INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
The Cities of the Dead Sea Plain



Gary A. Byers (Baltimore, Maryland USA), Trinity Southwest University
Tall al-Hammam in the Early Bronze IV (Intermediate Bronze Age)

This paper will address the Intermediate Bronze Age (EB IV) domestic structures and features as well as minor adjustment to the EB III gateway in Area L, Field A (= Field LA; lower city). Excavation began in Field LA during Season Four (2009) and continued systematically thru the end of Season Ten (2015). Interpretation is based on the overall architectural layout of the houses in this sector of the tall, with evidence of phase separations, coordinated with associated ceramics. The presentation also includes the most recent architectural drawings and photographs exhibiting the continuity of wall placements and a ‘ring-road’ carrying over from Early Bronze Age III. The configuration of this domestic area provides insights into IBA settlement planning and its relationship to the previous EB III phase(s) during a presupposed ‘Dark Age’ in the Levant.


Steven Collins (Albuquerque, New Mexico USA), Trinity Southwest University
Tall al-Hammam’s Population and Demography

This paper will address population dynamics at Tall al-Hammam from the Chalcolithic Period through the Middle Bronze Age, and highlight possible migrational episodes. Beginning with the demise of nearby Tuleilat Ghassul toward the end of the 4th millennium BCE and climaxing with the city-state at Hammam in the Early Bronze and Middle Bronze Age, a number of factors contributed to the city’s success and demographic variations over time. Interpretations are based on historical climatic changes, Dead Sea fluctuations, a resistant ceramic status quo with intrusional new forms, and data from the Hammam Megalithic Field.


Steven Collins (Albuquerque, New Mexico USA), Trinity Southwest University
Tall al-Hammam’s Economy and Social Organization

This paper will address economic components at Tall al-Hammam during the Bronze Age, with insights on agricultural commodities and the integration of pastoral production as reflected in outdoor cooking facilities, storage silos, and an aggressive textile industry. The paper will also examine the economic base and social organization required to sustain massive fortification projects, monumental public architecture,and socio-religious hierarchies reflected in architecture and ceramics.


Steven Collins (Albuquerque, New Mexico USA), Trinity Southwest University
Tall al-Hammam’s Trade and Connectivity

This paper will address the importance of the exchange of goods and services at Tall al-Hammam during the Bronze Age, not only in terms of sustainability, but also for survival. Connectivity was key not only with its own satellite towns and villages, but alsofor an awareness of cross-cultural boundaries and societal evolution in both Egypt and Mesopotamia. With trade came advancements in technology, products, and innovative ceramic styles suited to changing environments and social evolution.


Marta D’Andrea, Sapienza University of Rome
The Early Bronze III–IV Transition and the Periodization of EarlyBronze IV in the Southern Levant: Bridging the Gap between Stratigraphy and Absolute Chronology

The non-urban Early Bronze IV - squeezed between two urban phases in Early Bronze II-III and the Middle Bronze Age - may play a fundamental role in the understanding of cycles of formation, collapse and regeneration of urban societies in the Southern Levant during the 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC. However, issues in archaeological periodization and regional synchronization still hinder the understanding of the mechanisms lying behind socio-cultural and socio-economic changes from one phase to the next. Within traditional conventional chronology, Early Bronze IV is dated to ca. 2300/2250-2000 BC, but new radiometric chronologies placing the period at ca. 2500-1950/1920 BC compel us to reconsider past views of Early Bronze IV as a mere phase of collapse and re-investigate the region’s trajectory during this time span and the transition from one phase to the next.
Long stratigraphic sequences available at certain sites may provide some hints for the reconstruction of a regional trajectory of crisis, recovery and growth during this period, but a refinement of phasing is still awaited in order to achieve a solid regional archaeological periodization. The paper takes the view from Jordan to reconsider sites’ phases and assemblages in order to investigate whether the data available are consistent with a higher date for the Early Bronze III/IV transition and might bridge a six-century duration for Early Bronze IV and how this can contribute to the understanding of regional developments during this period.


Chiara Fiaccavento, Sapienza University of Rome
Tell es-Sultan’s Trade and Connectivity

Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho is amongst the earliest cities arisen in Southern Levant at the end of 4th/beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Starting from a village dimension in the Early Bronze I, Jericho develops a central role in the region with the emergence of a structured elite power during the Early Bronze II-III, testified both by the erection of massive city-walls surrounding the tell, and by the presence of a centralized institution towering the newborn city, Palace G. Inside it, the evidence of cultural interconnections with Egypt, as well as the presence of counting systems and the gathering of prestige goods, attest the significance of commerce in the rise and establishment of Early Bronze Age urban societies.


