Settlement Dynamics and Human-Landscape Interaction in the Dry Steppes of Syria

Prehistoric and historic archaeologists and philologists offer diachronic and multifaceted perspectives on the state of research into pastoral nomads and tribe-state interaction in the Syrian steppes, and present results of up-to-date methodology and field projects running in the region as conflict permits. Among the topics are specialized hunter communities in the Palmyra Steppe during the Middle and Late Holocene, the emergence of pastoral transhumance at Jebel Bishri in central Syria, agro-pastoral landscapes in the zone of uncertainty in the Middle Euphrates and the North Syrian Steppe during the fourth and third millennia BC, evidence for Early Bronze Age rainwater-harvesting irrigation agriculture at Jawa in northeastern Jordan, and Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian evidence of hamlets and farmstead in the Balih River Valley. The 17 papers are from a workshop at the May 2012 Eighth International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East held in Warsaw. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)