New Ams Chronology for the Early Bronze Iii/Iv Transition at Khirbat Iskandar, Jordan

Abstract

We present the first Bayesian 14C modeling based on AMS ages from stratified sediments representing continuous occupation across the Early Bronze III/IV interface in the Southern Levant. This new high-precision modeling incorporates 12 calibrated AMS ages from Khirbat Iskandar Area C using OxCal 4.4.4 and the IntCal 20 calibration curve to specify the EB III/IV transition at or slightly before 2500 cal BCE. Our results contribute to the continuing emergence of a high chronology for the Levantine Early Bronze Age, which shifts the end of EB III 200–300 years earlier than the traditional time frame and increases the length of EB IV to about 500 years. Data from Khirbat Iskandar also help direct greater attention to the importance of sedentary communities through EB IV, in contrast to the traditional emphasis on non-sedentary pastoral encampments and cemeteries. Modeling of AMS data from Khirbat Iskandar bolsters the ongoing revision of Early Bronze Age Levantine chronology and its growing interpretive independence from Egyptian history and contributes particularly to re-examination of the EB III/IV nexus in the Southern Levant.

Bayesian Modeling of a Peripheral Middle Bronze Age Settlement at Zahrat Adh-Dhra‘ 1, Jordan

“…Most notably, the Early Bronze IV Period offers evidence of seasonal encampments, upland cemeteries and small villages that figure prominently in long-standing characterization of Early Bronze IV society in terms of urban abandonment (e.g., Dever 1980, 1995; Prag 2014). Nevertheless, only a handful of Early Bronze IV marginal settlements (e.g., Be’er Resisim, Ein-Ziq, Nahal Refaim, Ha-Gamal) provide a modest corpus of largely charcoal radiocarbon ages that has been used to initiate a discussion of a general chronology for the period (e.g., Regev et al 2012; Fall et al 2022), but which is insufficient for formal modeling of occupation at any given site. During the Middle Bronze Age resurgence of fortified towns, marginal populations remained important social and economic elements of Levantine society (e.g., Cohen 2002).…”

“…The growing evidence for a high Southern Levantine Bronze Age radiocarbon chronology features a lengthened Early Bronze IV beginning by 2500 cal BCE and continuing after its traditional end about 2000 cal BCE (Fall et al 2021(Fall et al , 2022…”

“…Over the last two decades, Southern Levantine Bronze Age chronology has experienced significant revision with the emergence of a radiocarbon-based “High Chronology” (e.g., Regev et al 2012; Höflmayer and Manning 2022; Fall et al 2022), which features repositioned subdivisions for the Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Ages, and offers the opportunity to build regional chronologies and societal interpretations independent of assumed interregional historical correlations (Table 1). Until recently, both the timing and explanation of Southern Levantine Bronze Age urban dynamics have been derived from the “export” of Egyptian dynastic chronology (Bietak 2013:81), especially as derived from Tell el-Dab‘a (Bietak and Höflmayer 2007; Höflmayer and Manning 2022).…”

“…An ever-growing body of radiocarbon analysis (e.g., Regev et al 2012Regev et al , 2019Höflmayer 2021;Höflmayer et al 2014Höflmayer et al , 2016aHöflmayer et al , 2016b has transformed Southern Levantine Bronze Age chronology by disarticulating it from Egyptian dynastic history. Among its most significant changes, the recession of town life in Early Bronze IV now stretches over a half-millennium or more (Höflmayer et al 2014;Regev et al 2012;Lev et al 2021;Fall et al 2021Fall et al , 2022, rivaling the lengths of the urbanized Early Bronze II/III and Middle Bronze eras, and thereby drawing attention to the chronometric investigation of non-urban settlements in the ancient Southern Levant. Likewise, these studies show that the constituent subperiods of the Middle Bronze Age no longer coincide with the convenient dynastic alignments of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.…”

“…The growing evidence for a high Southern Levantine Bronze Age radiocarbon chronology features a lengthened Early Bronze IV beginning by 2500 cal BCE and continuing after its traditional end about 2000 cal BCE (Fall et al 2021(Fall et al , 2022. Likewise, growing radiocarbon evidence questions the assumed correlation between the beginning of the subsequent Levantine Middle Bronze Age and the accession of the Egyptian 12th Dynasty ca.…”