University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
7-2000
Publication Source
American Journal of Archaeology
Volume
104
Issue
3
Start Page
419
Last Page
462
DOI
10.2307/507225
Abstract
The 1996 and 1997 seasons of the Hopkins-Amsterdam project in the Jabbul plain, western Syria, have generated new results on Bronze Age urbanism at Tell Umm el- Marra and elucidated longer-term settlement patterns in the Jabbul region. Excavation results have documented the foundation of Umm el-Marra as a regional center in the Early Bronze Age, provided new data on a period of decentralization in Middle Bronze I, and supplied evidence of the regeneration of urbanism in MB II. Faunal and archaeobotanical analysis broaden our understanding of these developments, attesting to an economy overwhelmingly dependent on the steppe environment, with an emphasis on large-scale onager hunting in MB II. Finally, a regional survey provides data on long-term demographic and socioeconomic trends, furnishing an expansive time range and spatial context for our under- standing of developmental patterns in the region. The survey results supply new information on the limits of the Uruk expansion, cycles of Bronze Age urbanization, changing patterns of steppe exploitation, and demo- graphic and agricultural extensification in the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.
Copyright/Permission Statement
© 2000 Archaeological Institute of America. The version of record is available at JSTOR via http://www.jstor.org/stable/507225
Recommended Citation
Schwartz, G. M., Curvers, H. H., Gerritsen, F. A., Maccormack, J. A., Miller, N. F., & Weber, J. (2000). Excavation and Survey in the Jabbul Plain, Western Syria: The Umm el-Marra Project 1996-1997. American Journal of Archaeology, 104 (3), 419-462. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/507225
Date Posted: 10 November 2016
This document has been peer reviewed.