Urbanism, collapse, and transition. Considerations on the EB III/IV and the EB IV/MB I nexuses in the Southern Levant

This paper reviews past and current interpretations of urbanism, collapse, and transitions in the Early Bronze Age and the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age in the southern Levant in order to reanalyse the critical Early Bronze III/IV and Early Bronze IV/Middle Bronze I nexuses. Current interpretive constructs of the southern Levantine society during Early Bronze II–III are discussed to reappraise the question of early urbanization in this region, as well as of how it came to an end and transitioned to the non-urban Early Bronze IV period. Likewise, the nature of the early Middle Bronze Age society and the question of continuity and discontinuity with Early Bronze IV are re-evaluated considering archaeological correlates and chronological issues. All through the paper, the evidence from Khirbat Iskandar is discussed within its regional context in order to re-investigate those intricate phenomena.