Description

This volume deals with the occupational chronology and the material remains of three of the most important settlements in the Central Jordan Valley during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages: Pella, Tell Abu al-Kharaz and Tell Deir 'Alla. The publication's presentation of significant results follows an unconventional approach: the contributors were given the opportunity to discuss the editor's conclusions. The three sites are presented by the respective excavators in the first three chapters. In Chapter 4, the editor summarizes the excavation results and their interpretations. Chapter 5 gives the other two contributors the opportunity to respond to Fischer's conclusions. Van der Kooij agrees with Fischer's conclusions, whereas Bourke presents additional theories and interpretations, although agreeing with Fischer on all major issues. In Chapter 6, Fischer includes Bourke's response in his resume, in which all the sites are synchronized locally, regionally and inter-culturally. The present volume is of major importance not only for the archaeology of the Jordan Valley and the Southern Levant, but also for other related cultures that provided imports, including Syria/Lebanon, Cyprus and Egypt, as well as the Mycenaean sphere. Fischer's revised terminology and chronology for the sub-division of the Late Bronze Age is used by all contributors, although the interdisciplinary character of the publication should be underlined.