Western Syria and the Early/Middle Bronze Age Transition

THE LATE THIRD MILLENNIUM IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST iii THE LATE THIRD MILLENNIUM IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST CHRONOLOGY, C14, AND CLIMATE CHANGE edited by Felix Höflmayer with contributions by Matthew J. Adams, Aaron A. Burke, Michael W. Dee, Aron Dornauer, Donald Easton, Hermann Genz, Raphael Greenberg, Roman Gundacker, Felix Höflmayer, Sturt W. Manning, Peter Pfälzner, Simone Riehl, J. David Schloen, Thomas Schneider, Glenn M. Schwartz, Harvey Weiss, and Bernhard Weninger Papers from the Oriental Institute Seminar The Early/Middle Bronze Age Transition in the Ancient Near East: Chronology, C14, and Climate Change Held at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 7–8 March 2014 THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINARS • NUMBER 11 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Library of Congress Control Number: 2017930883 ISBN-13: 9781614910367 ISSN: 1559-2944 © 2017 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 2017. Printed in the United States of America. The Oriental Institute, Chicago THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINARS • NUMBER 11 Series Editors Leslie Schramer and Thomas G. Urban with the assistance of Rebecca Cain and Alexandra Cornacchia Publication of this volume was made possible through generous funding from the Arthur and Lee Herbst Research and Education Fund Cover Illustration Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) at the University of Vienna Printed by King Printing Co., Inc., Lowell, Massachusetts USA The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Services — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. ∞ v Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Seminar Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x INTRODUCTION 1. The Late Third Millennium B.C. in the Ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean: A Time of Collapse and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Felix Höflmayer, Austrian Academy of Sciences 1 PART I: LEVANT 2. 3. 4. 5. No Collapse: Transmutations of Early Bronze Age Urbanism in the Southern Levant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Raphael Greenberg, Tel Aviv University 31 Economic and Political Implications of Raising the Date for the Disappearance of Walled Towns in the Early Bronze Age Southern Levant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. David Schloen, University of Chicago 59 The Transition from the Third to the Second Millennium B.C. in the Coastal Plain of Lebanon: Continuity or Break? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hermann Genz, American University of Beirut 73 Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Glenn M. Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University 87 PART II: MESOPOTAMIA 6. “Seventeen Kings Who Lived in Tents”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harvey Weiss, Yale University 7. Ḫabur Ware and Social Continuity: The Chronology of the Early to Middle Bronze Age Transition in the Syrian Jezireh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Pfälzner, University of Tübingen 8. Bioclimatic and Agroecological Properties of Crop Taxa: A Survey of the Cuneiform Evidence Concerning Climatic Change and the Early/Middle Bronze Age Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aron Dornauer, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg 9. 10. 131 163 205 Regional Environments and Human Perception: The Two Most Important Variables in Adaptation to Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Simone Riehl, Senckenberg Nature Research Society 237 Amorites, Climate Change, and the Negotiation of Identity at the End of the Third Millennium B.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aaron A. Burke, University of California, Los Angeles 261 PART III: EGYPT 11. “What Is the Past but a Once Material Existence Now Silenced?”: The First Intermediate Period from an Epistemological Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thomas Schneider, University of British Columbia v 311 Table of Contents vi 12. Absolutely Dating Climatic Evidence and the Decline of Old Kingdom Egypt . . . . . . . . Michael W. Dee, University of Oxford 13. The Significance of Foreign Toponyms and Ethnonyms in Old Kingdom Text Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roman Gundacker, Austrian Academy of Sciences 323 333 PART IV: EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN 14. 15. A Gap in the Early Bronze Age Pottery Sequence at Troy Dating to the Time of the 4.2 ka cal. b.p. Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bernhard Weninger, University of Cologne, and Donald Easton, London Comments on Climate, Intra-regional Variations, Chronology, the 2200 B.C. Horizon of Change in the East Mediterranean Region, and Socio-political Change on Crete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sturt W. Manning, Cornell University 429 451 PART V: RESPONSE 16. Egypt and the Levant in the Early to Middle Bronze Age Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matthew J. Adams, W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research 493 Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 87 5 Western Syria and the Third- to SecondMillennium B.C. Transition Glenn M. Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University* In a recent publication, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi (2014, p. 428) offered the opinion that “western Syria did not suffer greatly from the phenomenon of the collapse of statehood and urban civilization … in the late third and early second millennium bc.” In this paper, I propose to examine this thesis, while at the same time reviewing problems of relative and absolute chronology currently at play in the study of the Early Bronze to Middle Bronze transition Figure 5.1. Western Syria. Dashed lines indicate “Zone of Uncertainty” (Wilkinson et al. 2014). Thick black line represents the “Très Long Mur” (Very Long Wall) * I would like to thank Felix Höflmayer for inviting me to the Oriental Institute Postdoctoral Seminar. Anna Soifer helped prepare the original artwork for this paper, and I am also grateful for Lael Ensor’s assistance. 