LATE BRONZE AGE MARITIME TRADE IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: AN INLAND LEVANTINE PERSPECTIVE

This paper emphasizes the nature of trade relations in the EasternMediterranean in general and from a Levantine inland perspective inparticular. The ‘maritime’ trade relation of the ancient city of Hazor, located in the interior of LB Canaan is a case study investigating the Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery on the site. The influx of these vessels peaked during LB IIA. The distribution and types of this pottery at Hazorpoint to four interested groups that wanted it. These were the royal andreligious elites; the people in Area F; the religious functionaries of theLower City; and the craftsmen of Area C. The abundance of imports inArea F, among other evidence, indicates that this area might havecontained a trading quarter from where the imports were distributed toother interested groups.A model of ‘interregional interaction networks’, which is a modified world systems approach, is used to describe the organization of trade connections between the Levant, Cyprus and the Aegean and even beyond. The contents of the Ulu Burun and Cape Gelidonya ships, wrecked on the coast of south Turkey, show that luxury items were traded from afar through Canaan via the coastal cities overseas to the Aegean.Such long-distance trade with luxury goods requires professional traders familiar with the risks and security measures along the routes and with the knowledge of value systems and languages of diverse societies. These traders established networks along main trade routes and settled in trading quarters in particular node cities. The paper suggests that Hazor, as one of the largest cities in Canaan, located along the main trade routes, possessed such a node position. In this trade the Levantine coastal cities of Sarepta, Abu Hawam,Akko and possibly Tel Nami seem to have played important roles. These main ports of southern Syria and northern Palestine were all accessible to Hazor, although some of them in different periods of LB