Abstract

This chapter presents a synthesis of major cultural developments in ancient Palestine from the Early Bronze Age through end of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 3600–1100 BCE). It traces diachronic patterns of settlement, urbanism, architecture, material culture, trade, and relationships between inhabitants of Palestine and their neighbors. Taking a critical approach to issues of ethnicity and identity, this chapter problematises traditional models that view population movement and displacement as primary drivers of cultural change. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that development of social complexity was a nonlinear process impacted by internal and external variables.