Townships or villages? Remarks on the Middle Bronze IA in the Southern Levant

The paper analyzes the formative stage of the Middle Bronze Age in the Southern Levant, generally described as a phase of rapid urban regeneration under a strong Syrian influx, and recently subject to substantial reappraisals. Reviews of sites with aspects of discontinuity with Early Bronze IV, such as public architecture, and of the ‘Syrian connection’ in the Southern Levant in the 24th-19th centuries BC are proposed. Thus, the supposed urban nature of these sites and their relation with coeval Syrian centers are discussed. Finally, considerations on collapse/regeneration and transition are put forward in order to investigate cultural change in the region between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC.