA EBA Eisenbahn-Bundesamt (German)EBA Euro Banking AssociationEBA Emergency Brake AssistanceEBA Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (Australia)EBA Elite Beat Agents (video game)occupationhas been reported from anywhere in southern Jordan. these sitesincluded; and the claim that 'the North Jordan Valley is indistinct in��dis��tinct?adj.1. Not clearly or sharply delineated: an indistinct pattern; indistinct shapes in the gloom.2. Faint; dim: indistinct stars.3. environmentally from the Jezreel Valley to the west' -- in factthey belong to two quite different phyto-geographical zones.GRAHAM PHILIP Department of Archaeology, University of Durham (body, education) University of Durham - A busy research and teaching community in the historic cathedral city of Durham, UK (population 61000). Its work covers key branches of science and technology and traditional areas of scholarship.