WALLED UP TO HEAVEN
THE EVOLUTION OF MIDDLE BRONZE AGE
FORTIFICATION STRATEGIES IN THE LEVANT
by
Aaron A. Burke
Studies in the Archaeology and History of the Levant 4
WALLED UP TO HEAVEN:
THE EVOLUTION OF MIDDLE BRONZE AGE
FORTIFICATION STRATEGIES IN THE LEVANT
Burke
EISENBRAUNS
Keep reading this paper — and 50 million others — with a free Academia account
Used by leading Academics

Matthias M Tischler
ICREA

Piotr S Górecki
University of California, Riverside

Andreas Rhoby
Austrian Academy of Sciences

Katalin Prajda
University of Vienna
Related Papers
This article addresses the phenomenon of fortifications in Iron Age Israel and tries to portray the specific historical background behind their construction by integrating the archaeological data,
the extra-biblical sources and the analysis of the biblical text. Of the two clear stratigraphical phases of fortifications noticed in several Iron Age cities, the latter is more massive and elaborated
compared with its predecessor. We propose that the developed phase of fortifications in Israel was created under the Omrides, in a time of economic and political strength, as a response to the expansion policy of Aram Damascus. This analysis offers an explanation to the intriguing absence of any biblical reference to the Assyrians prior to Tiglath-pileser III, and casts a fresh look
upon the current debate on the chronology of the Iron Age II. If the elaborate fortification systems were initiated during the first half of the ninth century, the initial phase of the urbanization process, which preceded this developed stage, must have begun in the days prior to the Omride dynasty, namely in the tenth century.
Download
This article addresses the phenomenon of fortifications in Iron Age Israel and tries to portray the specific historical background behind their construction by integrating the archaeological data, the extra-biblical sources and the analysis of the biblical text. Of the two clear stratigraphical phases of fortifications noticed in several Iron Age cities, the latter is more massive and elaborated compared with its predecessor. We propose that the developed phase of fortifications in Israel was created under the Omrides, in a time of economic and political strength, as a response to the expansion policy of Aram Damascus. This analysis offers an explanation to the intriguing absence of any biblical reference to the Assyrians prior to Tiglath-pileser III, and casts a fresh look upon the current debate on the chronology of the Iron Age II. If the elaborate fortification systems were initiated during the first half of the ninth century, the initial phase of the urbanization process, which preceded this developed stage, must have begun in the days prior to the Omride dynasty, namely in the tenth century.
Download
The site of Khirbet el-Meiyiteh in northeastern Samaria was discovered within the framework of the Manasseh Hill Country Survey and was attributed to the Intermediate Bronze Age (c. 2300-1950 BCE), a period of urban decline in the southern Levant. Recent excavations at the site revealed a fortification wall and a wealth of highly manufactured ceramic assemblage that attest to the importance of this site in the region and has implications on our knowledge of this intriguing period. Sommaire Le site de Khirbet el-Meiyiteh dans la Samarie du nord-est a été découvert dans le cadre du Manasseh Hill Country Survey et a été assigné à la période intermédiaire du Bronze (c.2300-1950 av. J.-C.), période de déclin urbain au Levant méridional. Des fouilles récentes ont mises au jour une muraille et une riche quantité de céramiques finement manufacturées, ce qui atteste de l'impor-tance du site dans la région, et enrichit notre connaissance de cette période sensible.
Download
Proceedings of the 3rd ICAANE
Download
Global Perspectives on Landscapes of Warfare, 2022
This essay investigates the organizational logic of regional, rural fortification systems in the ancient Middle East through a non-site-based approach. Utilizing two case studies from Middle Bronze Syria and Iron Age Assyria and Urartu, an analysis of archeological and textual sources reveals that distributed landscape features situated as networks along roads served multiple functions besides the imposition of sovereignty and defense. Fortified regional networks consisting of forts, fortresses, fire beacon stations, and other fortified structures were hubs for communication and intelligence gathering. The distributed nature of these networks means that they are best understood and investigated as cultural landscapes.
Download
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies, 2022
Download
Cambridge World Archaeology, 2019
The Levant-modern Lebanon, southern Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine-is one of the most intensively excavated regions of the world. This richly documented and illustrated survey offers a state-of-the-art description of the formative phase of Levantine societies, as they perfected the Mediterranean village economy and began to interact with neighboring civilizations in Egypt and Syria, on the way to establishing their first towns and city-state polities. Citing numerous finds and interpretive approaches, the author offers a new narrative of social and cultural development, emulation, resistance and change, illustrating how Levantine communities translated broader movements of the Near Eastern and Mediterranean Bronze Age-the emergence of states, international trade, elite networks and imperial ambitions-into a uniquely Levantine idiom.
Download
Current Research in Egyptology 2014: Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Symposium University College London & King’s College London 2014, Ancient Egypt in a Global World, 2015
This paper briefly outlines the results of the Israeli-Polish excavations at Tel Erani, Areas D3 and N3 (Fig. 2.1) in 2013, and its major preliminary discoveries. Located on the outskirts of Qiryat Gat, Israel, this large tell is the site of one of the most important Early Bronze Age occupations in the southern Levant. Known for having yielded significant evidence of an Early Bronze Age I occupation (c. 3700–2950 BC; Yekutieli 2007, 66) with many Egyptian remains from the late predynastic period (c. 3150–2950 BCE, Brandl 1989; Yeivin 1960a), it has also yielded remains of Early Bronze II (c. 2950–2800 BCE) and Early Bronze III settlements (c. 2800–2500 BC). This multi-season project, which plans to review and synchronise newly unearthed deposits with those of earlier excavations, hopes to achieve a holistic overview of the site and the history of its earlier occupations, effectively dating them and determining the significance of the material culture they yield.
Download
The Development of Pre-State Communities in the Ancient Near East. Studies in Honour of Edgar Peltenburg, 2010
Download
Download
Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant, c. 8000-332 BCE, edited by M. Steiner and A.E. Killebrew, 2014
Download
Download
Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology …, 1992
... In order to surround their newly established settlements with huge walls like those of the EarlyBronze Age (see eg, de Miroschedji 1990 ... gains strength from the many studies on megalithic structures and Neolithic monuments in Great Britain, western Europe and Malta - some of ...
Download
Fortifications have always been a fundamental part of urban settlements. However, there are no specific fortification elements found exclusively in connection with mega-cities. The difference from simple fortifications lies in the fortification strategy, as reflected in the increased dimensions of the fortification elements and their multiplication. In addition, partitioning of the fortified area leads to increased complexity. However, these phenomena cannot be understood simply in terms of a typological classification. Rather, it is more appropriate to speak of emerging trends in the fortification of larger settlements.
Download
Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 2003
Download
Antiquity
Fortification walls and other buildings discovered during renewed excavations at Tel Erani (Tell esh-Sheikh el-Areyni) shed new light on the beginnings of urbanisation in the Southern Levant during the second half of the fourth millennium BC.
Download
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research Supplement 25, 1988
Download
The Archaeology of Jordan: a reader, ed. Russell B. Adams, 2008
Download