Abstract:

Archaeologists have generally viewed the appearance of Khirbet Kerak Ware (KKW) in the southern Levant in the early 3rd millennium BC in terms of a movement into the area of population groups of east Anatolian origin. However, there are serious theoretical and empirical objections to this position. It is suggested that by concentrating upon KKW as a macro-level phenomenon, scholars have neglected to consider the existence of significant inter-community distinctions in the scale and manner in which KKW was employed. This paper offers an alternative view which sees KKW as a material resource, knowledge of which was linked to participation in previously existing coastal networks of communication, the adoption or rejection of which was linked to socio-economic conditionals prevailing in specific areas of the southern Levant.

Author: Graham Philip