Revolution in the desert : a reassessment of the late bronze/early iron ages in northwestern Arabia and the southern levant

Abstract: The societal changes that occurred in north-western Arabia and the arid southern Levant between the mid-second and the beginning of the first millennia BCE were so profound that they can be characterized, borrowing Steven Rosen’s terminology, as a “desert revolution.” This article will review the archaeological and epigraphic evidence of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages in the Hejaz, Negev, north-eastern Sinai and southern Jordan. This period of ca. 500 years saw major social, economic and political transformations in the local societies: the development of non-state hierarchical societies; the growth of oasis urbanism in north-western Arabia and industrial-based sites in Edom; the appearance of an advanced metallurgy technology in the Arabah Valley; the construction of the earliest hydraulic works in northern Arabia; the earliest evidence of Bedouin agriculture in the Negev; the domestication of the dromedary and its use as beast of burden; the emergence of long-distance trade networks; the appearance and expansion of autochthonous industrial ceramic traditions; and the materialization of a new religious world with local, tribal deities.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Tebes, Juan Manuel
Format:	Artículo biblioteca
Language:	eng
Published:	Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental Dr. Abraham Rosenvasser 2020
Subjects:	EDAD DE BRONCE, EDAD DE HIERRO, REVOLUCION, HISTORIA ANTIGUA, ANTIGUO ORIENTE, SOCIEDAD,
Online Access:	https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/handle/123456789/10897
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