87 88 Glenn M. Schwartz in western Syria. I focus mainly on the region west of the Euphrates (fig. 5.1), but will also occasionally refer to the middle Euphrates valley. Chronologically and historically, western Syria is important as a linchpin between the historically documented societies in Mesopotamia and those in Anatolia and the southern Levant, while it is also significant as a heartland of urban societies with their own trajectories and character (Matthiae and Marchetti 2013). I have tried to grapple with the subject of urban crisis or collapse in the Early Bronze to Middle Bronze transition in several earlier publications (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, pp. 282–87; Schwartz 2006, 2007, 2012; Schwartz and Miller 2007). In this paper, I aim to synthesize some of my earlier ideas and present new data. Much new data have been collected and discussed by participants in the ARCANE (Associated Regional Chronologies of the Ancient Near East) project, especially the northern Levant group and the middle Euphrates team, and I am grateful for the information derived from them.1 Also important have been the workshops held at Blaubeuren, Germany, organized by Uwe Finkbeiner (2007) that focused on the Early Bronze to Middle Bronze transition in the Syrian middle Euphrates region. Relative Chronology Traditionally, west Syrian archaeologists have used the Bronze Age periodization proposed by Paolo Matthiae and inspired by the Palestinian sequence that William F. Albright and others established (Albright 1965). In this scheme, the Early Bronze Age has four main subdivisions, Early Bronze I–IV (table 5.1). Subdividing further, Matthiae identified Early Bronze IVA as the period of Ebla Palace G and its renowned archives, with Early Bronze IVB the “second Ebla” (Dolce 2009) subsequent to the destruction of Palace G. These two sub-periods are grounded on relatively firm material-culture evidence, with distinctive pottery and other diagnostics tied to stratigraphic contexts (Mazzoni 2002; Matthiae 2013a). Table 5.1. Relative chronology of western Syria in the Early and Middle Bronze periods 1 Traditional Period ARCANE Period Ebla Absolute Dates (very approximate) Middle Bronze II — IIIB 1800–1600 b.c. Middle Bronze I — IIIA 2000–1800 b.c. Early Bronze IVC (?) ENL 6 IIB2 late 2100–2000 b.c. Early Bronze IVB ENL 5 IIB2 2300–2100 b.c. Early Bronze IVA ENL 4 IIB1 2500–2300 b.c. Early Bronze III ENL 3 IIA2 2700–2500 b.c. Early Bronze I/II ENL 1/2 — 3100–2700 b.c. Welton and Cooper 2014; Finkbeiner et al. 2015; www.arcane.uni-tuebingen.de/ (accessed 1/13/2017). Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 89 If these two periods are accepted as Early Bronze IVA and IVB, there must be an Early Bronze I–III to precede them. This poses a problem for west Syrian relative chronology, because Early Bronze I and II are very difficult to recognize and define due to a paucity of evidence.2 Indeed, in the ARCANE system, the phase has been designated Early Northern Levant 1/2 (ENL 1/2). Presumably, Early Bronze I and II should follow the florescence of Uruk-related material culture and other contemporaneous assemblages labeled Late Chalcolithic (Rothman 2001; Schwartz 2001). If we accept a date for the end of the Late Chalcolithic period in western Syria at ca. 3100/3000 b.c. (Cooper 2014, p. 278), then Early Bronze I and II should occupy the very end of the fourth and the first third or so of the third millennium b.c. In western Syria, relevant data primarily derive from Hama K (middle) (Fugmann 1958), Amuq periods G and H (Braidwood and Braidwood 1960), and Tell Afis post-Chalcolithic levels (Mazzoni 2002). Among the more recognizable diagnostics of the period are jars with Late Reserve Slip decoration (Jamieson 2014) and Multiple Brush Painted Ware. In the Middle Euphrates, much more evidence is available, with data originating from excavations at Jerablus Tahtani, Tell Ahmar, Shiyukh Fawqani, Shiyukh Tahtani, and Qara Quzaq in the Tishrin Dam region, and Hajji Ibrahim, Sweyhat, Halawa Tell B, and Habuba Kabira North in the Tabqa Dam region (Cooper 2006, pp. 49–50, table 3.1).3 Presumably, the Early Bronze I/II was an era when village- and town-based societies were developing into larger-scale entities, but we know relatively little about such social changes in western Syria (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, p. 226). In the mid-third millennium b.c., the Early Bronze III (or ENL 3) period is increasingly better known, thanks to recently acquired evidence from sites such as Ebla (Tell Mardikh, period IIA2) (Vacca 2015) and nearby Tell Tuqan (period IC) (Baffi and Peyronel 2013; Vacca 2014), as well as Qatna (phases J44–39), Mastuma (Square 15G, layer h) (Iwasaki et al. 2009), and Umm el-Marra (period VI later) (Schwartz et al. 2006).4 The pottery assemblage (fig. 5.2), which is rarely decorated, includes open forms with thin or thick beaded rims and jars with curving, everted necks. Pattern combed ware is found on the coast (Cooper 2014, p. 283), and Early Transcaucasian Red-Black Burnished Ware is localized in the Orontes valley (Palumbi 2003; Batiuk 2013). In the Euphrates valley and the Jabbul plain to its west, painted and/or spiral burnished thin-walled fine pottery designated Euphrates Banded Ware emerges in this period. 5 Evidence such as the large-scale architecture from Ebla preceding Palace G (e.g., Buildings G2, CC, and G5) (Dolce 2010; Matthiae 2013a; Vacca 2015), and elite tombs 5, 6, and 8 from Umm el-Marra (Schwartz et al. 2006; Schwartz 2013a) suggests that social complexity and elite-dominated hierarchy were developing at this time, and Early Bronze III may well be the take-off point for west Syrian urban society. This is a process sometimes referred to as the “second urban revolution,” alluding both to the temporal priority of urbanization in 2 Mazzoni (2002) proposed a definition for the two sub-periods, but the available evidence is too sparse at present for this definition to be accepted. Matthiae (2013a) correlates Early Bronze I with Amuq G Middle (3100–2900 b.c.) and Early Bronze II with initial Amuq H and Mardikh IIA1 (2900–2750 b.c.), but the criteria for recognizing and distinguishing these subphases are yet to be supplied. 3 See now the ARCANE periodization of Early Middle Euphrates (EME) 1 and 2 (Sconzo 2015). 4 Matthiae (2013a) suggests an Early Bronze IIIA equivalent to Amuq H middle and Mardikh IIA2 (2750–2600 b . c .) and Early Bronze IIIB equivalent to Amuq H final and Mardikh IIA3 (2600–2500 b.c.). Again, details on the criteria distinguishing these subphases are still to be furnished. 5 For the middle Euphrates, see now EME phase 3 (Sconzo 2015). Porter (2007) provides a comprehensive discussion of regional synchronisms and their difficulties. 