Speaker: Susan L. Cohan, Professor of History, Department Chair, Montana University
The Middle Bronze Age (MBA) (ca. 2000 – 1500 BC) in the southern Levant stands as a formative period in the ancient Near Eastern world. Marked by an increase in large, fortified cities and increased urbanization, the MBA also saw changes in agriculture and rural life that, together with increased international connections, served as the foundation for later cultural developments in the region.
Most archaeological studies of the period, however, either present grand historical meta-narratives of the broader region, or focus on the iconic fortifications, palaces, and temples, along with specific categories of objects and minute details of individual site stratigraphy. As a result, the lives of the people who do not figure in the stories of elites and temples, but who created these objects and who occupied these sites are often overlooked. This talk, part of a larger ongoing project, seeks to address this issue by analyzing the archaeological data of the era to present its human history.