Developing connections and changing clusters. The Levant between c. 2600 and 1900 BCE

Transformations in the Levant between the late Early Bronze Age and the initial Middle Bronze Age are analysed in the article at different spatial scales and with a long durée perspective. It is suggested that in the archaeological record for the timespan between c. 2600 and c. 1900 BCE it is possible to isolate at least three stages when material culture clusters changed in the Levant, each time in response to sociopolitical and/or socio-economic re-configuration. These transformations took place respectively at the Early Bronze III/IV transition, between ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ Early Bronze IV phases, and at the Early Bronze/Middle Bronze transition and are examined in the article. It is proposed that, along with macrolocal transformations, sub-regional areas changed differentially during those periods, which suggests the importance of re-examining meso- and micro-local trajectories for a better interpretation of inter-regional dynamics. It is also discussed how the study of these processes in a long-term perspective may prove relevant to research into the later Middle Bronze Age phases.