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Sometimes Defence is Just an Excuse: Fortification Walls of the Southern Levantine Early Bronze Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2019

Hai Ashkenazi Open the ORCID record for Hai Ashkenazi [Opens in a new window]
Hai Ashkenazi*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Rosenberg 116, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel & Laboratory for Ground Stone Tools Research, University of Haifa, 199 Aba-Hushi Avenue, Haifa, 3498838, Israel Email: haiashke@gmail.com
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Abstract

The Early Bronze Age (EBA) of the southern Levant was the first period in which many sites became fortified. This process reached its climax during the latter part of the period (namely Early Bronze III). Until recently, most scholars saw this phenomenon as an indication that the period was characterized by a high level of organized conflict. The following article analyses the fortifications of eight EBA sites, as well as other markers of warfare, and argues that the period's fortifications were not as tactically efficient as they seem. Furthermore, other markers of war are generally missing. It seems that the period's fortifications were built mainly to demonstrate a town's might and power while deterring potential attackers. Taking into account the rise of social complexity during the period, they were also used to consolidate the society through the construction process and possibly to control movement and serve as a boundary marker. Incipient leaders, who planned and coordinated the construction, used possible threats and the construction process to aggrandize themselves as being the ‘protectors’ of the settlement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 45 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2019

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