90 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.2. Early Bronze III ceramics from Umm el-Marra, Acropolis Center. (1) 1280/3902-700, Gray-brown, fine sand, rough surface. (2) 1280/3916-104, Light yellow exterior/interior, core pinkbrown, fine sand, incised notches. (3) 1282/3914-105, Light yellow/brown, no visible inclusions. (4) 1284/3918-100, Dark brown, fine white sand. (5) 1291/3906-128, Light brown-gray, fine sand. (6) 1280/3898-701, Light brown, fine sand, exterior smooth, interior rough. (7) 1280/3890-701, Brown/yellow exterior, core/interior pink/brown, fine sand. (8) 1286/3903-508, Brown, fine sand. (9) 1280/3918-103, Light yellow, medium vegetal inclusions. (10) 1278/3916-100, Red-brown, no visible inclusions. (11) 1291/3906-128, Brown, fine sand. (12) 1284/3918-105, Yellow-brown, fine sand. (13) 1278/3916-101, Light brown/yellow, fine sand. (14) 1282/3916-104, Exterior light yellow (slip), core/interior light brown, fine sand. (15) 1278/3908-708, Light yellow, fine sand, incised notches. (16) 1278/3908-708, Gray/brown, fine and coarse white sand. (17) 1274/3894-700, Dark brown to black, fine white sand (Cooking Ware). (18) 1278/3894-702, Gray-brown, fine white sand (Cooking Ware). (19) 1274/3894-700, Dark brown to black, medium white sand (Cooking Ware) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 91 southern Mesopotamia and to Syria’s early but somewhat aborted phase of urbanization in the fourth millennium b.c. (Mazzoni 1991; Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, pp. 233–87). Particularly well known among the Early Bronze Age periods is Early Bronze IVA (or ENL 4), the era of Ebla Palace G (Mardikh IIB1), constituting the apogee of Syrian Early Bronze Age urban civilization. Other comparable assemblages derive from Tuqan period IIA, Qatna phases J38–28, Qarqur Area A stratum 14, Amuq I, Hama J8-5, Umm el-Marra period V, and Ras Shamra IIIA2–IIIA3. Ceramically, the Early Bronze IVA is associated with the so-called caliciform corrugated goblets (figs. 5.3–5.4) (Welton and Cooper 2014) and other types such as gray spiral-burnished “Syrian bottles” and wavy-line jugs.6 Mazzoni’s proposal (2002) to subdivide the period into Early Bronze IVA1 and Early Bronze IVA2 on the basis of the Ebla results requires further examination and verification from other sites (Vacca 2015). The floruit of Syrian urban civilization in the Early Bronze IVA is effectively illustrated by the textual and material culture results from Palace G at Ebla and from other nucleated sites with evidence of elite institutions.7 Also of note is the great proliferation of new sedentary communities in this period, a development that includes expansion into the drier “steppe fringe” to the east of Ebla, Qatna, and Umm el-Marra (Geyer et al. 2007; Yukich 2013). Particularly striking is the appearance of a set of circular urban type settlements (e.g., al-Rawda, es-Sur, Shaʾirat) in the vicinity of a 220 km long stone wall one meter wide, the so-called Très Long Mur (Geyer et al. 2010). The reasons for this expansion are not yet conclusively demonstrated, but it is likely that urban-based powers in the wetter agricultural heartlands like Ebla chose to exploit the drier zones for such activities as sheep/goat pastoralism, long-distance trade, and agricultural maximization (Castel and Peltenburg 2007; Mazzoni 2013; Wilkinson et al. 2014). The Early Bronze IVB (or ENL 5) corresponds to the period after the destruction of Ebla Palace G and prior to the rebuilding of the city on a grand scale in the Middle Bronze I (Mardikh IIIA). At Ebla (period Mardikh IIB2), layers deposited above the destruction have a new ceramic assemblage whose most conspicuous type consists of painted and incised goblets (see fig. 5.5 for examples from Tell Tuqan). Other Early Bronze IVB characteristics include cooking ware trays with pitted bottoms, Smeared Wash Ware, and wide goblets with collared rims (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, fig. 8.10a; Finkbeiner 2007, fig. 1, type 18). Vertical rim bowls, or bowls with a collared rim, are very common in the Early Bronze IVB as well, although they are introduced in the Early Bronze IVA (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, fig. 8.10e). In addition to Mardikh IIB2, occupations with the Early Bronze IVB ceramic assemblage include Tuqan period IIB, Mastuma IX–VI (Iwasaki et al. 2009), al-Rawda (main occupation period/ville neuve), Qatna J27–19, Amuq J (Welton 2014), Hama J4–1, and Umm el-Marra IV.8 Despite the Ebla Palace G destruction, evidence of urbanism and social complexity are still apparent in western Syria — indeed, Mazzoni (2013, p. 39) designates the Early Bronze IVB as a “flourishing phase in Central and Northern Syria.” In a recent development, some authorities have proposed the detachment of the latter part of the Early Bronze IVB and its identification as a separate period, Early Bronze IVC or 6 Jugs with painted wavy lines undulating down the side of the vessel (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, fig. 8.8i). 7 In the middle Euphrates, this phase is approximately equivalent to the ARCANE period EME 4 (Sconzo 2015). 8 See the EME 5 phase in the middle Euphrates (Sconzo 2015). 92 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.3. Early Bronze IVA ceramics from Ebla, Building P4, room L.6298 (after Marchetti 2013, fig. 7.30) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 93 Figure 5.4. Early Bronze IV corrugated goblets from Umm el-Marra, tomb 1 ENL 6 (Dornemann 2008, fig. 5:18–32, fig. 6, fig. 7:1–11). Among the ceramic diagnostics of this latest Early Bronze Age phase, particularly salient are bowls with vertical grooved rims (fig 4.6: TT.78.A.26/24) (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, fig. 8.8a–b; Finkbeiner 2007, fig. 1, type 19). These are attested, for example, at Ebla, Qarqur, and Tuqan Areas A and G (Baffi and Peyronel 2013). In the middle Euphrates region, of particular interest is the identification of a ceramic period displaying a mixture of Early Bronze Age and Middle Bronze Age traits. This “Transitional” phase is present at Tell Kabir near Tell Banat (fig. 5.7) (Porter 2007), Sweyhat, and Hadidi (Cooper 1998, 2006; Porter 2007).9 An important question is: If these sites demonstrate a gradual shift from Early Bronze to Middle Bronze types, should the same smooth continuity be expected elsewhere? And, if there is no such Transitional phase at a site, does that mean there is an occupational hiatus? At present, the answers to both questions are uncertain. With the advent of the second millennium b.c., we enter the Middle Bronze Age, which demonstrates a significant change in material culture styles, urban organization, and political entities, which are now dominated by Amorite rulers (Jahn 2009; Schwartz 2013b; Burke 2014 and in this volume). In the Middle Bronze Age, we can observe an increased focus on ceramic mass manufacture, with pottery tending to be thicker-walled and coarser than in the Early Bronze Age and with fewer ware categories and less effort devoted to decoration. Typical shapes in the Middle Bronze Age assemblage include shallow carinated bowls with everted rims, goblets with a biconical shape and everted bead rim, and open or closed shapes with flat or ledge rims that have multiple grooves on top. For this period, Matthiae’s recognition of two subdivisions is generally accepted, Middle Bronze I and Middle Bronze II, which correspond to Mardikh IIIA and IIIB (ca. 2000–1800 b.c. and 1800–1600 b.c., respectively). 