On the collective ethos of fortification in the levantine bronze age
- Attributing the large-scale, but tactically suspect, south Levantine Bronze Age fortification systems a ‘social’ role has become an archaeological commonplace, yet it begs the crucial question of form – if a polity, a social class, or a collective wish to advertise their cohesion, power, or wealth, why choose fortifications, rather than burial monuments, temples or palaces? In other words, what social end was served by conspicuous, inefficient, military consumption? This paper aims to offer a preliminary answer to this question through three interlocking arguments: The first, that societies like that of the Levantine Bronze Age are characterized by the existence of cooperative labor obligations; the second, that this collective labor investment was, in the ancient Levant, primarily dedicated to defense; the third, that tactically imperfect fortifications were nonetheless strategically successful as defensive installations, even while promoting social cohesion and projecting elite power.
Author: | Raphael GreenbergORCiDGND, Hai AshkenaziORCiD |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-539862 |
ISBN: | 978-3-7749-4204-2 |
Parent Title (German): | Bronze age fortresses in Europe : proceedings of the Second International LOEWE Conference, 9-13 October 2017 in Alba Julia (!). Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie ; Band 335, Universitätsforschungen zur prähistorischen Archäologie / Prähistorische Konfliktforschung ; 3 |
Publisher: | Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH |
Place of publication: | Bonn |
Document Type: | Part of a Book |
Language: | English |
Year of Completion: | 2019 |
Year of first Publication: | 2019 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Contributing Corporation: | International LOEWE Conference (2. : 2017 : Karlsburg) |
Release Date: | 2020/05/20 |
Page Number: | 12 |
First Page: | 17 |
Last Page: | 28 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 465151159 |
Institutes: | Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 9 Geschichte und Geografie / 93 Geschichte des Altertums (bis ca. 499), Archäologie / 930 Geschichte des Altertums bis ca. 499, Archäologie |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Open-Access-Publikationsfonds: | Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - Namensnennung-Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen |