Linking the river and the desert. The Early Bronze Age I pottery assemblage of the Wadi Zarqa region

At the beginning of the Early Bronze Age (EB) I, Transjordan’s features reect a markedly regionalized system. However, several elements testify to a network of intense interconnections. In particular, the Wadi Zarqa represented an important intermediate zone, linking the Jordan Valley with the Eastern Desert. Unfortunately, at present it is still difcult to reconstruct a clear pottery sequence for EB I in the southern Levant, which could help in highlighting the developmental process of the last part of the 4th millennium BC. Thanks to long-lasting excavations at the site of Jebel al-Mutawwaq, new data now allow us to demonstrate the role played by the Valley of the Zarqa River during this crucial process. The paper reports on such new evidence and discusses the topic of interconnectivity in Transjordan during this period.