9 This phase is designated as EME 6 in the new ARCANE periodization (Sconzo 2015). 94 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.5. Early Bronze IVB ceramics from Tell Tuqan, Area P, phase 4 (after Baffi and Peyronel 2013, fig. 9.3) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Figure 5.6. Late Early Bronze IVB (“EB IVC”) ceramics from Tell Tuqan, Area A (after Baffi and Peyronel 2013, fig. 9.13) 95 96 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.7. “Transitional” Early Bronze–Middle Bronze ceramics from Tell Kabir (after Porter 2007, fig. 2) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 97 Absolute Chronology and the Ebla Destruction In order to connect this west Syrian material-culture periodization to an absolute chronology, there are two tools at our disposal: text-based historical linkages and radiometric dating. With respect to historical tie-ins, the Ebla texts and their link to Mesopotamian chronology should be pivotal. However, this link is tenuous; both Sargon and Naram-Sin of Akkad claimed to have subjugated Ebla, so one must determine whether Sargon or Naram-Sin — or some other agent — was responsible for the destruction of Ebla Palace G and its archives. Most scholars favor Sargon or a contemporaneous entity, since the material culture of Ebla, including the paleography of its cuneiform texts, has its closest parallels to Mesopotamian Early Dynastic III (Matthiae 2009, p. 60 n. 52). Instead of Sargon, Archi and Biga (2003) have proposed that Ebla was destroyed by its rival Mari shortly before Sargon’s appearance on the upper Mesopotamian scene. A literary text from Mari recently published by Jean-Marie Durand (2012) is relevant to Sargon’s campaigns in the region and supports the contention that he was the first to subjugate Ebla and Mari. The text states that Idida, servant of Sargon, marched against Mari and Terqa; Idida is likely to be identical to Ididiš, the first ruler of Mari’s šakkanaku dynasty, believed to be installed by the Sargonic occupiers. Later, the text refers to Mari’s allies, the people of the house of the god of Aleppo, understood by Durand to mean the Eblaites. In Durand’s interpretation, first Mari was subjugated by Sargon’s troops, then Ebla was conquered. While Durand’s interpretation of this text, whose context remains to be fully discussed, is by no means conclusive, the document adds intriguing new information. If Sargon or a contemporary was responsible for the destruction of Early Bronze IVA Ebla, we may then consider the absolute date that this would imply. Given the equivocal nature of Mesopotamian chronology, there are several candidates for the dates of Sargon’s reign, depending on whether one prefers the High, Middle, Low, or Ultra-Low Chronology. According to Walther Sallaberger (2011), a Middle Chronology date for Sargon’s reign would be 2353– 2314 b.c. if the Gutian period is assigned a maximum of 100 years, or 2313–2274 b.c. if the Gutian period is assigned a minimum of sixty years. The observation of a solar eclipse at Mari mentioning the birth of Shamshi-Adad has been taken as evidence in favor of a “reduced” Middle Chronology (Michel and Rocher 2000; Michel 2002), which would place Sargon’s reign in the early to mid-twenty-third century b.c., according to Sallaberger (2303–2264 b.c. if the Gutian period lasts 100 years, 2263–2224 b.c. if the Gutian period lasts sixty years). Therefore, we have estimates extending from the mid-twenty-fourth to the mid-twenty-third century b.c. for Sargon and, by extension, the destruction of Ebla Palace G. If one prefers a Low or Ultra-Low Chronology, these dates would have to be moved down into the twenty-second century b.c. (see also Charpin 2005; Matthiae 2009, p. 43 n. 3; Lebeau 2012; and Marchesi and Marchetti 2011, pp. 138–40 on dating the Ebla Palace G destruction). A complement to text-based assessments of Ebla Palace G absolute chronology is now available from sixteen radiocarbon dates derived from carbonized seeds found in the debris of the Palace G destruction and the contemporaneous destruction in nearby Building P4 (table 5.2; figs. 5.8 and 5.9) (Calcagnile, Quarta, and D’Elia 2013).10 Their calibrated range is 10 Calibration of all radiocarbon dates referred to in the text was done using OxCal 4.2.4 (Bronk Ramsey 1995, 2001, 2009) against the INTAL13 calibration curve (Reimer et al. 2013) interpolated to yearly intervals (Resolution = 1). 98 Glenn M. Schwartz Table 5.2. Radiocarbon dates from Early Bronze IVA Ebla (Calcagnile, Quarta, and D’Elia 2013) Context Lab Code Palace G LTL-12319A 3927 ± 35 seeds LTL-12320A 3855 ± 45 seeds Palace G LTL-12322A 3809 ± 45 seeds Palace G LTL-12323A 3942 ± 40 seeds Palace G LTL-12324A 3857 ± 45 seeds Palace G LTL-12326A 3833 ± 45 olive pit Palace G LTL-12327A 3918 ± 35 seeds Palace G LTL-12328A 3885 ± 40 seeds Building P4 LTL-12329A 3872 ± 35 seeds Building P4 LTL-12330A 3800 ± 35 olive pit Building P4 LTL-12331A 3798 ± 40 seeds Building P4 LTL-12332A 3819 ± 35 olive pit Building P4 LTL-12333A 3858 ± 35 seeds Building P4 LTL-12334A 3863 ± 45 seeds Building P4 LTL-12335A 3840 ± 35 seeds Building P4 LTL-12336A 3893 ± 35 seeds Uncalibrated b.p. Date Material latest occupation phase LY-4853 SacA 3860 ± 35 charcoal LY-3471 OxA 3860 ± 35 charcoal 3785 ± 40 seeds LY-3475 OxA 3820 ± 50 charcoal interMediate phase 3990 ± 40 Table 5.4. Radiocarbon dates from Qatna (Morandi Bonacossi 2008, tables 1–2) Context Number Uncalibrated b.p. Date Material Middle bronze i, J18–17 LY-12511 LY-12508 Material Palace G Table 5.3. Radiocarbon dates from al-Rawda (Brochier and Castel, in press) Sample Uncalibrated b.p. Date seeds First FortiFication phase J17 GX-28917 3540 ± 70 charcoal J18 GX-28922 3630 ± 40 charcoal early bronze iVb, J27–19 J19 GX-28918 3550 ± 100 charcoal J20 GX-28919 3510 ± 80 charcoal J22 GX-28920 3820 ± 40 seeds J23 GX-28921 3680 ± 80 charcoal LY-12507 4090 ± 35 seeds J25 GX-28924 3600 ± 130 charcoal LY-3474 OxA 3880 ± 35 charcoal J27 LTL-2035A 3844 ± 90 seeds LY-3472 OxA 3935 ± 35 charcoal LY-3473 3940 ± 40 charcoal — seeds below the First FortiFication phase early bronze iVa, J38–29 J28b LTL-2460A early bronze iii, J44–39 LY-12509 3990 ± 40 seeds J34 LTL-2040A — seeds LY-12510 4020 ± 40 seeds J39 LTL-2041A — charcoal J40 LTL-2042A — seeds J44a LTL-2044A — seeds 99 Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Table 5.5. Radiocarbon dates from Umm el-Marra. All samples are from seeds or other short-lived plant components Area Context Number Uncalibrated b.p. Date Material West Area A South Room, northeast