Political Change and Material Culture in Middle to Late Bronze Age Canaan

Shlomit Bechar is Senior Lecturer at the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures. She is Codirector of the Tel Hazor excavations and is a coauthor of Hazor VII and Hazor VIII.

List of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 General Introduction 1.2 Research Questions and Aims of Study 1.3 Geographical Framework 1.4 Chronological Framework 1.5 Historical Background: The Sixteenth-Fourteenth Centuries BCE in the Ancient Near East 1.6 State of Research 1.7 Economic Models and Pottery Production: Theoretical Framework 1.8 Economic Model for the Southern Levant 1.9 Methodology 1.10 Research Outline Chapter 2. The Transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age: Architectural Aspects at Hazor 2.1 Background 2.2 The Architectural Evidence 2.3 The Built Environment of the Lower City 2.4 Crisis Architecture 2.5 Historical Implications 2.6 Conclusions Chapter 3. The Middle Bronze Age-Late Bronze Age Transition in the Levant: Architectural Aspects 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Southern Levant 3.3 Northern Levant: Lebanon 3.4 Northern Levant: Syria 3.5 Summary and Conclusions Chapter 4. Pottery Assemblages from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages 4.1 Methodology 4.2 Typological Scheme 4.3 Discussion by Site 4.4 Discussion and Summary Chapter 5. Discussion and Conclusions 5.1 Introduction and Summary of Previous Chapters 5.2 Historical Implications 5.3 Changes in Ceramic Traditions and Consumption 5.4 Final Conclusions-From a Superpower in the MBA to a Great Vassal in the LBA Bibliography Index

"Bechar has undertaken an in-depth study of the ceramics at Hazor and put its assemblage in dialogue with those of surrounding settlements, which will be extremely useful for archaeologists working in the region. This study allows her to make important conclusions-such as the fact that pottery shapes at Tel Arqa in the LB II become less similar to those in the Southern Levant and more similar to those of the Northern Levant. In border zones where allegiances fluctuate, this kind of ceramic shift may represent one of the few available ways to understand political shifts at the time." -Ellen Morris,author of Ancient Egyptian Imperialism "This is a well-researched study that fills several knowledge gaps about the economy and livelihood of the Canaanite peoples during the upheavals of LBI and LBII." -Mark A. Awabdy Society for Old Testament Study Booklist (JSOT)