Population Movement as an Explanatory Model in Near Eastern Archaeology

Jennifer E. Ross

The Early Bronze IV period in Palestine has sparked debate concerning the nature of its settlement and culture for decades. This paper reviews some of the early interpretations of this phase, viewed as a non-urban "interlude" between two periods of intensive urbanizations, focusing particularly on the "Amorite Invasion" hypothesis. I shall then examine the evidence for a pastoral occupation during EB IV in light of more recent excavation and survey materials, and in view of the ethnographic work with pastoral societies. It is hoped that this article may foster a reexamination of archaeological models of change and a more open dialogue among the disciplines of anthropology, archaeology, and history.

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