corner UCIAMS 126326 3075 ± 20 seeds West Area A 1068/3854-004 UCIAMS 126327 3105 ± 20 seeds Southeast Area 1361/3760 Room 2-001 Beta-151641 3050 ± 40 seeds Southeast Area 1361/3748 Room 2 Beta-151642 3000 ± 70 seeds Southeast Area 1371/3742-013 Beta-151643 3100 ± 50 seeds Southeast Area 1373/3748 Room 1-006 Beta-151644 3050 ± 60 seeds Southeast Area 1373/3748 Room 1-007 Beta-151645 3050 ± 80 seeds Northwest Area A 1000/4014 Room 6-005 UCIAMS 126329 3340 ± 15 seeds Northwest Area A 1000/4014 Room 4-012 UCIAMS 126336 3345 ± 20 seeds Acropolis Northwest 1238/3906-101 Beta-267128 3400 ± 40 seeds Acropolis South 1272/3852-198 AA82484 3467 ± 41 seeds late bronze (destruction leVel) Middle bronze ii late Middle bronze i Acropolis Northwest 1238/3906-099 AA82486 3488 ± 40 seeds Acropolis West 1232/3856-208 UCIAMS 126330 3540 ± 20 seeds Acropolis West 1232/3856-206 UCIAMS 126337 3560 ± 20 seeds Acropolis Northwest 1238/3906-100 Beta-267127 3720 ± 40 seeds early bronze iVb Acropolis South 1274/3852-124 AA82483 3884 ± 45 seeds Acropolis Northwest 1238/3906-098 AA82485 3792 ± 41 seeds Acropolis East 1316/3864-112 UCIAMS 126328 3790 ± 15 seeds Acropolis Center 1276/3920 Room 1-100 UCIAMS 126325 3835 ± 20 plant material Acropolis Center 1284/3900-205/206 UCIAMS 126338 3935 ± 20 seeds Acropolis North 1270/3936-500 AA82487 4034 ± 41 seeds Acropolis Center 1278/3920-300 AA82488 4394 ± 42 seeds Acropolis North 1270/3936-500 UCIAMS 126324 4030 ± 20 plant material Acropolis East 1316/3870-314 UCIAMS 126331 4475 ± 20 seeds Acropolis North 1276/3928-304 UCIAMS 126332 4085 ± 20 seeds early bronze early 100 Glenn M. Schwartz disappointingly broad, ranging from the twenty-fifth to the twenty-third centuries b.c. at one standard deviation. Calcagnile, Quarta, and D’Elia calculated the weighted average to be 3870 ± 8 b.p. and report that its most probable calibrated range is 2367–2293 b.c., with 53.6 percent probability. If this is acceptable, the calibrated dates suggest a time in the later twenty-fourth century b.c. for the destruction of Early Bronze IVA Ebla. Such a date accords with a destruction in the time of Sargon, according to the Middle Chronology. However, the wide range of radiocarbon dates from the Ebla destruction level gives pause.11 If we accept a late twenty-fourth-century b.c. date for the destruction of Ebla Palace G, the Early Bronze IVA should terminate at the same time. Such a date is supported by the more abundant radiocarbon dates available from Early Bronze IVB contexts at al-Rawda12 (table 5.3; figs. 5.10 and 5.11), Qatna (table 5.4; figs. 5.12 and 5.13), Umm el-Marra (table 5.5; figs. 5.14 and 5.15),13 and Sweyhat (Danti and Zettler 2007, fig. 11.3, Sweyhat phase 4), which indicate a late third millennium b.c. date for the Early Bronze IVB. Any absolute date suggested for the starting point of Early Bronze IVA, not to mention Early Bronze I/II and Early Bronze III, will be extremely approximate and uncertain, given the scarcity of relevant radiocarbon dates. The traditional absolute date for the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age in western Syria, as posited by Matthiae, is 2000 b.c. (Matthiae 2009, p. 43 n. 3; Morandi Bonacossi 2014, table 28.1). Such a date is not contradicted by the Early Bronze IVB radiocarbon evidence, but some difficulties have been identified. Certain characteristics of Middle Bronze I pottery in western Syria, like combed decoration, are typical of late third-millennium b.c. pottery in upper Mesopotamia. Pruß (2007), Porter (2007), and most recently Pfälzner (this volume) have therefore asked whether the beginning of the Middle Bronze I in western Syria — and the end of Early Bronze IV — should be assigned to 2100 b.c., not 2000 b.c. Were that the case, Middle Bronze I would be contemporaneous with the Ur III period in southern Mesopotamia, according to the Middle Chronology. It must be noted, however, that combed pottery is not restricted to the late third millennium b.c. in northern Mesopotamia but is also characteristic of early second millennium b.c. assemblages, as noted at Tell Rijim in the upper Tigris region (Koliński 2000) and recently in the excavations at Kurd Qaburstan southwest of Erbil directed by the author. A proposal of chronological equivalency between Syrian Middle Bronze I and Mesopotamian Ur III has also been made on the basis of similarities between the pottery from Middle Bronze I Ebla and contexts at Tell Mozan in the upper Khabur that are dated to the Ur III period by epigraphic evidence (Schmidt 2012, 2013; Pfälzner, this volume). Carinated bowls with everted rims and concave upper bodies, for example, are found in both assemblages. Such similarities might be coincidental, since evidence of comparable types from regions between Ebla and Mozan remains to be identified. But if the similarities are related, it is also 11 Casana (2014) suggests that the earlier dates may be from residual materials and therefore the later dates (converging on the twenty-second century b.c.) should be given greater credibility, but it is unlikely that carbonized seeds from the destruction level derived from earlier contexts. 12 I am extremely grateful to Corinne Castel and Jacques Brochier for permission to include the radiocarbon dates from al-Rawda, which will appear in Brochier and Castel, in press. 13 I am grateful to Felix Höflmayer and Aaron Burke for their help in processing the Umm el-Marra UCIAMS-dates as part of the CINEMA project (Chronometric Investigation of Near Eastern and Mediterranean Antiquity), co-directed by Felix Höflmayer and Aaron A. Burke and funded by the Fritz ThyssenFoundation (2011–2013) and the University of California, Los Angeles (2012–2013). Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 101 Figure 5.8. Radiocarbon dates from Ebla Early Bronze IVA (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) 102 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.9. Radiocarbon dates from Ebla Early Bronze IVA. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Figure 5.9 (cont.). Radiocarbon dates from Ebla Early Bronze IVA. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) 103 104 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.10. Radiocarbon dates from al-Rawda (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Figure 5.11. Radiocarbon dates from al-Rawda. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) 105 106 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.11 (cont.). Radiocarbon dates from al-Rawda. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Figure 5.12. Radiocarbon dates from Qatna (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) 107 108 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.13. Radiocarbon dates from Qatna. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Figure 5.13 (cont.). Radiocarbon dates from Qatna. