The EB–MB transition in the Southern Levant. Contacts, connectivity and transformations

In the past, mass migrations have been regarded as the driving force of cultural transformations and sociopolitical changes in the southern Levant between the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. In later scholarship, interpretation centring on endogenous developments have been largely favoured, along with evidence for the introduction of new elements resulting from the re-elaboration of foreign features. While clues for substantial migrations can be difficult to find in the archaeological evidence from the region dating from Early Bronze IV/early Middle Bronze I, elements in the material culture hint at connectivity and contacts with neighbouring areas and the circulation of new technologies and ideas, but also of people. This paper presents an overview of archaeological evidence for interactions and seeks to analyse the nature and mechanisms of contacts based on the distribution of specific components of material culture in the late Early Bronze IV phase