This new volume brings together papers given at the Middle Bronze Age in the Southern Levant Revisited: Chronology and Connections session of the Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2016. The goal of the session was to stimulate a renewed discussion on Middle Bronze Age chronology for the southern Levant and its connections with Egypt, as several recent radiocarbon sequences from several sites challenge current chronological assessments and, thus, correlations with the historical chronology of Egypt. Changing the chronology of the Middle Bronze Age would have significant impact on current views on history and development of Near Eastern societies during the first half of the second millennium BCE. The articles assembled here give a first impression of this debate about historical trajectories, absolute chronology, and how discussion might develop in the future.
Felix Höflmayer has a PhD from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Institute for Oriental Studies at the University of Vienna, and a member of the Editorial Board of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Susan L. Cohen is Associate Professor, Religious Studies in the Department of History and Philosophy Montana State University.
INTRODUCTION Chronological Conundrums: Egypt and the Middle Bronze Age Southern Levant Felix Höflmayer, Susan L. Cohen ARTICLES Radiocarbon Evidence from Tell Abu-en-Ni'aj and Tell el-Hayyat, Jordan, and Its Implications for Bronze Age Levantine and Egyptian Chronologies Steven E. Falcomer, Patricia L. Fall A Radiocarbon Chronology for the Middle Bronze Age Southern Levant Felix Höflmayer Reevaluation of Connections Between Egypt and the Southern Levant in the Middle Bronze Age in Light of the New Higher Chronology Susan L. Cohen The Absolute Chronology of the Middle Bronze Age Palace at Tel Kabri: Implications for Aegean-Style Wall Paintings in the Eastern Mediterranean Eric H. Cline, Assaf Yasur-Landau, Andrew Koh Djehutihotep and Megiddo in the Early Middle Bronze Age Matthew J. Adams A Maximalist Interpretation of the Execration Texts-Archaeological and Historical Implications of a High Chronology Katharina Streit The Course of 14C Dating Does Not Run Smooth: Tree-Rings, Radiocarbon, and Potential Impacts of a Calibration Curve Wiggle on Dating Mesopotamian Chronology Sturt Manning, Gojko Barjamovic, Brita Lorentzen