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) 109 110 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.14. Radiocarbon dates from Umm el-Marra (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Figure 5.15. Radiocarbon dates from Umm el-Marra. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) 111 112 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.15 (cont.). Radiocarbon dates from Umm el-Marra. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition Figure 5.15 (cont.). Radiocarbon dates from Umm el-Marra. Uncalibrated b.p. date is listed at top, to right of sample number (after Bronk Ramsey 2013 and Reimer et al. 2013) 113 114 Glenn M. Schwartz possible that the pottery styles in question were adopted gradually from east to west and appeared in upper Mesopotamia a century or more before their adoption in western Syria. Concurrent Socio-Political Changes Over the past two decades, archaeologists working in Syria and upper Mesopotamia have debated the character of socio-political developments in the transition from Early to Middle Bronze Age (Kuzucuoǧlu and Marro 2007; Laneri, Pfälzner, and Valentini 2012). Stimulated by the provocative ideas of Harvey Weiss (Weiss et al. 1993) on the causal relationship between climate change and societal crisis, scholars have considered the issue with much vigor and not a little rancor. Some maintain that the late third millennium b.c. was a period in which the newly developed Syrian urban civilization experienced significant problems and even a collapse.14 This phenomenon is largely observable from the abandonment or diminution of urban centers and smaller sedentary communities. One may infer political decentralization and economic downsizing as well. It is important to emphasize that these “problems” were particularly associated with elites and elite institutions, and it is possible that non-elite individuals profited from the phenomena in question (Schwartz 2007). Archaeologists who interpret the data in terms of disruption, de-urbanization, and collapse have sought for causal variables, among which the most prominent (if the most controversial) is climatic aridification, in addition to factors such as human-induced environmental degradation and the effects of warfare. But on the other side of the issue, many scholars downplay or deny the existence of significant crises or collapse in the Early Bronze–Middle Bronze transition period. At the conference organized by Catherine Kuzucuoǧlu and Catherine Marro held in Lyon in 2005, I argued in favor of a longue durée approach and attempted to discern whether episodes of abandonment, site reduction, or political fragmentation were common ca. 3000–1600 b.c. in Syria, were limited to specific time spans, or were rare (Schwartz 2007). After reviewing the extant evidence, the results indicated that symptoms of collapse enumerated above were not “normal” but occurred in distinct clusters, primarily in the late third millennium and mid-second millennium b.c. Within those general time spans, however, the attestations of crisis were not perfectly synchronized but occurred in different times and places over a period of several centuries. Data that have accumulated since that publication tend to be consistent with this argument. Here I briefly review some of the relevant information from western Syria, beginning with the abundant material from Ebla. At Ebla, there are major changes from the Early Bronze Age to the Middle Bronze Age, but no wholesale abandonment. After the burning of the site at the end of Early Bronze IVA, there is evidence for a reduction in site size and in the scale of public architecture. At the same time, energetic new building activities take place, including the construction of the Archaic Palace on the lower town north and new cultic buildings (Temples HH4 and HH5) above the ruins of the Early Bronze IVA Temple of the Rock. These and other new building projects (e.g., Temple D3 built above the Red Temple of Early Bronze IVA) indicate a large-scale institutional presence and a continuity in religious architecture in the Early Bronze IVB (Dolce 2009; Matthiae 2013a, 2013b). 14 See McAnany and Yoffee 2010 and Middleton 2012 for recent discussion and critique on archaeological uses of the concept of collapse. Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 115 A destruction at the end of the Early Bronze IVB at Ebla has been deduced from large quantities of ash associated with Early Bronze IVB sherds found in the core of the town’s rampart, which was constructed in the Middle Bronze period (Matthiae 2009).15 The ash and its ceramic contents were presumably recycled from in situ Early Bronze IVB contexts within the site. The shift from the Early Bronze IVB to the Middle Bronze Age at Ebla sees a dramatic intensification and reorganization of urban activity, with a major program of temple, palace, and city wall construction. Alongside these major changes, evidence of cultural continuity between the Early and Middle Bronze at Ebla has been cited, including the replication of the size and fortified nature of the site, construction of new temples atop the remains of Early Bronze IVB cultic structures, common artistic representations of royalty in the Early and Middle Bronze, and employment of Middle Bronze royal names referencing those of the Early Bronze (Pinnock 2009). It should be noted that the latter phenomena could indeed signal continuity, but this may not contradict the possibility of disruption and crisis between Early and Middle Bronze. For example, Lauren Ristvet (2012, 2015) has proposed that rulers of new Middle Bronze polities in the Syrian Jezireh, presiding after an episode of decentralization and deurbanization at the end of the Early Bronze, deliberately attempted to communicate their ties to the earlier “golden age” of the Early Bronze Age through titular and material culture references. At Ebla, the ceramic assemblage changes abruptly from the Early to Middle Bronze, without any transitional period mixing types from both periods. If we expect the evolution from Early to Middle Bronze to include a transitional phase, as in the middle Euphrates, the abrupt Early to Middle Bronze shift at Ebla could signal a brief hiatus. The same phenomenon has been inferred at Hama in the Orontes region south of Ebla in the transition from period J to period H (Nigro 2002, table 7, p. 101). A transitional assemblage is said to be evident at Tell Afis, in the environs of Ebla to its northwest, in the E3 workshop area containing vessels in situ that combine Early and Middle Bronze traits (Felli and Mazzoni 2007; Mazzoni 2013). The excavators interpret this result to signify occupational continuity from the Early to Middle Bronze. Such continuity is also