The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant : c. 8000-332 BCE / edited by Margreet L. Steiner and Ann E. Killebrew.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Ann E. Killebrew and Margreet L. Steiner -- Part I. Archaeology of the Levant : Background and definitions -- 1. Historical geography of the ancient Levant / Matthew J. Suriano -- 2. Peoples and languages of the Levant during the Bronze and Iron Ages / Holger Gzella -- 3. History of research / Thomas Davis -- 4. Levantine chronology / Ilan Sharon -- Part II. The Levant as the crossroads between empires : Egypt, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Persia -- 5. Egypt and the Levant / Gregory D. Mumford -- 6. Anatolia (Hittites) and the Levant / Horst Klengel -- 7. Mesopotamia (Assyrians and Babylonians) and the Levant / Tammi J. Schneider -- 8. Achaemenid Persia and the Levant / Josette Elayi -- Part III. The Archaeological Record : A) The Neolithic Period -- 9. Introduction to the Levant during the Neolithic Period / Bill Finlayson -- 10. The northern Levant during the Neolithic period : Damascus and Beyond : Neolithic settlement dynamics in Syria and Lebanon / Peter M. M. G. Akkermans -- 11. The southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Neolithic period / A. Nigel Goring-Morris and Anna Belfer-Cohen -- 12. The southern Levant (Transjordan) during the Neolithic period / Alison Betts -- 13. Cyprus during the Neolithic period / Joanne Clarke -- B) The Chalcolithic period -- 14. Introduction to the Levant during the Chalcolithic Period : Regional Perspectives / Thomas E. Levy -- 15. The northern Levant during the Chalcolithic period : The Lebanese-Syrian Coast / Gassia Artin -- 16. The southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Chalcolithic period / Yorke M. Rowan -- 17. The southern Levant (Transjordan) during the Chalcolithic period : Jordan (c. 4500-3500 BC) / Zeidan A. Kafafi -- 18. Cyprus during the Chalcolithic period / Edgar J. Peltenburg -- C) The Early and Internediate Bronze Ages -- 19. Introduction to the Levant during the Early Bronze Age / Raphael Greenberg -- 20. The northern Levant (Syria) during the Early Bronze Age / Lisa Cooper -- 21. The northern Levant (Lebanon) during the Early Bronze Age / Hermann Genz -- 22. The southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Early Bronze Age / Pierre de Miroschedji -- 23. The southern Levant (Transjordan) during the Early Bronze Age / Suzanne Richard -- 24. Cyprus during the Early Bronze Age / Jennifer M. Webb -- 25. The northern Levant during the Intermediate Bronze Age : Altered trajectories / Harvey Weiss -- 26. The southern Levant during the Intermediate Bronze Age / Kay Prag -- D) The Middle Bronze Age -- 27. Introduction to the Levant during the Middle Bronze Age / Aaron A. Burke -- 28. The northern Levant (Syria) during the Middle Bronze Age / Daniele Morandi Bonacossi -- 29. The northern Levant (Lebanon) during the Middle Bronze Age / Hanan Charaf -- 30. The southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Middle Bronze Age / Susan L. Cohen -- 31. The southern Levant (Transjordan) during the Middle Bronze Age / Stephen J. Bourke -- 32. Cyprus during the Middle Bronze Age / David Frankel -- E) The Late Bronze Age -- 33. Introduction to the Levant during Late Bronze Age / E. Susan Sherratt -- 34. The northern Levant (Syria) during the Late Bronze Age: Small kingdoms between the supra-regional empires of the international age / Marta Luciani -- 35. The northern Levant (Lebanon) during the Late Bronze Age / Marlies Heinz and Sabina Kulemann-Ossen -- 36. The southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Late Bronze Age / Nava Panitz-Cohen -- 37. The southern Levant (Transjordan) during the Late Bronze Age / Peter M. Fischer -- 38. Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age / Louise Steel -- F) The Iron Age I period -- 39. Introduction to the Levant during the Transitional Late Bronze Age/Iron Age I and Iron Age I periods / Ann E. Killebrew -- 40. The northern Levant during the Iron Age I period / Hélène Sader -- 41. The southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Iron Age I period / Ayelet Gilboa -- 42. The southern Levant (Transjordan) during the Iron Age I period / Larry G. Herr -- 43. Cyprus during the Iron Age I period (Late Cypriot IIC IIIA): Settlement Pattern crisis (LC IIC IIIA) to the restructuring (LC IIIB) of its settlement pattern / Maria Iacovou -- G) The Iron Age II period -- 44. Introduction to the Levant during the Iron Age II period / Margreet L. Steiner -- 45. The Aramean states during the Iron Age II-III periods / Stefania Mazzoni -- 46. Phoenicia during the Iron Age II period / María Eugenia Aubet -- 47. Philistia during the Iron Age II period / David Ben-Shlomo -- 48. Israel during the Iron Age II period / Ann E. Killebrew -- 49. Judah during the Iron Age II period / James W. Hardin -- 50. Ammon during the Iron Age II period / Randall W. Younker -- 51. Moab during the Iron Age II period / Margreet L. Steiner -- 52. Edom during the Iron Age II period / Piotr Bienkowski -- 53. Cyprus during the Iron Age through the Persian period: From the eleventh century BC to the abolition of the city-kingdoms (c. 300 BC) / Maria Iacovou -- 54. The Levant during the Babylonian period / Jeffrey R. Zorn -- 55. The Levant during the Persian period / Gunnar Lehmann.

This Handbook aims to serve as a research guide to the archaeology of the Levant, an area situated at the crossroads of the ancient world that linked the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. The Levant as used here is a historical geographical term referring to a large area which today comprises the modern states of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, western Syria, and Cyprus, as well as the West Bank, Gaza, and the Sinai. Unique in its treatment of the entire region, it offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of the current state of the archaeology of the Levant within its larger cultural, historical, and socio-economic contexts. The Handbook also attempts to bridge the modern scholarly and political divide between archaeologists working in this highly contested region. Written by leading international scholars in the field, it focuses chronologically on the Neolithic through Persian periods - a time span during which the Levant was often in close contact with the imperial powers of Egypt, Anatolia, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. This volume will serve as an invaluable reference work for those interested in a contextualised archaeological account of this region, beginning with the tenth millennium BCE 'agricultural revolution', until the conquest of Alexander the Great that marked the end of the Persian period.Unique in its treatment of the entire region, it offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of the current state of the archaeology of the Levant within its larger cultural, historical, and socio-economic contexts. The Handbook also attempts to bridge the modern scholarly and political divide between archaeologists working in this highly contested region. Written by leading international scholars in the field, it focuses chronologically on the Neolithic through Persian periods - a time span during which the Levant was often in close contact with the imperial powers of Egypt, Anatolia, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. This volume will serve as an invaluable reference work for those interested in a contextualised archaeological account of this region, beginning with the tenth millennium BCE 'agricultural revolution', until the conquest of Alexander the Great that marked the end of the Persian period.