Elisabetta Gallo, Sapienza University of Rome
Tell es-Sultan’s Population and Demography

Tell es-Sultan, ancient Jericho, is the site with the deepest and largest stratigraphy for the pre-classical ages in the Jericho Oasis, and the key site during the Early Bronze Age. The purpose of this study is to establish a population estimate for the settlement of Tell es-Sultan, which grew up as a large village during the Early Bronze I until a fortified city was established at the beginning of the Early Bronze II-III, gathering within the population of the Oasis. The archaeological contexts of the domestic quarter excavated by all four expedition in the northern plateau of the tell (Area F) provide a useful set of data in light of such a demographic analysis, allowing to drawn out a preliminary picture of the population and demography of Jericho during the Early Bronze Age. Once again, Jericho stands up as an exemplary case for the analysis of the many aspects which characterized the urbanization process at the beginning of the Third millennium BC.


Carroll M. Kobs (Fort Worth, Texas USA), Trinity Southwest University
Tall al-Hammam in the Early Bronze Age II-III

This paper will address the Early Bronze Age II-III as the beginning of urbanization at Tall al-Hammam, Jordan. Focus will be on the fortifications and domestic structures and features in Area L, Field A (= Field LA; lower city). Excavation began in Field LA during Season Four (2009) and continued systematically thru the end of Season Ten (2015). Interpretation is based on city wall and gateway phases, as well as the architectural layout of the houses in this sector of the tall, with evidence of phase separations, and associated ceramics. The presentation also includes the most recent architectural drawings and photographs exhibiting the continuity of fortification walls, domestic wall placements, and a ‘ring-road’ carrying over into the Intermediate Bronze Age (EB IV). The configuration of these structures provides insight into EBA urban settlement planning and its relationship to the subsequent IBA phase(s).


Daria Montanari, Sapienza University of Rome
Tell es-Sultan in the Early Bronze Age IV

The case of Jericho offers a precious opportunity to observe the first non-urban interval both on the site and in the nearby necropolis. Remains of Early Bronze IV occupation on the tell were recorded by the four expeditions that worked on the site across more than one century. Moreover, almost 400 Early Bronze IV tombs were identified by Kathleen Kenyon in the large necropolis of Jericho, and systematically excavated in 1952-1958. A comparison of site and necropolis can be helpful in the investigation of social interactions and differentiations, suggested by the appearance of new weapons and their role in representation of power and wealth, in the setting of a non-urban phase, during the Early Bronze IV.


Andrea Polcaro, University of Perugia
The Jordan Valley and its Eastern Tributaries at the Beginning of the Bronze Age: dolmen fields and settlements in the IV millennium BCE

In Southern Levant few excavated settlements dated to the Early Bronze Age I are known, in front of a wide range of different attested necropolis, in particular along the Jordan Valley and its Eastern Tributaries. Between the above ground tombs erected in this period, the ones that changed forever the Transjordan Highlands are the dolmens, megalithic structures located along the river valleys crossing this region. These tombs, with their huge funerary chambers delimited by large slabs of local stone, were built in groups of hundreds, modifying the landscape and changing its human perception. So far, the lack of attested permanent settlements connected to these extended dolmen fields, let the scholars think that they mostly pertained to pastoral semi-nomadic communities. However, the progress of the research had produced evidences of villages, agricultural installations and working structures close to several dolmen necropolis. The aim of this paper is to analyze the funerary and settlement data, in order to outline a more clear picture of the people living in Jordan during the second half of the IV millennium BC.


Gaia Ripepi, Sapienza University of Rome
Tell es-Sultan’s Economy and Social Organization

Tell es-Sultan/Jericho represents a perfect case of study for the Early Bronze Age urbanization in Southern Levant, offering a promising set of data on this crucial phenomenon in the history of Palestine. The Early Bronze Age fortifications, attested from Early Bronze II to Early Bronze III, provide information regarding the existence of a central authority that organized the work, in terms of the method of construction , labor costs and organization.The study of mud bricks used in the wall construction provides more specific information, meaning that mud bricks represent a social and economic marker.