inferred at Tell Tuqan, although from less substantial evidence, where extensive occupation in Early Bronze IVB is followed by an Middle Bronze I settlement. The Middle Bronze I occupation at Tuqan includes the recycling of much Early Bronze IVB material in a newly constructed city wall, as was the case at nearby Ebla (Baffi and Peyronel 2013). Occupational and cultural continuity is also inferred at Qatna (Tell Mishrifeh), south of Hama, with no evidence for a break in occupation. But, like Ebla, Qatna saw a major period of urban change with the shift from Early to Middle Bronze. In Early Bronze IV, the northern acropolis was occupied by a domestic quarter, while the acropolis summit was the locus of a sequence of large-scale grain storage and processing facilities (Morandi Bonacossi 2009). In the Middle Bronze Age, the site expanded dramatically from a 25 ha circular town to a 100 ha square metropolis demarcated by massive earthen ramparts. Atop the previous grain storage emplacements, a large-scale pottery workshop including multiple kilns was installed, with a new monumental construction (Building 8) to its west. In the northern acropolis, the former domestic quarter was replaced by a large cemetery. 15 But see Mazzoni 2013, p. 47, for an interpretation of gradual decline rather than a single catastrophic event — and note also that neither the Archaic Palace nor Temples HH4 and HH5 suffered burning. 116 Glenn M. Schwartz As was the case with Ebla, Qatna did not experience long-term abandonment in the transition from Early to Middle Bronze, but evidence from early Middle Bronze at both sites reveals that very substantial changes in the organization of urban life coincided with the change from the Early to Middle Bronze. As Frances Pinnock notes (2009, p. 79), the continuities between the Early and Middle Bronze Ages should not obscure the distinct differences between the two periods. Survey results in the Orontes and Ebla regions generally lack conspicuous evidence for any dramatic decline in sedentary occupation in the late Early Bronze or early Middle Bronze (Mazzoni 2013; Morandi Bonacossi 2014, p. 417). However, it must be acknowledged that an occupational hiatus of relatively brief duration (e.g., one or two centuries) may not be discernible from survey, which is typically restricted to grossly defined material culture periods such as the Early Bronze IV and Middle Bronze. Reviewing the data presented thus far for Early–Middle Bronze western Syria, we can observe that Morandi Bonacossi’s assertion of continuity and lack of crisis in western Syria is more or less upheld by the evidence, although possibilities of small-scale occupational gaps may exist. But when we proceed to more easterly zones in our region, the situation changes. For example, the “arid margins” on the fringe of the settled area east of Ebla and Hama that had seen a marked proliferation of towns and villages in the Early Bronze IV are bereft of sedentary occupation in the Middle Bronze I (Geyer et al. 2007). The distinctive round settlements in the vicinity of the “Très Long Mur” such as Tell al-Rawda, Tell es-Sur, and Tell Shaʾirat are abandoned prior to the end of the Early Bronze IVB, that is, before “EB IVC” (Castel and Peltenburg 2007; al-Maqdissi 2010; al-Maqdissi and Ishaq 2012). A similar desertion of eastern, dry steppe zones might also be noted from archaeological survey in the Qatna region. In the Qatna survey area, the Early Bronze IV sees the first major dispersion of settlements across the region (Morandi Bonacossi 2007), but there is a significant depopulation of the drier Wadi Mydan region east of Qatna with the onset of the Middle Bronze Age (cf. Wilkinson et al. 2014, fig. 3a). To the north, a comparable pattern can be recognized in the Jabbul plain between Aleppo and the Euphrates valley. At Umm el-Marra, the largest Bronze Age site of the area, occupation began in the earlier third millennium b.c. and soon included the establishment of a large and unusual elite mortuary complex on the site acropolis, in use from Early Bronze III to IVB (Schwartz 2013a). But after the Early Bronze IVB layers there is strong evidence of a gap in occupation until later Middle Bronze I (Schwartz and Miller 2007). Ceramically, the earliest Middle Bronze material at Umm el-Marra resembles that of Ebla IIIA2 (Middle Bronze IB), with little evidence of Middle Bronze IA or an Early-Middle Bronze “transitional” assemblage (Schwartz and Miller 2007). Similarly, a set of radiocarbon dates (table 5.5) taken from the latest Early Bronze and earliest Middle Bronze levels on the Umm el-Marra acropolis indicate an occupational hiatus.16 In these samples, the late Early Bronze dates are well within the last few centuries of the third millennium b.c., while those of early Middle Bronze range from ca. 1900 to 1700 b.c., and the 2σ-ranges of the two sets of dates show no overlap. Thus a significant break between Early and Middle Bronze at the site is indicated.17 16 In table 5.5, the latest Early Bronze IVB samples are Beta-267127, AA-82483, and AA-82485; the earliest Middle Bronze samples are Beta-267128, AA-82484, and AA-82486. 17 Table 5.5 and figs. 5.14 and 5.15 provide additional dates from the different periods at Umm el-Marra, including newly processed samples from the Late Bronze destruction level in West Area A and from late Middle Bronze II in Northwest Area A. Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 117 Figure 5.16. Settlement distribution in the Early Bronze IV, Jabbul plain (after Yukich 2013, fig. 5.7) Similar indications of site abandonment are observable from the results of the survey of the Jabbul plain conducted in 1996 (Schwartz et al. 2000), with modifications and analyses provided by Sarah Yukich (2013). A decrease in the number of sites from Early Bronze IV to the Middle Bronze, from thirty-eight in the Early Bronze (fig. 5.16) to twenty-seven in the Middle Bronze (fig. 5.17) is noted,18 and, more significantly, a major change in the spatial distribution of sites. In the Early Bronze, all areas of the survey region were occupied, including 18 The initial report (Schwartz et al. 2000) stated that the apogee of settlement in the Early Bronze was followed by a crash with very few Middle Bronze I sites, but Yukich (2013) identified many more Middle Bronze I sites than previously documented. 118 Glenn M. Schwartz Figure 5.17. Settlement distribution in the Middle Bronze Age, Jabbul plain (after Yukich 2013, fig. 5.14) the drier zones to the east. In the Middle Bronze, the eastern drier areas were mostly abandoned. Since the aggregate occupied site area remained more or less constant, it is likely that the population of the eastern communities migrated to the wetter western zones.19 19 Presumably, when Umm el-Marra was reoccupied in later Middle Bronze I, the population originated in those wetter regions of the western Jabbul. See Finkelstein and Langgut 2014 for the proposal that a dry climate episode in the early second millennium b . c . Levant resulted in population movement from drier to wetter regions. Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 119 In the Syrian middle Euphrates area, the general pattern that can be observed is of a set of abandonments in the late Early Bronze and early Middle Bronze Age, along with some sites evincing varying degrees of continuity (Cooper 2012). In the Tishrin Dam region south of the Turkish border, occupation at Jerablus Tahtani ends by Early Bronze IVB, and Shiukh Tahtani and Qara Quzaq appear to have a hiatus between Early Bronze IV and Middle Bronze I. Banat, a wealthy and presumably powerful center perhaps to be identified as ancient Armi, is abandoned by the Early Bronze IVB except for its clifftop citadel (Porter 2007; Otto and Biga 2010).20 While nearby Tell Kabir survives longer into the second millennium b.c., it is abandoned in the Middle Bronze Age (Porter 2007).21 South of the Tishrin area is the Tabqa Dam salvage region, situated around the great bend of the Euphrates. In this region, Selenkahiye was abandoned in Early Bronze IVB (van Loon 2001), Tell Sweyhat was reduced in size and then abandoned in the early Middle Bronze (Danti and Zettler 2007), and Tell al-ʿAbd was also deserted by the early Middle Bronze (Finkbeiner 1995). Other sites have possible settlement breaks or reductions between the Early and Middle Bronze Age.22 Conclusions Returning to Morandi Bonacossi’s comments on the relatively minimal evidence for collapse in western Syria, I find that his observations are correct — but with a significant exception. It is indeed the case that sites like Ebla, Qatna, Afis, and Tuqan in wetter, agriculturally prosperous regions in western Syria display relatively little evidence for existential crises. However, loci in the marginal, drier zones, like the steppe fringe where Rawda and other circular settlements are located, Umm el-Marra and the eastern Jabbul plain, and the middle Euphrates valley, exhibit substantial evidence for the abandonment of sedentary communities in the Early to Middle Bronze transition. The marginal, dry area in question is comparable to the “Zone of Uncertainty” discussed by Tony Wilkinson and his colleagues in the Fragile Crescent Project (Wilkinson et al. 2014) (see fig. 5.1). This area, receiving 180/200–300 mm rainfall per year, was first settled substantially in the mid-third millennium b.c., probably under the auspices of elites willing to take the risks inherent in cereal agriculture or sheep/goat pastoralism in return for a sizeable profit in the good years. For example, one can imagine that Ebla and its urban peers would have been especially interested in the sheep-herding opportunities of the steppe fringe, given their economic focus on wool production (Castel and Peltenburg 2007). The settlements in the region may also have served as farming villages and trade nodes. But these newly exploited zones experienced significant degrees of abandonment during the Early to Middle Bronze transition. Many sites — or entire regions — were deserted or were 20 The latter suffered several destructions and a change of character in the Early to Middle Bronze transition (Otto and Biga 2010). 21 There is no evidence yet presented for a gap in occupation between Early and Middle Bronze layers at Tell Amarna and Tell Ahmar, although details on the relevant ceramic subphases have yet to be presented. 22 Hadidi is reduced in size from the Early to the Middle Bronze, and Munbaqa might have been aban- doned at the end of Early Bronze IVB and has a diminished size in the Middle Bronze. It is not clear if Halawa A suffered abandonment between the Early and Middle Bronze, but there are major changes in the layout and character of the town. Continuous occupation might be inferred at Habuba Kabira North and Emar on the basis of evidence thus far presented (Cooper 2006; Porter 2007; Schwartz 2007). 120 Glenn M. Schwartz substantially reduced in size. The abandonments were not perfectly synchronized; rather, they show a variable temporal pattern from region to region, both within western Syria and beyond.23 These results suggest that the chronology and character of the changes in settlement patterns differed in each location and were dependent on local political, economic, and environmental processes. Similar observations have been made about the Classic Maya “collapse,” with James Aimers (2007, p. 330) noting that the phenomenon “varied regionally and sometimes by site.” Whether the abandonments in the drier zones were the result of climatic or environmental change remains to be elucidated.24 As Wilkinson et al. (2014) note, the high-risk enterprises in the marginal locations would have been more vulnerable to vagaries in climate, trade, and politics than economic activities taking place in the wetter regions.25 If the drier areas experienced declining rainfall in the late Early Bronze Age, they would have been less amenable to agricultural exploitation than in the preceding wetter period. But if the central institutions changed for reasons other than environmental stress, such as political retrenchment or military defeat, the associated settlements in the drier zones could have likewise been destabilized or abandoned due to a lack of resources or will to sustain them. When considering the possible reasons for site abandonments and other phenomena understood as symptoms of urban crisis or collapse, it would be useful to consider the dauntingly long list of possible proximate causes supplied by Aimers for the Classic Maya collapse (Aimers 2007, table 1). In Early to Middle Bronze west Asia, it may be necessary to explore a similar diversity of factors before reaching consensus. 23 See, in this volume, Manning’s apt observation that drought would have differential effects in different parts of the region and would occur in different zones at different times, as opposed to a single event across all of western Asia. 24 For recent discussions of this problem, see Danti 2010; Matney 2012; McMahon 2012; Ur 2014; Weiss 2014. 25 Along similar lines, Mazzoni (2013) suggests a shift from a palatial economy in the Early Bronze IV to an economy dominated by private households in the early Middle Bronze, and the consequent abandonment of the high-risk dry steppe zone. Western Syria and the Third- to Second-Millennium B.C. Transition 121 Bibliography Aimers, James J. 2007 “What Maya Collapse? Terminal Classic Variation in the Maya Lowlands.” Journal of Archaeological Research 15/4: 329–77. Akkermans, Peter M. M. G., and Glenn M. 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